Travel Industry Knowledge Center

AdWords Industry Knowledge Centers > Travel

Start off on the right foot

Learn how to draw up blueprints for successful ad campaigns.


In this tips section we'll cover:

Location targeting: Reach your core audience

With Google AdWords, you can advertise vacation packages to the entire United States or spread the word about a beach front cottage to just one city. Adjust your campaign targeting to reach potential customers in the areas you serve with these options:

  • Target specific countries, regions, states, or cities
  • Target a designated mileage radius around your address
  • Target the world

You can run global, national, and localized campaigns within the same AdWords account.

Potential customer in Boston searches for:




For regionally targeted ads, we'll automatically display your chosen region or city directly below your ad. Our system bases this on a user's location or region name, such as Boston, included in their search query. This way a potential customer will know that your services are available in their area.

Jump below to see an example of how you might target and set up a campaign for an online travel agency. Or, read more information on regional and local targeting in the AdWords Help Center.

Campaigns and ad groups: Build a strong foundation

Use your website's menu or sitemap as a guide for organizing your AdWords account. If your account mirrors your website, you'll have an easier time choosing keywords, writing relevant ads, monitoring your success, and making changes.

The first step is organizing your campaigns according to a certain travel service, product, or theme.

As an example, let's say you're an online travel agency. Your business's menu may look like this:


Vacation Packages Cruises
Mexico Hawaii
Cancun Maui
Puerto Vallarta Oahu

Using your menu as a guide, create a campaign for each product or service you offer (vacation packages and cruises) and an ad group for each travel destination (areas in Mexico and Hawaii). This way, your account will be organized and easy to navigate, and you'll be able to write the most relevant ads and focus on specific keywords. This will also give you more control over your costs, since you can set different daily budgets for each campaign.


Keywords and ad text: Match your themes

With AdWords search campaigns, the general rule of thumb is to group keywords based on the same product, service, or location into the same ad group. By tailoring your ads to the keywords that trigger them, you can increase the likelihood that users will see their search query in your ad title or text and be inspired to click on your ad.

Let's take a look at how we might improve a campaign by expanding a broad ad group into more specific ad groups with more relevant ad text and keywords.

Here's an example of a keyword list and ad text for a general vacation ad group:

General keyword list
 General ad text

And here's how we could break the general ad group into three more specific ad groups for vacation destinations in Mexico, Cancun, and Puerto Vallarta:

Mexico vacations ad group

Cancun vacations ad group

Puerto Vallarta vacations ad group

Expanding a campaign with one general ad group into ad groups that focus on specific offerings will make your ads more relevant to search queries, and your account easier to manage. By using different ad groups for each offering, it's easier to compare performance and see which of your products or services are generating the most traffic.

Wondering why a magnifying glass sits next to each keyword? Learn how this icon can help you locate your ads.
For more detailed analysis of your campaign performance and website traffic, try putting Google Analytics to work on your site.

The Keyword Tool: Create strong keyword lists

If you're experiencing writer's block, try using the AdWords Keyword Tool from within your account. Just enter the terms describing your product or service, and the tool will generate keyword suggestions.

Here are some of our favorite ways to use this tool:

  • Get suggested plural variations and synonyms for your keywords to capture all relevant search queries.
  • Identify negative keywords that restrict unwanted traffic to your site by choosing off-topic keywords that the tool may suggest.
  • Enter your website's URL and our tool will scan your page for relevant keyword suggestions

Pick the keywords that are most relevant to your ad group's theme and add them to your list. Don't be afraid to experiment with new keywords — you can always pause or delete them in the future.

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