The rise of AI-powered search results is changing the way that guests discover, find, and book accommodations, making it vital to understand how your hotel may appear within AI responses.
As Google introduces more AI-based features into their search results, Google Hotel Ads continue to have an impact. Hotel metasearch has always been an important part of any hotel’s marketing strategy, but the inclusion of Google Hotel Ads within AI search results brings this importance to a whole new level.
Non-AI search results
Google Hotel Ads are somewhat common in traditional search results, with a small selection of properties appearing under a variety of location-based searches. Organic results often include an expandable list with a map to explore further, and paid results may be featured as a carousel of properties.
Even with the rise of AI-powered results, these lists of properties continue to appear. However, they aren’t as prevalent as they used to be.
It’s still possible to see more traditional search results, with no AI Overview and a Google Hotel Ads feature at the top of the page. More commonly, though, an AI Overview will appear above these features, de-prioritizing the list format.
In some cases, an AI Overview might even replace the list-style feature altogether.
AI Overviews
AI Overviews tend to be prioritized over the traditional format for Google Hotel Ads, but that doesn’t mean metasearch is completely irrelevant to AI search results.
AI Overviews regularly incorporate information from Google Hotel Ads including hotel name, price range, and featured offers, and may even link to metasearch listings. In the example below, information from Google Hotel Ads is present within the summaries for neighborhoods and suggested hotels.
Even better, clicking one of the neighborhood headings (such as “Back Bay”) leads to a separate search results page featuring the more traditional list of properties pulled from Google Hotel Ads.
The incorporation of Google Hotel Ads is a fairly common occurrence within AI Overviews, clearly marking this as an important source of information for Google’s AI model.
AI Mode
While AI Overviews are shown alongside traditional search results, AI Mode is an isolated experience that offers exclusively AI-powered responses. However, Google Hotel Ads are still incredibly relevant here.
Both AI Mode and AI Overviews use the same AI model to generate responses, incorporating the same data from Google Hotel Ads. AI Mode takes this a step further though, regularly including small lists of properties more akin to the traditional search features.
In this example, AI Mode generated a number of categories within the context of Boston hotels, each one including a small selection of properties sourced from Google Hotel Ads.
Though properties from Google Hotel Ads are interspersed among other text, it’s hard to deny the prominence that these listings have within AI Mode. This is even more clear at the bottom of the response, where we found a live map with each of the locations mentioned throughout.
These lists of properties, as well as the map, are easily some of the most common features that we’ve seen while exploring AI Mode.
Takeaways
As search results continue to evolve and AI tools become more common, Google Hotel Ads will remain a vital piece of your hotel’s marketing strategy. Both AI Overviews and AI Mode incorporate information from Google Hotel Ads while generating responses, and lists of featured properties continue to appear in results. Though the appearance of Google Hotel Ads may be changing, there’s no denying its continued relevance to the search experience.
To improve your hotel’s chances of appearing in AI search results, make sure to utilize Google Hotel Ads to its fullest potential.
- Participate in hotel metasearch via a provider such as Metadesk to maximize Google Hotel Ads visibility.
- Make sure that Google Business Profile and Google Hotel Ads are well-optimized, with complete and accurate information, to build credibility within Google’s algorithm.
- Focus on well-structured website content and a smooth booking engine experience to reduce friction and make your site easy to use for both human users and AI models.
To learn more about Google Hotel Ads or get your hotel started, reach out to GCommerce today.
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