What Should Your Expectations Be For Google Ads?

Google Ads is an great tool—you’re getting an ad in front of people right when they’re searching for vacation rentals in your area! There are some things to keep in mind though when planning to start a new ad campaign so your expectations are managed and you’re getting the most out of your budget.

Google Ads is based on people searching, so the trends you see with seasonality and bookings throughout the year will always be mirrored in your ad campaigns. These campaigns are important to drive additional bookings, but you will still see the most bookings from ads during your typical busy windows, and fewer during your shoulder seasons. As an example, if you’re in a ski destination, doubling your ad budget during the month of April is not going to result in double the bookings you’d normally get during this slower season. 

Another thing to keep in mind when starting new campaigns is that your Google Ads traffic will generally book at a similar rate to your organic traffic. If you’re converting organic visitors well, you’re a step ahead! If your organic conversion rates aren’t in a good place, it would be best to improve those numbers before spending money on ad campaigns to drive traffic to it. The better your organic conversion rates, the better those ad campaigns will perform.

Google Ads is an amazing channel to help boost your bookings and drive more traffic, but it’s not a savior from seasonality or shortcomings elsewhere, such as your website, properties, etc. Improving your overall site's conversion rate and allocating budgets to account for seasonality will go a long way towards improving your ad performance.