Traveling consumers increase branded search queries

Gas prices may be increasing and consumers may be traveling less, but they are still traveling. Which means pay-per-click campaigns for travel marketers are still a good investment. However, there are changes that marketers need to make before embarking on a new campaign.

Now is not the time to use only or primarily only generic search terms for those travel pay-per-click ad campaigns. According to a recent Hitwise report, traveling consumers are using more branded search terms when looking for the best travel deals.

According to the report, just over 75% of visits to travel websites (during the month of April) were the result of branded search queries. That means consumers aren't searching using queries like "cheap hotel" they are utilizing search queries like "Hilton hotel deals".

Most of the travel search queries made were for inventory owners, meaning actual hotel or airline brands, mapping websites or car rental dealers. Branded search queries for inventory owners increased 6% during the reporting period.

Another interesting finding is that generic search queries decreased by 12%. There was also a decrease (26%) is destination search queries such as "Disneyland" or "Las Vegas".

The biggest gainer? Mapping search queries and meta-search engines. Mapping websites accounted for just over 30% of visits to travel websites, a 13% increase year over year. Meta-search engines increased their standing 40% year over year.