Rand Fishkin of SparkToro on Google and digital marketing strategies

Figuring out the most effective ways to use Google to drive traffic and conversions is a fundamental task for anyone working in digital marketing. And it’s particularly high on the to-do list for marketers working in B2C travel, who pour billions of dollars into Google and other channels each year. In 2023, the combined sales and marketing spend of four of the largest online travel agencies – Airbnb, Booking Holdings, Expedia Group and Trip.com Group – was $16.8 billion, up from $14 billion the prior year.

So naturally any data and insights about Google and search trends overall get noticed by travel stakeholders. In May a leak of Google’s internal documents shed light on the functionality of the search giant’s algorithms that determine site visibility.

And in July digital marketing expert Rand Fishkin published the 2024 edition of his analysis of consumer search behavior on Google. Fishkin is the co-founder and CEO of SparkToro, which provides audience research tools and insights to help marketers better understand how to reach their target audience.

In his latest analysis of Google search behavior, Fishkin found that for every 1,000 Google searches, in the United States only 360 go to a non-Google-owned, non-Google-ad-paying property – what Fishkin calls the “open web.” The figure for searches originating in the European Union is slightly higher – 374 of 1,000. In the U.S., nearly 30% of all clicks go to platforms Google owns, including Google Maps, Google Flights, Google Hotels, YouTube and more.

We invited Fishkin to talk to PhocusWire about this study and in particular what travel marketers should learn from the data. In a wide-ranging discussion he shared more about the analysis, and why zero-click content is so important. He also offered advice for travel marketers on how digital marketing will change in the years to come – and why a focus on brand building is critical as attribution-centric models become less relevant. And Fishkin offered his thoughts on large language models and how they may impact search.

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