If you own a hotel website already and even have good SEO in place, what would (or should be) be your next step to get more bookings?

Definitely, you will want to reach more guests first to do that. Advertisements on Google are the best way to do so.

And this blog tells you exactly how to set up Google ads for your property, and get started with your hotel PPC campaigns.

Before we delve into all the do’s and don’ts, let’s understand Google ads from the scratch.

What are Google Ads (AdWords)?

Facts first.

Google receives approximately 63000 searches per second.

SEO Tribunal

Per second.

That’s not a number I can kid about.

And this is just the facts from search results. I cannot even begin to talk about Google’s display network.

Google Ads will show your hotel’s ad to the searchers when they are searching for hotels in your location, or in similar scenarios. Is there a better time to show it?

Take a look at this example:

This is a Google Search Ad. It is visible at the top of the search results when you search for something in Google.

And now check out this example:

This is a Google Display Ad. These ads are visible to those who have visited your website (or any page) and leave it without taking any action (or making a booking). These are also called REMARKETING Ads.

Suffice to say, running Google Ads can help you hit that unicorn status in digital marketing and hotel advertising campaigns.

With Google Ads, you can create stronger and more focused paid campaigns for your hotel to increase footfall and bookings.

Why should hotels run Google ads?

Hotel advertising is an effective way to reach your target audience at an optimum time, improve booking rates, and consequently fetch more revenue for your hotel.

Though, here are a few sure shot benefits of running Google ads for your hotel.

• To generate revenue: Ads on Google are an effective source of revenue generation. They target your audience at the right time, quickening his decision to stay at your property. Put together correctly, these ads can give you a good ROI.
• To generate more bookings (obviously): Ads make your hotel popular. They are visible to even those far-fetched audiences who are out of your reach. When people see ads, they tend to book your hotel and hence you generate more bookings than usual.
• To improve your branding: A well thought advertisement on Google running for a longer period of time registers well in people’s minds and alleviates your brand value.
• To get more website visitors: People visit your website upon seeing Ads. This definitely increases your website visitors. More than that, there is a possibility that they make bookings and convert to guests from visitors. 
• Boon for new hotels: If you have just stepped into the hospitality industry and have a new hotel; marketing it can be tough. Letting people know about your new hotel can be done through Google Ads easily. 

Do keep in mind that the Google Ads which I’m talking about is completely different than the Google Hotel Ads platform which Google provides to increase your direct bookings.

The below images will clarify the difference between both:

With Google having audiences reaching millions (and even trillions), there’s no doubt that with the right strategies, you’ll be able to benefit remarkably out of the ads. Start considering to set up Google ads for your hotel, at least for some time period.

Beginner’s checklist to get started with Google ads

If you are a beginner to paid advertisements, here are a few things you need keep in mind (and NEED to have them ready) before you set them up.

To start with, register on Google for your hotel’s email address. This email address will be identified as your primary medium to contact. Other pre-requisites are:

• Budget: These ads belong to the paid advertisement category, and you should have a budget to set up an ad. Decide how much you want to spend on the ads. The cost varies depending on target audience, location preference and many other factors (we’ll go through them when I show you how to set up ads).
• Know your target audience: Each hotel has a specific target set of customers that they want to capture. A basic knowledge of your target audience is helpful when starting an ad campaign. If you are running a premium hotel, your target audience will include people from corporate sectors, businessmen, people on leisure trips and such likes.
• Keyword research: Keywords play an important role in starting a search ad campaign. They are phrases or words that align with what a searcher wants and will satisfy their query. You can select keywords based on which queries you want to display alongside your ad. If you’ve done SEO for your hotel website, you’ll be having an idea on the keywords you want to target.

When running a business, you have an idea of what your audience will search for. Similarly, the knowledge of people’s needs becomes your keywords and help you reach your target audience in a better way. Google suggests keywords when setting up the campaign. Choose the most relevant ones for your hotel.

Now let’s go ahead and see how to set up and start running Google ads for your hotel.

How to set up Google Ads for your hotel?

Honestly speaking, setting up a Google ads account and running ads is an extremely easy exercise.

I know, you might have various doubts and questions in this, but once we go through the step-by-step process, I am sure you’ll get a clear idea on how it works and what it includes.

Step 1 – Creating your ad account

Go to Google Ads homepage, and create new Google Ads account. It is recommended to use your hotel’s official email address or the one which is active, as you’ll get all your Google Ads related updates and suggestions on this email.

This is what will happen when you click on “Start Now” button on the Ads homepage.

Step 2 – Choose your advertising goals

Once you’re signed in to your ads account, you’ll be asked to select your advertising goals.

Why do you want to run ads? What is the purpose? Set your preferences here.

Hotels need to determine why they are setting up the ad, viz; to get more calls, get more website sales or sign ups (bookings here) or get more visits to your physical location.

If you have your hotel website, we’d recommend you to choose the 2nd option. If not, option 1 would also work well.

Step 3 – Describe your business

Start describing your business in this step. Mention your property (business) name and add the link to your website.

Step 4 – Select your target audience

In this step, mark locations where there are probable customers for your hotel and where do you get maximum guests from.

This step has two aspects:

1. Find out how much audience can you capture at a particular location. Google shows that figure in the box on the right.
2. Mention the geographical location where you want your ad to show up. For example, if you select India, Australia, Canada etc; people who are searching for hotels in these locations will see your ads based on the keyword selection.

It is a good practice to target audience from your neighbouring cities in the beginning. You can then expand the locations gradually.

Choose your locations wisely. Otherwise, you may end up spending a fortune on ads without gaining much.

Step 5 – Add your business specifications (for streamlined target audience)

Once you have determined the locations you want your ad to show up, the next step asks for your business category. This narrows down your target audience to ensure that your ads reach the right kind of people.

This step also lets you choose the language you want to show your ad in. If you’re offering specific services or amenities at your property which you’d like to promote in the ad, you can add those here. This is so that the searchers see your specialties, which increase their chances of booking your property.

Google also suggests you few of these services based on your business category.

Step 6 – Writing the ad

Google suggests you few ready-made ads based on the description and information you provided so far. These ads will be visible to searchers when they search with a keyword mentioned in your ad.

You’re also required to add the link/URL where your ads would lead to. Here, since we wanted more website sign ups, I’ve added the resort’s website link.

Thus, if anyone clicks on your ad, he/she will be lead to your website.

See the suggestion that the campaign page gave for Avalanche Resort.

As a beginner, you don’t have to design an ad in fancy words or even worry about how to create an ad.

If you’d like to write or add more ad copies from your end, you can do that. Here are some free ad copy templates which you can use to create your ads.

Step 7 – Set your budget

Here is the game changer! Based on all the preferences, locations that you have selected in the previous steps, Google gives you a daily budget of running the ads and an estimate number of clicks and impressions to be received per month.

Do keep in mind that this amount is to be paid ONLY WHEN people click on your ad or call your business (basically when any action is taken on your ad).

Don’t worry, you can modify this budget any time.

That is how PPC for hotels or Pay per click ads are set up and work in Google. This amount varies per click, but rest assured, it won’t go beyond the monthly limit set.

Step 8 – Review your settings

Name your campaign, review all the parameters and settings you selected in all the previous steps, and that’s it! You are ready to roll.

If you have missed things or want to change settings, you can go back to that particular step to do so. You’ll be able to review them again on this step before setting up your billing.

Step 9 – Set up billing information

Now, since you are all set to launch your first ad campaign with Google Ads, provide your contact information and payment details to start the campaign right away.

The screenshots will help you in knowing how can the payment be done.

Clicking on submit will start your ad and you will be able to reach more people in no time!

Now that we’ve set up our ad campaign, let’s move ahead to the next important part of running ads. Tracking and analysing conversions.

How to track conversions from Google Ads?

So, you’ve set up Google Ads for your property and you’re all excited to see how they work out.

Though, often we miss to see how our applied strategies work and keep on implementing them without any further thought process. Though, you CANNOT do the same with ads.

Here’s how you can track conversions from your Google Ads.

Step 1 – Go to conversion tracker

In your Google Ads account, go to Tools & Settings -> Select the “conversions” option.

You will see the conversion actions that you can pick up from this tab. Enable all and from the list that comes up, select the conversions you want to track.

Since we have not set up any conversion actions in this account uptil now, we need to create a new conversion action.

Step 2 – Create conversion action

Google Ads tracker guides you to select the conversion action for your website. Since our ad adjective was to get more website sign ups and sales, we can go ahead and select the first option.

If you want to (or have already) set up another ad campaign to get more phone calls, you can select the third option.

There are various aspects that have to be considered and entered here. To start with, you need to select the action you want to track on your website. Do you want to track purchase, lead (when contact information is shared), page view, or a sign up (someone registering for newsletter or so) or entirely something else.

Let’s say we want to track leads received on the hotel website from our ads. We’ll consider leads as bookings here or even inquiries.

Next, you’ll be asked to name your conversion and select a few parameters of your conversion action.

Step 3 – Setting up tag

Tag is a code which you need to set up on your website using which Google will track your conversions on your website from ads whenever the selected action has taken place.

We have selected leads as the conversion action. So if a website visitor who landed on your website from your ad, shares his contact information; it will be tracked through this tag.

Google Ads analyser gives you options to embed the tag yourself, share it via email to your website developer or through Google Tag Manager. Install this tag on every page of your website.

Set up the global site tag on your entire website to add visitors to your remarketing list. That is, if a visitor lands leaves your website without performing any action, Google will target them to visit your website again through ads which show on the third-party websites they visit.

Select the event snippet which works with the global site tag. That is, do you want to consider a click on your website page as an event? Or page load as an event?

And here, we’re done setting up the conversion action. The conversions from your ads will be tracked as per the instructions you set above.

After implementing all these steps, you’ll be able to run any kind of Google ads for your property and track their performance.

Answering your FAQs on Google Ads

In conclusion

To begin with, setting up Google ads for your hotel is a simple process and should be kept such without complicating much.

You should start running your ads on Google by investing less amount in the campaigns. Patience is the key to reach an ideal conversion rate from Google Ads.

When the world is using Google for entertainment and other purposes, why not reach the masses through the same platform and make your business known worldwide.

When you compare the costing of these ads with your other marketing strategies, you may find these ads pocket friendly and easy to set up. They are the apt platform to register your business in people’s minds and maximize your revenue gradually.

Start running Google Ads for your property and see how they perform. If you have any questions, or would like to know more about this, do let me know in the comment section below.

The post How to Set Up Google Ads for Your Hotel: A Step-by-step Guide appeared first on eZee Absolute.

Now, we’re sure you’d like to know more about the whole kit and caboodle around the Google Hotel Ads commission program, and what role does it play in growing your business and boosting your revenue.

Let’s start with the basics. What is Google Hotel Ads?

Well, Google Hotel Ads is a powerful tool that allows you to showcase your hotel on Google when one searches for a hotel on the search engine.
With the help of Google Hotel Ads, your guests can see the complete information of a hotel such as; pricing, availability, amenities, reviews and such likes. These ads also come with a “Book a room” button which helps travelers book directly with a hotel right from the search results.

Hotel ads help you track each stage of your guest’s trip planning process. No matter what device they use and how they search, these ads will get your property seen at the right time, by the right people.

Though, you should keep in mind that you need to work with Google’s Integration Partner to get started with your Google Hotel Ads campaign. And eZee is Authorized Hotel Ads Integration Partner with Google.

Why does your hotel need Google Hotel Ads?

Hoteliers aware about the trends of OTAs and how travelers are moving towards them for bookings. But, be it searching for the hotel websites or the OTAs – most of the travelers start their search from the search engine (even we do the same, agree?)

To avoid the rising commission fees of the OTAs and to increase direct bookings from their hotel website, Google Hotel Ads is the most effective tool for hoteliers.

This powerful tool can provide your brand the much-needed opportunity to be visible in front of millions out there and capture their attention during the buying process journey.

What benefits does Google Hotel Ads bring for you?

Owing to a part of the hotel industry getting inclined towards this commission program launched by Google, you can’t deny the fact that it brings a bucket full of benefits for hotels. We’ve got a few of them listed here:

• You pay only on confirmed bookings

In Google Hotel Ads, you can choose either of the two options for a commission. i.e. Cost Per Click (CPC) model or Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) model.

Check out how these ads look in the search results:

In the CPC model, you pay Google the commission when one clicks on the “Book a room” button. And in the CPA model, you need to pay commission to Google only on confirmed bookings you get on your hotel website. In either case, there are very rare chances of bookings becoming no-show or getting canceled; which leads to your increase in confirmed bookings and reduces your loss of revenue.

• It brings more hotel information to guests

Whenever the guests search for the hotels – Google helps visitors by providing all the useful information about hotels. This information allows the guests to select and book the hotel according to their choice.

• Increase direct traffic to your website

Google Hotel Ads help hoteliers increase direct traffic to the hotel website that leads to more direct bookings as well. This is the most effectual way to increase direct bookings for those who don’t want to depend on OTAs.

The direct traffic not only improves a hotel’s visibility but also builds brand loyalty among the guests, that is helpful in cultivating long-term relationships.

• The booking process becomes easier for hotels and guests

Not only from the desktop, but the guests can also book hotel rooms directly from their smartphones. With the availability to book on Google, the hoteliers will get the opportunity to attract your visitors’ eyes right after they search to book hotel rooms on Google.

Also, the booking process gets easier for the guests as they can see all the required information right on the search engine. Google leads them to the booking engine from where visitors can book with the hotel. Hence, Google Hotel Ads helps hotels and guests with quick bookings.

• Hotels can generate qualified leads

The best result of utilizing Google Hotel Ads is that with a low commission, hotels will be able to acquire quality guests. Because those interested in booking with you will only go ahead and click on the button.

By using the right kind of responsive booking engine, highlighted information of amenities and other details; you’re bound to get more direct bookings through Google Hotel Ads.

Google knows what travelers want, and in the future, these demands are only going to increase. Hence, Google updates required details on the search engine page as per the demand. Check out – How Hilton Worldwide drives higher ROI with Google Hotel Ads.

• Build strong relationships with guests

As the Google Hotel Ads commission program increases the chances of direct bookings, it means you’ll be getting important statistics and information about the guest’s travel planning process. Besides this, it also reduces intermediaries between the guests and your property.

So you can directly interact with your guests, know their demands, predict and attract future guests, and strengthen your loyalty programs for the existing bookings.

• Increase your hotel business revenue

Google Hotel Ads does half the work for you. It displays all the expected information in the search engine and in case any guest clicks on the Ad – it means that they’re almost convinced and interested in booking a room with your hotel.

Besides, Google charges a lower commission than the OTAs, which decreases your expense in the form of commissions. Hence, Google Hotel Ads equally contributes to increasing your hotel business revenue. Find out how Premier Inn got 40% more bookings from new customers with Google Hotel Ads.

Now, what you need to do to make Google help you with conversions and beat the competition?

• Create your Google My Business Account

Google My Business is a free listing that optimizes all your information and brings it to one place in the search results under your business name.
It makes you and your hotel website found on Google making it easy for you to attract travelers.

• Strengthen Google reviews

Nowadays, hotel reviews and reputation play a vital role for your business. Most of the guests take the final decision on the basis of your star ratings and reviews on Google and different sites like Booking.com, TripAdvisor and such likes.

These reviews are curated from various sources across the internet and are surfaced within your Google My Business Listing. Therefore, to stay on top, it is important to manage your reviews, and most importantly, use a hotel reputation management software to control your online reputation in a streamlined way.

• Maintain rate parity

Rate parity issue can be a common problem and you can see the low conversion rates when the rates are not in line with the competition. Hence, to ensure that the campaign is not negatively impacted by the rate issues, it is important to regularly monitor rate parity.

A hotel channel manager, in this case, helps you maintain rate parity across all the channels you’re connected to.

How is the commission charged in Google Hotel Ads?

Google offers 2 commission (payment) options to hotels who enroll in the Google Hotel Ads commission program.

Pay-Per-Click: In Hotel Ads Center, all you need to do is set a price you’re willing to pay for every click on your ad and define a budget. Your hotel’s rank or position will be based on how much you’re willing to spend on clicks.

Commission: You only need to pay when the guests book directly from your hotel booking engine directed from your Google Business Listing (i.e. When an actual reservation is made via Google).

So, do you want to seize this opportunity?

Hoteliers, don’t you want to take the advantage of this powerful tool – Google Hotel Ads that provides you a way to hike your hotel revenue? Today, most of the hotels want to be independent and therefore they’re frequently looking to get more direct bookings at a low commission. This tool is best suited for your hotel business needs to drive traffic and bookings to your hotel’s website. eZee being an authorized Google Hotel Ads integration partner becomes the best choice for you in this case.

Get started with your Google Hotel Ads campaign through us!

The post How to hike your hotel revenue using Google Hotel Ads? appeared first on eZee Absolute.