Planning a trip can be exciting, but it can also feel overwhelming when travelers have to compare flights, hotels, prices, activities, and reviews across different websites. For this campaign, I focused on how Expedia could use Google Ads to promote a new travel-planning feature called the Expedia SmartTrip AI Planner.
The SmartTrip AI Planner would help travelers build a personalized trip based on their budget, destination, travel dates, interests, and preferences. Instead of only searching for flights or hotels separately, travelers could use the toll to receive customized recommendations for their full trip experience.
About the Google Ads Campaign
Google Ads is a paid advertising platform that allows businesses to reach customers when they are searching online. For Expedia, this is important because many travelers start their planning process by searching on Google for thing like vacation packages, hotel deals, flight bundles, or travel planning tools.
The main goal of this campaign is to help Expedia reach travelers at the exact moment they are looking for help planning a trip. By using paid search ads, Expedia can appear in front of people who are already interested in travel and may be more likely to visit the website, create a trip plan, or complete a booking.
Campaign Objective
The objective of this Google Ads campaign is to increase qualified traffic to Expedia’s website and encourage more users to try the SmartTrip AI Planner. The campaign would focus on travelers who are actively searching for vacation planning support, affordable travel packages, and personalized itinerary ideas.
The campaign would also help Expedia increase brand engagement by showing travelers that Expedia is not only a booking website, but also a helpful planning tool. This supports Expedia’s goal of making travel easier, more personal, and more convenient for customers.
Target Keywords
Keyword research is an important part of successful Google Ads campaign because it helps the company understand what customers are actually searching for. For this campaign, Expedia would target keywords that show strong travel-planning intent.
Some possible keywords include:
- AI trip planner
- Plan my vacation
- Affordable vacation packages
- Family vacation planner
- Personalized travel itinerary
- Flight and hotel packages
- Best travel planning website
- Vacation deals near me
These keywords are useful because they connect directly to what the SmartTrip AI Planner offers. Expedia should also use negative keywords such as “free template,” “jobs,” or “school project” so the ads do not show for searches that are not related to booking travel.
Sample Google Search Ad
This sample ad is simple, clear, and focused on the customer’s need. It tells the traveler what the tool does and encourages them to take action by planning their trip.
Campaign Setup
For this campaign, Expedia could use a Google Search Campaign because it would target people who are already searching for travel-related information. The campaign could start as a pilot campaign in the Unites States, with a focus on larger travel markets such as Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
A possible starting budget could be around $200 per day for a 30-day test campaign. This would allow Expedia to collect data, review performance, and make changes before increasing the budget. The campaign could use a Maximize Conversions bidding strategy so Google can help focus on actions such as trip plans, account sign-ups, and completed bookings.
Measuring Campaign Success
The Google Ads dashboard would help Expedia track how well the campaign is performing, Important metrics would include impressions, clicks, click-through rate, average cost per click, conversions, conversion rate, and cost per conversion.
For example, if many people click on the ad but do not create a trip plan or complete a booking, Expedia may need to improve the landing page or adjust the keywords. If certain keywords lead to more bookings, Expedia can increase the budget for those ad groups.
Tracking the campaign results is important because digital marketing is not just about running ads. It is also about reviewing the data and making changes that improve performance over time.
Conclusion
Google Ads would be a strong way for Expedia to promote the SmartTrip AI Planner because it connects with travelers while they are already searching for travel solutions By using the right keywords, a clear ad message, and a helpful a landing page, Expedia can increase website traffic, improve customer engagement, and encourage more bookings.
This campaign also shows how paid search can support a larger digital marketing strategy. Expedia can use Google ads not only to advertise a product, but also to guide travelers through the planning process and make their travel experience easier from the beginning.
References
Google. (n.d.-a). Google Ads. https://business.google.com/us/google-ads/
Google. (n.d.-b). Get campaign keyword suggestions with Keyword Planner. https://business.google.com/us/ad-tools/keyword-planner/
Google. (n.d.-c). About keyword matching options. Google Ads Help. https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/7478529
Google. (n.d.-d). Use Keyword Planner. Google Ads Help. https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/7337243
Google. (n.d.-e). Create a Search campaign. Google Ads Help. https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9510373
Google. (2026). Reporting overview. Google Ads API. https://developers.google.com/google-ads/api/docs/reporting/overview
The Brittany Ates Marketing Portfolio 
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