There have been a lot headlines that traditional search is dead due to the rise of AI Search via the generative AI platforms ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, etc. Some experts herald the end of Google’s monopoly on search and claim that traditional search marketing is becoming obsolete.
So, has Google lost market share to ChatGPT and other AI engines? On the contrary! Google search grew 21.64% in 2024, while ChatGPT’s search market share is less than 1%.
According to Search Engine Land, Google saw more than 5 trillion searches in 2024, or about 14 billion per day, giving it a 93.57% market share. ChatGPT saw an estimated 37.5 million search-like prompts per day, giving it a 0.25% market share. That’s less than Microsoft Bing (4.10%), Yahoo (1.35%), and DuckDuckGo (0.73%).
In other words, according to new data from Search Engine Land, Google saw ~373 times as many searches as ChatGPT in 2024!
So, should hoteliers abandon their search marketing initiatives? Definitely not! Search marketing on Google and all of its formats: Google Ads (GA), Google Hotel Ads (GHA), organic listings (SEO) consistently contributes to over 50% of hotel website bookings.
There is another reason not to abandon search marketing on Google. And here is why:
Mostly due to Google Gemini AI-provided information in the SERPs (Search engine results pages), today 58.5% of Google searches end without any clicks i.e. these are the so called zero click searches, where the user is satisfied by the information provided on the first page of the SERPs and does not click on any of the links – sponsored or organic.
What does it mean for hotel marketing? If there are no clicks, Google Ads become FREE MARKETING for the hotel since Google charges CPC (cost per click) only if someone clicks on your sponsored listing (Google Ads).
The moral of the story? Launch Google Ads a) focused on your branded keyword terms, with the goal of owning 100% SOV (Share of Voice), b) focused on your main feeder markets that bring 80% of your business (The Pareto Principle), c) if you haven’t done so, join the free booking links on Google Hotel Ads (GHA) program.
Due to the zero-click searches, the above will be very inexpensive, indeed!
