Accommodation Providers NZ/AUS Search Reach

Accommodation Providers NZ/AUS Search Reach

FIRST, a New Zealand based leading digital marketing agency has just released a new industry report showing how visible accommodation providers are within Google’s Search Results.

Furthermore, a consumer survey was carried out discovering that around 18% of Kiwis plan on vacationing to Australia as their next destination.

By utilising their bespoke metric called RBR (Rankings Based Reach) FIRST revealed that Wotif leads the RBR for the analysed search terms in New Zealand – followed by Expedia and AA Travel.

In general, the accommodation market is highly competitive with lots of smaller and bigger players competing for more online market share. Moreover, global players also have a strong presence on the New Zealand market and sustained focus on different channels such as search, display, social media, e-mail marketing and investing in a robust digital marketing strategy will be a key cornerstone to drive revenue growth.

Interestingly, some global players such as TripAdvisor rank very well in Australia’s search engine, but not so good in New Zealand. Furthermore, FIRST analysed ranking positions of companies in mobile & desktop search and discovered that there was not often, but sometimes quite a difference. For example, Expedia ranks second in desktop search, but fifth position in mobile search.

Another area FIRST took a look at was the brand search volume for the analysed companies and discovered that Wotif’s brand search volume has decreased over the last couple of years and that Expedia and TripAdvisor have continuously increased their brand search volume. This is often a good measure of offline brand, promotional activity taking place, assisting brand recognition and facilitating brand recognition.

Smaller player Bookabach has significantly increased its brand search volume over the last couple of years, in contrast to AA Travel and Travelbug.

Surprisingly, also 31% of respondents mentioned that they would stay at a friends place or family when going on vacation, followed by more than 20% of Kiwis who would stay at a Motel. Only one in 40 respondents would stay at a Backpackers place.

Another interesting outcome was that nearly half of all respondents mentioned they look for accommodation 12 weeks+ prior to the actual vacation and only one in 20 would book in the week they went on the vacation. This validates the need for accommodation providers to be found in the ‘consideration phase’ as consumers are researching and exploring options, in most cases online.

If you want to take your business to the next level download the full accommodation SEO industry report and consumer survey, at the FIRST website.

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ENDS

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