Advertising your vacation rental on Google Ads can seem like a daunting task that only experts understand – and the last thing you want to be doing is pouring thousands of dollars into an advertising campaign without understanding how it works. But mastering the art of Airbnb Google Ads isn’t as hard as it seems.

As a short-term rental host, you have the unique opportunity to develop and use tailored ads in order to increase bookings while also conserving resources. This step-by-step tutorial will provide you with all the tools necessary for achieving success with Google Ads – allowing you to reach more guests than ever before!

Host Tools provides an automated, unified calendar for short-term rental hosts, allowing you to seamlessly list on all major channels. Start your free trial today!

Introduction to Airbnb Google Ads for Hosts

Google Ads, formerly known as Google Adwords, is a powerful online advertising platform from Google that allows businesses to reach a vast network of potential customers. As an Airbnb host, you can use this platform to create and manage ad campaigns that are specifically tailored for your short-term rental business. With the right strategy in place, you can increase bookings and maximize the return on your investment.

Benefits of advertising on Google Ads

Google Ads is a powerful tool for hosts because it allows them to precisely target potential guests. Using keywords, geographic location targeting, and other features, you can deliver relevant ads tailored to your ideal customer.

Additionally, as host, you have the unique opportunity to experiment with different marketing strategies to determine the most effective ones. With detailed reports, you can measure each campaign’s performance and adjust accordingly to maximize bookings and profits.

Step-by-Step Guide to Google Ads for Short-Term Rentals

Now that you understand just why you need to utilize Google Ads, let’s walk through how to get your ad campaign up and running:

Create a new campaign

The first step is to log in to your Google Ads account and click “Campaigns.” From there, select “New Campaign.” For this example, we will select “Website traffic” because, as hosts, you’ll want to drive traffic to your direct booking site.

Choose a conversion goal

After selecting “Website traffic,” you’ll be prompted to choose a conversion goal. This is an important step because it will inform how your ads are structured and optimized for performance.

If you set up conversion tracking when setting up your Google Ads account, select the corresponding conversion goal from the drop-down menu. These are based on conversion actions like online purchases that help you organize and optimize your advertising objectives.

For short-term rentals, it’s best to select goals that correspond with direct bookings through your website rather than relying on third-party sites such as Airbnb or Booking.com. Everything in the “Purchase” category will include all the actions a customer has taken to book directly with you.

Decide on a campaign type

After selecting your conversion goal, you’ll be prompted to select a campaign type. Google Ads offers four different types:

1. Search campaigns: These campaigns will allow your ads to show up in search engine results when potential guests are searching for short-term rental properties. For example, when you Google something, it will pull up organic search results as well as Google Ads. You’re bidding to show up higher or lower in those search results.

2. Performance Max: This campaign type is designed to optimize conversions and will automatically adjust bids and budgets in order to maximize the number of conversions you get from your ad spend.

3. Display campaigns: These campaigns will help you reach potential guests through visually engaging banner ads on display networks. These ads will appear on websites that have a similar target audience to yours.

4. Shopping campaigns: These campaigns will allow your products to be visible in the Google Shopping tab, which is a great way to showcase images of your property and drive more bookings.

5. Video:  Video campaigns allow you to create visually engaging videos that can be used across multiple devices on YouTube.

6. Discovery: Discovery campaigns help you reach potential guests on Google’s discovery networks, such as YouTube and Gmail.

As a short-term rental host, you will likely want to work with search, display, and/or video ads.

Select your bidding focus

Once you have chosen your campaign type, you will be prompted to select a bid strategy. Here, you’ll need to decide how much you’re willing to spend on each click or view of your ad.

You’ll also need to decide if you want to focus on clicks or views, as this will determine how the ads are optimized. Google Ads offers a range of bid types to suit different budget sizes and goals. The two main ones are cost-per-click (CPC) and cost-per-thousand-impressions (CPM).

If you select CPC, then your ads will be optimized for clicks, and you’ll pay every time someone clicks on one of them. With CPM, you’ll only need to pay when your ad is viewed 1,000 times.

Target locations and languages

PC or CPM bidding is just one part of optimizing your Airbnb google ads. You’ll also need to target the right locations and languages. This will ensure that your ad reaches potential guests who are most likely to book with you.

Start by selecting a geographic region for your ad campaign, then add in any filters related to States/Provinces, Zip/Postal Codes, or Radius that you want the ad to target. You can also choose specific languages for your Airbnb google ads to be seen by people who are searching in those languages.

Create custom or automatically created assets

Capping off your Airbnb Google ads creation process is the asset selection. You can either upload custom assets, such as images and videos, or use automatically created ones. Automatically created assets are great if you’re short on time, as they generally include stock images and videos, so all you have to do is adjust the text accordingly.

Choose keywords and build ads

It’s important to engage in some keyword research. Filling out and optimizing your Airbnb google ads is the most time-consuming part of the setup process. You’ll need to come up with clever ad copy and select keywords that accurately reflect what potential guests are searching for. Invest in keyword resources like Keysearch or Semrush to find out what people are searching for.

Finalize your budget

Evaluate your budget and set limits for how much you’re willing to spend. Consider factors like desired impressions, cost per click, and Click-Through-Rate (CTR). Once you’ve determined a reasonable budget, it’s time to launch your Airbnb Google Ads campaign!

Edit & continually review

Trends are constantly changing, and your Airbnb google ads should be reviewed and updated regularly to ensure that you’re staying ahead of the competition. Make sure to review your Airbnb Google Ads performance reports to get an insight into what’s working and what isn’t. Then, make adjustments where needed, and remember to pause any underperforming campaigns!

Wrapping Up – Tips for Making the Most Out of Google Ads

Google Ads is a great tool for short-term rental hosts who want to promote their short-term rentals. With the right strategies and techniques, Airbnb hosts can maximize their ad campaigns and get more bookings. By following the steps outlined above, hosts can create effective Airbnb Google Ads that are effective and tailored to their specific needs.

Host Tools provides an automated, unified calendar for short-term rental hosts, allowing you to seamlessly list on all major channels. Start your free trial today!