Bidding on the right keywords
Keywords are the foundation of every PPC campaign. But it’s not just about choosing the right terms — it’s about understanding match types and how they control which searches actually trigger your ads. For travel advertisers, getting match types wrong can mean burning budget on irrelevant traffic or missing the high-intent searches that actually drive bookings. Here’s everything you need to know.
Why is Keyword Match Type important?
Match types determine how closely a user’s search query needs to match your keyword for your ad to be eligible to show. Choosing the right match type lets you target the searchers most likely to book while filtering out irrelevant traffic. In our experience, match type decisions are one of the most impactful structural choices in a travel PPC campaign — an overly broad match type strategy can easily double your spend with no improvement in conversions, while an overly restrictive strategy misses legitimate high-intent searches you should be capturing.
Different Match Types
Generic keywords
Generic travel keywords — “holidays”, “tours”, “things to do” — have high search volumes but low conversion intent. We tend to use these sparingly in travel campaigns, typically in awareness-stage campaigns with controlled budgets. The competition from OTAs on generic terms is fierce, CPCs are high, and the traffic quality is often poor for direct response campaigns.
Branded keywords
Branded keywords — your operator name, your tour product names — capture high-intent users who already know you. Branded campaigns are typically the most efficient in a travel PPC account: low CPCs, high conversion rates, and protection against competitors bidding on your brand name. They should always be running.
Transactional keywords
Transactional keywords signal commercial intent: “book escorted tour Italy”, “self-guided cycling holiday France”, “ferry tickets Calais”. These are the keywords that drive bookings and enquiries, and they should form the core of your direct response campaigns. What we’ve found is that travel advertisers who invest in comprehensive transactional keyword coverage — including long-tail variations — consistently outperform those who rely on a small set of high-volume generic terms.
Long-tail keywords
Long-tail keywords are more specific and lower volume, but they typically have higher conversion intent and lower CPCs. “Small group walking tours Dolomites 2025” is a long-tail keyword — anyone searching that specific term is well into their decision-making process. Building out comprehensive long-tail keyword lists for your key destinations and trip types is one of the most cost-effective things you can do in travel PPC.
Informational keywords
Informational keywords — “best time to visit Patagonia”, “what to pack for a safari” — are typically better served by SEO and content strategy than paid search. Including them in your direct response PPC campaigns usually drives high bounce rates and poor conversion. If you want to capture this audience through paid channels, consider content promotion campaigns with softer CTAs rather than mixing them into your booking-focused ad groups.
Location keywords
Location-specific keywords — destination names, regional modifiers, departure city terms — are highly relevant for travel PPC and should be well represented in your keyword strategy. For ferry operators in particular, route-specific keywords (“Dover to Calais ferry”, “Portsmouth to Bilbao ferry”) are core commercial terms. For tour operators, destination keywords combined with trip type modifiers (“guided tours Morocco”, “luxury safari Kenya”) capture the specific intent your campaigns should be built around.
Keyword Match Types
Broad match
The benefits
Broad match casts the widest net — your ads can show for searches related to your keyword, including synonyms, related terms, and variations Google’s algorithm considers relevant. It’s useful for discovery: finding search terms you hadn’t thought to target. With Smart Bidding, broad match has become more viable in recent years, as the algorithm can use conversion signals to filter toward higher-quality traffic within the broad match pool.
The cons
Without careful management, broad match in travel generates significant irrelevant traffic. A broad match keyword like “Italy tours” may show your ads for searches about Italian cooking holidays, football tours, or school trips — categories you don’t serve. Regular search term report reviews and aggressive negative keyword management are essential if you’re using broad match. In our experience, broad match works best in mature campaigns with good conversion history, where Smart Bidding has enough data to make sensible match decisions.
Phrase Match
The benefits:
Phrase match shows your ads for searches that include your keyword’s meaning, in the same order. “Guided tours Spain” as a phrase match keyword will show for “guided walking tours Spain 2025” or “best guided tours Spain for couples” — capturing genuine intent variations without the wild reach of broad match. It’s a useful middle ground for travel campaigns, particularly for destination and trip-type terms where the core phrase is a strong intent signal.
The cons:
Phrase match can still generate some irrelevant traffic, particularly for ambiguous travel terms. Regular search term monitoring remains important, though typically less intensive than for broad match campaigns. Phrase match works well as the default for mid-funnel travel keywords where you want controlled reach with reasonable specificity.
Exact Match
The benefits:
Exact match gives you the tightest control — your ads show only for searches that match your keyword’s meaning closely, with no additional words or significant variations. For travel’s most valuable terms — branded keywords, high-intent destination searches, specific tour product names — exact match ensures you’re bidding precisely and efficiently. Conversion rates are typically highest on exact match terms because traffic quality is highest.
The cons:
Exact match misses legitimate variations of your target searches. A customer might search “escorted tours to Morocco” or “Morocco escorted tours” — slight variations that might not both trigger the same exact match keyword. Building comprehensive exact match lists for travel campaigns requires investment in keyword research, and you’ll want phrase match as a complement to catch the variations exact match misses. What we’ve found is that a layered approach — exact match for highest-value terms, phrase match for broader coverage, broad match for discovery — is usually the most effective structure for travel PPC accounts.