The search giant Google announces a series of updates the company is implementing. They're all aimed for travel planners looking to get the best deal there is about flights and accommodations, and to help users in their decision making.
The first update Google is introducing, is the ability to resurface results when users are using Search to find specific types of hotels and flights. And based on the user's location, Google will find everything that fits the requirements. Users can also narrow down the results by using various filters such as "budget" or "luxury."
And not just limited to that, Google can also highlight certain deals when price comes cheaper than normal.
As a further enhancement, Google include the feature on Google Flight where users can adjust their travelling dates in order to get lower rates. The feature is now being brought over to hotel bookings where users can complete their travel planning process.
This feature Google is introducing, is similar to services from Expedia and Kayak. Here, Google wants to keep results straightforward so users can use Search to do both research and booking; making it the one-stop for travelling.
For example, travelers can book a September 14 to 16 stay at Exchange Suites in Memphis, Tennessee without leaving Google on a mobile device. "Book on Google directly with hotel," Google states. In this example, travelers enter their guest details on Google, choose a payment method through Google Wallet and then book the room.
After the announcement, Jonathan Alferness, VP of product management at Google, further detailed the updates in a blog post. Below are the few highlights:
- Hotel smart filters: Search results based on specific needs. Alferness wrote: "We'll make it easy to search for exactly what people want, like 'Pet-friendly hotels in San Francisco under $200' to find the perfect hotel for them."
- Hotel deals: "Deal" label on search results will be shown when there are hotel rates lower than usual, available for a user's specific travel date.
- Hotel tips: Google can give tips about how users can save with a little flexibility, like for example, travelling on a different day.
- Better flight price tracking: Google can notify users when a saved plan on Google Flight has dropped significantly in price.
At the moment of introduction, the feature is designed for mobile-first experience. Before launching the service, Google has taken steps and studies about how consumers are increasing mobile usage to help them in their travelling plans. This is from the moment they decide to take a vacation, finding out where they want to go, researching for logistics, and finding information about what they can do where they want to go.
And the one key that Google has learned is that: users respond to the promise of a deal.
Google aims to get those market first. But soon to follow, Google will also deliver the feature available for users of the web.
Helping Users Discover And Explore
Not just limited to helping users in planning and researching, as well as booking a flight and accommodation for a travel, Google also wants to help people in exploring and discovering things.
Showcase Shopping ads help people further explore and discover what they want to buy and where they want to buy it. For example, if a shopper searches 'summer dresses,' ASOS, a global apparel retailer, can now showcase its collection of dresses in a visually rich experience."
As a start, merchants using Shopping Campaigns in the U.S. UK and Australia, will be able to have their products to show up automatically in the Showcase ads. Google is also experimenting with a premium version where merchants can customize how their brand and products to appear.
Not stopping there, Google also leverages YouTube to add up the flexibility. According to the company, about 47 percent of the U.S. population uses YouTube to help them decide about something to buy, at least once a month. In order to give merchants more control over their branding, Google is introducing:
- Companion banner: A new interactive banner appearing next to the video that allows viewers to scroll through products while the video is playing next to it.
- Product picker: Allows advertisers to easily choose and prioritize which of their products are featured as cards in a TrueView for shopping campaign.
This update is rolling out globally, starting where TrueView for shopping is available.
Other features added by Google to aid users in doing travelling and discovering include currency conversion, starting in Australia, Switzerland, Canada, and the UK. And to get the latest consumer trends, research and advertiser strategies - from brands like Best Buy, William's Sonoma, Swarovski, La Quinta and Booking.com - to help users with their year end campaigns, Google is releasing a new Retail Micro-Moments Guide and Travel Micro-Moments Guide.