Leading up to Search Engine Strategies San Jose, we plan to interview a number of our search marketing colleagues speaking at or attending the show. Our first interview is with Sean Walsh, VP Online Marketing at LuxuryLink.com. LuxuryLink is the world’s leading luxury vacation and resort website. The company offers 5-star vacation rentals in both auction and fixed-price formats. Sean is scheduled to speak on Monday, August 18 as part of the Search Industry Update panel. 1. What kind of growth rate have online luxury travel-related searches seen over the last year or two? Do you see demand in this category following demand for other luxury goods and services on and off-line?That’s a tough one for me, as I’ve only been in the travel space since the end of last year. However, I have reviewed some performance reports from the old paid search agency that LuxuryLink.com used, and the data tend to suggest that search volume is up marginally since the beginning of 2007.2. What kind of rough range on CPC prices in your vertical are you seeing? How does this compare with 1 year ago (or since you started, as appropriate). 

Of course, this is highly dependent on position. That said, I’ve seen average CPC’s ranging from $0.30 to $3 for the top 7 positions. I know that’s a wide range, but I’ve got to protect LuxuryLink.com proprietary information. I wish I could protect it from Google, too, but that’s another story…
Regarding YOY comparisons, it’s a tough question to answer. I don’t think we have a single ad that is still running from a year ago. I believe that we’re improving our quality score, and therefore reducing our average CPC, which obfuscates any external market-based pricing trends. Are CPC’s keeping up with oil and milk prices? I doubt it! I’d have to hold an ad in a constant position over time to really answer the question. And, we’re pretty relentless when it comes to testing and optimization, so we haven’t done that. 

3. Do you do much paid search, SEO, or online display advertising internationally and/or in non-US languages? If so, which countries and/or languages have you found the most fertile for advertising luxury travel in?

International display – sort of. I’m sure most big US-based travel sites get international visitors, but I don’t receive those stats. International PPC – yes, but only in English, and only on Google. We are considering SEO to be pretty much intrinsically international. We are planning some foreign language/currency initiatives but haven’t launched anything yet.

In terms of International travel, there are two big forces at work here: 1)the plummeting value of the dollar (that helps us), and 2) the skyrocketing price of air travel (that hurts us). Currently, I think #1 is a much stronger force, but that could change.

There’s another aspect to the International equation for us, too. Since we offer vacation packages in over 60 countries, some couple in, say, Italy can visit LuxuryLink.com and win an auction for a resort just up the street from their house. Most auctions close WELL below retail value. Then, they can pay in $US! It’s a double benefit for them.

Empirically speaking, our international conversion rates DO suggest that people are becoming very aware of this unique opportunity. As I previously mentioned, our site is English-only, yet our bidder conversion rates in places like Germany/Italy/Switzerland/even UAE are VERY attractive. As such, we’re pursuing those buyers.
 
 

4. How are paid search and paid inclusion doing for you as an acquisition channel vs. other online formats/tactics?

PS/PI do well for customer acquisition. The ROI is better, relative to other paid tactics, like display. Furthermore, it is reasonably scalable. Our affiliate program also has a decent ROI, relative to other tactics, but it is more difficult to push on the affiliate channel. It tends to grow at it’s own rate.

5. What’s the most important thing you have learned about paid search marketing in the luxury travel space?

The most important thing in the luxury travel space, is actually the same as every other vertical market… relentless testing is crucial to success. As for vertical-specific lessons, I’m going to keep those to myself. Don’t want the competition catching-on to my secrets…
6. What are the biggest challenges you face as a search marketer? What do you think they will be a year from now?

One of the biggest challenges is staying one step ahead of the pack. I’ve found that, by pushing ahead at my own pace, as opposed to obsessing over the industry’s “best practices”, I can consistently hit my growth targets, in spite of macro-economic headwinds which we’re now facing. The fact is, once a practice is widely considered to be “best”, it loses its competitive advantage.

To observe this in action, one need look no further than the Big 3’s sales teams. I’m sorry to report that they are often LESS knowledgeable about how their own ad serving platforms work, than marketers with a few years experience in the trenches. My disappointing experience is that these teams are heavily trained in a sort of double-speak that pushes their own revenue under the guise of improving the advertiser’s campaign performance.

Frankly, I suspect that many of these sales people are too naive to see this incongruity. It’s a good news / bad news scenario. The good news is that many of their intentions are probably noble. The bad news is that paid search success requires more than noble intentions! Anyway, it’s an open market, and therefore competitive. You don’t see hedge funds sharing their best trading practices with each other on CNBC. Actually, you see a fair amount of the opposite… misinformation campaigns!

This will never change. However, a year from now, I can imagine a new challenge. It will be fighting Google’s increasingly manipulative pricing practices. As their earnings start to slip, and their market share grows, they may be tempted to cut things a little closer to the “do no evil” motto.

GR: Thanks Sean. To our readers - we’ll be following up with Sean and our other interview subjects from the show itself most likely with brief video segments.