Travel Industry Knowledge Center

AdWords Industry Knowledge Centers > Travel

Get more bang for your buck

Optimize your ads and improve your return on investment.


In this tips section we'll cover:

Conversion tracking: Think beyond the click

Why is conversion tracking so important for your business? Conversion tracking helps you understand what people do once they click on your ad. AdWords isn't just about the clicks. After all, you spend money on AdWords to get visitors to do something specific on your website, like make a purchase or request more information through a form. We call these desired actions conversions.

Conversion tracking is a free tool that allows you to see which clicks turned into sales. Based on these results, you'll also be able to make more informed decisions that will help maximize your return on investment.

Press the play button below to watch a short video on ROI and learn about these topics:

  • Why you should measure your advertising return
  • How to set up conversion tracking
  • Tips on using conversion tracking to manage your bids effectively


Google Analytics: Learn how visitors interact with your site

Your website is crucial to driving business, so chances are the following questions have kept you up at night:


  • Where are my visitors from, and how did they reach my site?
  • What do people do while on my site? Where do they spend the most time?
  • How can I generate more conversions from my landing page?
  • Which of my AdWords keywords and ad texts are most effective?


Don't just guess. Find answers with Google Analytics, a powerful tool that integrates with AdWords and tells you everything you want to know about how visitors find and interact with your site. With a variety of useful data delivered in a number of formats, Analytics helps you focus your marketing resources, improve site navigation, and increase ROI. You can easily visualize and track the performance of all of your online advertising initiatives, including search campaigns, emails, and banner ads.


(Click on the image for a full-sized version)

You can even use the Analytics benchmarking service to compare your metrics to other websites in your industry. You can use this data to gain broader context for your site and identify areas for improvement. Available categories include:

  • Hotels & Accommodations
  • Attractions & Activities
  • Vacation Destinations
  • Car Rental & Taxi Services
  • Adventure Travel
  • Cruises & Charters
  • Air Travel

Remember that online advertising can also drive offline sales. Keep track of offline responses by setting up a unique phone number that visitors see when they click on your AdWords ads, or use a unique discount code. You'll know exactly how many of your offline sales are resulting from AdWords and be able to make better-informed marketing decisions.

To learn how other advertisers within the travel industry use Google Analytics, visit the Success Stories page.

Negative keywords: Curb unqualified traffic

To curb unqualified clicks and improve your return on investment, use negative keywords. Your ad won't appear when a user's search query contains one of your negative keywords. Using negative keywords can help lower your advertising costs and ensure more relevant clicks for your business. You can apply them at either the campaign or ad group level.

For example, if you sell vacation packages but solely for short-term travel in Mexico, try these negative keywords:




Or, if sell cruises to Hawaii, try these negative keywords:




You can find ideas for negative keywords by using the keyword tool. Or, you can run a Search Query Performance report in your account. This report shows the exact terms people are searching for when they click on your ads, including any variations of your keywords. Scan the report for any irrelevant terms, then add them as negative keywords.

Watch this video to learn more about using negative keywords to improve your account's performance.

Website Optimizer: Put your site to the test

To boost your website's conversion rates, try experimenting with your site content and design to learn what visitors respond to best. With Website Optimizer, a free landing page optimization tool, you can continually test different combinations of site content and layouts. You'll save time and eliminate marketing guesswork by simply letting your visitors tell you what works best. Start optimizing your most important web pages and see detailed reports within hours.


To learn more about using Website Optimizer to improve your site's conversion rates and see an example, watch this demo.

Want more help?