Search Goes Down, Google Turns on the Juice
January 8, 2009
I saw several Web log posts and major media (dead tree outfits) articles about the decline in Web travel searches. A representative story is “Internet Travel Searches Drop 42 Percent” here. UK journalistic endeavors amuse me no end. Honk. Honk. Laura Dixon wrote:
Internet searches for flights were down over 40 per cent in the week after Christmas according to Hitwise, a division of Experian. Traffic to travel Web sites for the same period – up to the week ending January 3 – was also down 16 per cent.
Interesting but not the sort of data that makes me flap my wings. The addled goose thinks that a quick visit to Google.com is in order. I wonder if Ms. Dixon has entered this query in the Google search box: SFO LAX. That’s it. Two three letter strings. These abbreviations refer to airports. Here’s what the GOOG displayed for me:
My thought is that if the number of queries is down, what’s the value of appearing as one of the seven featured air ticket sources underneath the structured query insert? In fact, in the last few months, there’s been some shuffling of the featured carriers. Notice too that the Google system automatically converted the airport pair into a query. Set the dates, pick a vendor, and bingo you get a list of options. Pretty handy for mobile phone users too. I wonder if Microsoft will offer this feature on its forthcoming Verizon service.
To me the downturn in flight searches means that the Google will turn on the juice to get more revenue from advertisers who must get traffic. That’s a more interesting angle for the addled goose to consider. But I live in rural Kentucky and am not affiliated with an oh-so-excellent dead tree publication. There you go.
Stephen Arnold, January 8, 2009
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