Kantar Media’s analysis of the top 10 search advertisers on Google for the first quarter of 2011 shows a total investment level of $252.2 million, an increase of 57.5 percent compared to a year ago.

Published: 10 Jun 2011

Kantar Media’s analysis of the top 10 search advertisers on Google for the first quarter of 2011 shows a total investment level of $252.2 million, an increase of 57.5 percent compared to a year ago.

Half of the companies in the top 10 were financial companies and despite an 11 percent decrease in spend, e-commerce company Amazon continues to lead as the largest paid search advertiser from Q4 2010.

While ad spending is a commonly used metric, Kantar Media’s monitoring of paid search includes rich detail about keyword activity. In the travel industry, Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity compete aggressively as one-stop shopping sites for booking travel reservations online. Search advertising is a significant marketing channel for each of them. Using a snapshot in time – January 2011 – Kantar Media has mined its database of search spending and keyword activity to analyse how these rivals carried out their search campaigns. All of the data and findings presented here solely reflect the Google search engine.

Digital Budget Allocation

In January, Expedia and Travelocity resoundingly outspent Orbitz. While Expedia loaded up on search, Travelocity opted for a more balanced mix that included a sizable budget for Internet display ads.

Share of Spend vs. Share of Clicks

Among the three advertisers, Expedia accounted for 64 percent of the combined search spending but only 49 percent of total keyword clicks generated. This indicates a higher average cost per click across the set of keywords analysed as compared to Orbitz and Travelocity.

Orbitz achieved a more efficient return with an almost 2:1 ratio of click share (19.5 percent) versus spend share (9.8 percent).

Top 10 Keywords

Given the high brand name awareness these advertisers have achieved it is no surprise that the top keyword for driving traffic to each advertiser’s website was its own branded name. Spelling variants also ranked high. Beyond this, many generic terms appear high on each list indicating these advertisers are buying the same common “must have” keyword terms.

Where striking differences emerge is further down the rankings. Keyword terms that are unique to a single advertiser can be identified. Unifying themes linking clusters of keywords and delivering incremental search traffic also emerge. Strategies for contesting smaller battles on the perimeter of the marketplace, where toeholds can be gained and profits earned, come into focus through keyword analysis.

Keyword Insight #1: Hotels versus Destinations

Kantar analysed and grouped keywords on two separate dimensions: (1) search terms indicating a geographic destination; and (2) any generic or branded keyword referring to hotels. It was possible for a keyword to qualify for both groups (e.g., “las vegas hotels”). Then the company tabulated the number of clicks by advertiser and expressed it as a percent share of total clicks for ALL of their keywords in its database.

For destination keywords, the share of clicks ranged from 21 percent to 4 percent. For hotel keywords, two advertisers (Expedia and Orbitz) had more than 2x the share of clicks as Travelocity.

The high shares from Expedia for both groups of keywords – 21 percent of clicks came from terms associated with a destination and 30 percent from terms indicating a hotel search. In fact, the analysis shows Expedia played both angles simultaneously by using targeted keywords that combined destinations and hotels. (For example, “Las Vegas hotels”). Nearly 42 percent of its hotel keyword clicks were from terms that also included a destination term.

Keyword Insight #2: Orbitz Unique Keywords Reveals A Clever Targeting Strategy

By lining up keywords across a competitive set of advertisers, unique terms can be identified and additional insights uncovered. Consider the case of Orbitz.

With a January search budget that lagged far behind its two rivals, Orbitz surely needed to extract every last drop of return on its investment. One of the strategies it used was to purchase keywords targeted at niche segments of travellers. Specifically – gays, students (and/or their parents) planning spring break trips, people looking for specialty bed & breakfast lodging and Broadway ticket buyers. As it turned out, none of these keywords appeared on the lists for either Expedia or Travelocity – they were unique to Orbitz.