Travel Tripper's new eye-tracking study illustrates how user focus has shifted in Google search results pages. — Photo by Travel Tripper

(NEW YORK) — Travel Tripper released on Monday the results of a groundbreaking eye-tracking study on Google search results pages for the hotel industry. Testing specifically for brand name hotel searches on Google, the study data showed an increased user focus on Google ad products, as well as a decrease in visibility of organic search results.

Other significant findings in the study:

  • Changes in the way hotel name searches are displayed in Google have significantly influenced what users see and click on
  • The majority of users clicked on Google Ad products over organic results
  • A significant percentage of users do not realize that Google search ads or metasearch links are paid advertising
  • The overwhelming majority of clicks go to the first or second listing on the page

Travel Tripper's in-house digital marketing agency worked with the new biometric platform Sticky (sticky.ai) to conduct the eye-tracking study and survey.

"The results illustrate the importance of paid search on Google," said Tristan Heaword, Director of Digital Marketing at Travel Tripper. "With the majority of views and clicks going to Google ad products, hotel marketers not seriously investing in paid search are likely losing valuable traffic and bookings to OTAs who are bidding on the hotel's own name."

To view the results of the eye-tracking study, visit Travel Tripper's website. Additional findings will be discussed in a March 22 digital marketing webinar featuring Heaword, as well as panelists from Google, Voyat, and Highgate Hotels.

About Pegasus

Pegasus combines high-tech innovation with high-touch service to give hoteliers more control over their revenue and distribution strategy than ever before. Following their merger with Travel Tripper, Pegasus enables hoteliers to better connect with their guests through an innovative and flexible platform of Reservations, E-commerce, Global Sales, and Business Intelligence solutions that help hotels drive demand and increase revenue and profitability, including the Pegasus CRS, named Best CRS 2022 by Hotel Tech Report. With more than 30 years of experience in global distribution, Pegasus serves hotels across 120 countries from eight offices worldwide in New York, Scottsdale, Las Vegas, London, Paris, Frankfurt, Tokyo, and Hyderabad. For more information, visit www.pegs.com.

Nancy Huang
Senior Marketing Director

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