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Holiday keyword Research

We have been investigating the winners and losers in terms of which Travel Companies are achieving good Search Engine Optimisation results; that is, being found naturally in the Search Engines. We have limited our research to Google, Yahoo and MSN, these are reported to account for over 85% of all UK searches. We have also limited our research to the 63 main key phrases that include the word Holiday or Holidays.

One of the conclusions of this research is that irrespective of how large a business you are, or how large your annual budget is for SEO, you are not guaranteed a page one appearance for a particular keyword or key phrase. In fact we see major brands within the big four (Thomson, First Choice, MyTravel, Thomas Cook) with very few page one appearances, whist individual private villa or apartment owners are able to achieve a top 5 page one ranking.

The research, also reveals which businesses focus on Search Engine Optimisation. As a general rule, we see many of the more specialist dot com travel businesses out-gunning their traditional travel industry counterparts; almost certainly, because they rely 100% on the web for their business. It can also be argued, that they are web professionals targeting the Travel Industry, rather than traditional Tour Operators attempting to get a grip on the web site development and keyword optimisation. An example would be BargainHolidays.com (part of LastMinute.com).

One of the greatest gifts that the internet has bestowed upon us, is the huge volume of statistics regarding customer behavior, the terminology that they use when "searching" the web. Why do 180,000 searchers each month type in "book a holiday", and not specify a destination or a holiday type, come to that why do 5 million of us just key in the word holiday or holidays?. Travel businesses should look at all of the available data even before buying the domain name. As the results show, the Domain name can be important particularly on Yahoo and MSN.

The tables below, show the keyword, the approximate number of searches in a month (these are for May 2007). For each of the three main search engines; we show the top ten placed web sites, that is those that have naturally made page one of the search results. If a Holiday brand appears in a top ten spot in more than one search engine for that specific keyword; we have colour coded the brand, to make spotting good SEO performances. In the first table for the keyword "Holidays"; Saga were 4th on MSN, 4th on Yahoo and 7th on Google. The results below were gathered in a 24 hour period during the week ending 12th October 2007.

The summary of our findings is shown at the bottom of this page.

 
 
Keyword: holidays 
5,039,000
MSN
Yahoo
Google
1
Thomson
BargainHolidays.com
Thomson
2
Thomson
DirectLine
DirectLine
3
Hampshire CC
Teletext Holidays
First Choice
4
Saga
Saga
Holiday Hypermarket
5
First Choice
LastMinute.com
Teletext Holidays
6
DirectLine
Web-Holidays.com
LastMinute.com
7
Trip Advisor
TravelSupermarket
Saga
8
Holiday Hypermarket
Wikipedia
Cosmos
9
TravelCare
Barrhead Travel
TravelSupermarket
10
AirHolidays
Wikipedia
Holiday.co.uk
 
 
Keyword: cheap holidays 
1,300,000
MSN
Yahoo
Google
1
CheapHolidays.com
CheapHolidayDeals.co.uk
CheapHolidays.com
2
CheapHolidays.com
FreeUK.com
Co-op Travel Shop
3
DirectLine
Teletext Holidays
Sunshine.co.uk
4
On The Beach
CheapHolidays.com
DirectLine
5
PackYourBags.com
CheaperHolidays.com
Holiday Hypermarket
6
Torpoint Travel
Holiday Hypermarket
On The Beach
7
Sunshine.co.uk
Sunshine.co.uk
CheapHolidayDeals.co.uk
8
CheapHolidaysUncovered.com
Co-op Travel Shop
PackYourBags.com
9
CheaperHolidays.com
Barrhead Travel
BargainHolidays.com
10
AirHolidays
DirectLine
BeattheBrochure.com
 
 
Keyword: golf holiday 
998,000
MSN
Yahoo
Google
1
UK School of Golf
GolfAmigos.co.uk
UK School of Golf
2
Golf Holiday Company
Golf-Grampian.co.uk
GolfBreaks.com
3
americangolfholiday.com
GreatGolfHolidays.com
YourGolfTravel.com
4
YourGolfHoliday.com
PlayGolfinSpain.com
Longmere Golf
5
golfholidayinspain.co.uk
ExecutiveGolfHolidays.com
LaMangaSpain.co.uk
6
HolidayLettings.co.uk
UKGolfdelSol.com
FairwayBreaks.com
7
holidaylets.net
GolfBreaks.com
BillGoff.com
8
portugalgolfholiday.com
GolfHolidaysAbroad.com
Where2Golf.com
9
clickrentstay-golf.com
ProSolGolf.com
GolfdelaLuz.com
10
heartofwalesgolfbreaks.co.uk
UK School of Golf
heartofwalesgolfbreaks.co.uk
       
       
Keyword: bargain holidays 
951,000
MSN
Yahoo
Google
1
BargainHolidays.com
BargainHolidays.com
BargainHolidays.com
2
HolidayHolidayHoliday.co.uk
BargainHolidays.com
DirectLine
3
Holiday Hypermarket
Teletext Holidays
DirectLine
4
Holiday Warehouse
LastMinute.com
Holiday Hypermarket
5
bargainholidayguide.co.uk
Celtic Holidays
Holiday Warehouse
6
On The Beach
DirectLine
Airtours
7
On The Beach
Barrhead Travel
Global Holidays
8
bargain-holidays-worldwide.co.uk
Holiday Hypermarket
HolidayHolidayHoliday.co.uk
9
Global Holidays
BargainHolidaysSite.com
Expedia
10
bargainboatholidays.co.uk
JetlineTravel.com
LastMinute.com
       
       
Keyword: family holiday 
877,000
MSN
Yahoo
Google
1
Family Holiday Association
Siblu
Airtours
2
welcomefamily.co.uk
FamilyHolidays.biz
TaketheFamily.com
3
welcomefamily.co.uk
HolidayWizard.co.uk
Thomas Cook
4
UK family holiday directory
DirectLine
First Choice
5
Haven Holidays
FamilyHolidaySouthWest.co.uk
ResponsibleTravel.com
6
Barrhead Travel
Guardian
DirectLine
7
CentreParcs
Haven
Siblu
8
Butlins
Family Holiday Association
Virgin Holidays
9
Sovereign
TaketheFamily.com
CentreParcs
10
family-holiday-bargains.co.uk
Holiday Hypermarket
FamilyHolidaySouthWest.co.uk
       
       
Keyword: last minute holiday 
596,000
MSN
Yahoo
Google
1
Holiday Hypermarket
LastMinute.com
LastMinute.com
2
HolidayHolidayHoliday.co.uk
LastMinuteVillaHoliday.co.uk
CheapHolidayDeals.co.uk
3
HolidayHolidayHoliday.co.uk
CheapHolidayDeals.co.uk
Holiday Hypermarket
4
HolidayHoliday.co.uk
Last-Minute-Holidays.me.uk
Holiday Hypermarket
5
First Choice
Holiday Hypermarket
Teletext Holidays
6
First Choice
LastMinute-Wales.com
Expedia
7
last-minute-holiday-break.co.uk
Travel-Quest.co.uk
Thomas Cook
8
last-minute-holiday-break.co.uk
Holiday Hypermarket
First Choice
9
On The Beach
LastMinute-Cottages.co.uk
Going Places
10
Holiday.co.uk
Unique-Cottages.co.uk
TheFirstResort.com
       
       
Keyword: package holidays 
434,000
MSN
Yahoo
Google
1
Teletext Holidays
TravelSupermarket
TravelSupermarket
2
DirectLine
Kasbah.com
DirectLine
3
Holiday Hypermarket
BBC
Cosmos
4
holidays-package.co.uk
DirectLine
MyTravel
5
Jersey Travel Service
Co-op Travel Shop
Co-op Travel Shop
6
madeiraportugal.co.uk
Wikipedia
Holiday.co.uk
7
Holiday.co.uk
Arun Travel
STA Travel
8
cheap-package-holidays.co.uk
Late-Holiday-Bargains.com
Holiday Hypermarket
9
STA Travel
Barrhead Travel
PackYourBags.com
10
greenislandholidays.com
Jet2Holidays.com
TheFirstResort.com
       
       
Keyword: canary island holidays 
334,000
MSN
Yahoo
Google
1
Holiday Hypermarket
Corona Holidays
DirectLine
2
First Choice
Holiday Hypermarket
LastMinute.com
3
iknow-canaryislands.co.uk
CanaryIslandResorts.com
Canary-Isles.com
4
HolidayHolidayHoliday.co.uk
CanaryIslandResorts.com
HolidayLettings.co.uk
5
Seguro Holidays
LanzaroteHolidays.biz
Holiday Hypermarket
6
DirectLine
Seguro Holidays
Travel-Library.com
7
takemetocanaries.co.uk
JetlineTravel.com
Icanarias.com
8
iglu.com
HolidayLanzarote.com
Canaries-live.com
9
Freedom direct
CanaryIslandsMap.co.uk
Canaries-live.com
10
CanaryIslandResorts.com
Thomson
Corona Holidays
       
       
Keyword: turkey holidays 
284,000
MSN
Yahoo
Google
1
Live.Turkey.co.uk
Libra Holidays
Live.Turkey.co.uk
2
Holiday Hypermarket
Live.Turkey.co.uk
DirectLine
3
DirectLine
bargainholidays.com
Holiday Hypermarket
4
bargainholidays.com
Holiday Hypermarket
HolidayMate.com
5
TurkeyHolidays.com
HolidayMate.com
Thomson
6
HolidayMate.com
DirectLine
Manos
7
First Choice
BuzzyTravel.com
bargainholidays.com
8
Libra Holidays
TurkishPlaces.co.uk
JetSunHolidays.com
9
Manos
BeattheBrochure.com
GoldTrail.co.uk
10
On The Beach
FalconHolidays.ie
HotelsTurkey.co.uk
       
       
Keyword: usa holiday 
252,000
MSN
Yahoo
Google
1
Holiday Hypermarket
Holiday2USA.co.uk
Virgin Holidays
2
HolidayHoliday.co.uk
Titan Hitours
Virgin Holidays
3
Holiday Watchdog
HolidayBank.co.uk
FunWayHolidays.co.uk
4
HolidayLettings.co.uk
Holiday Hypermarket
Holiday Hypermarket
5
HolidayLettings.co.uk
AmericanSky.co.uk
JustAmerica.co.uk
6
Titan Hitours
AutoToursUSA.com
DreamUSA.co.uk
7
Holiday-Rentals.co.uk
FunWayHolidays.co.uk
StateSavers.co.uk
8
Holiday Autos
AmericanSky.co.uk
DialaFlight
9
holidaylets.net
Holiday2USA.co.uk
AmericanSky.co.uk
10
DirectLine
USAAnswers.co.uk
Titan Hitours
       
       
Keyword: activity holidays 
238,000
MSN
Yahoo
Google
1
Activity-Holidays.co.uk
Activity-Holidays.co.uk
AdventureSportHolidays.com
2
ActivityWales.com
ActivityWales.com
ActiveAdventures.co.uk
3
AdventureSportHolidays.com
ActivityScotland.org.uk
BAHA
4
ActivityHolidaysGuide.com
Activity-Holidays.com
ActivitiesAbroad.com
5
Taber Holidays
ActivitiesAbroad.com
Exodus
6
Centre Parcs
ActivityHolidaysGuide.com
Travel-Quest.co.uk
7
Centre Parcs
ActiveAdventures.co.uk
PGL
8
Co-op Travel
Activity-Holidays.com
Guerba.co.uk
9
ActivityScotland.org.uk
ActivityHolsNI.co.uk
Activity-Scotland.org.uk
10
ActivitiesAbroad.com
AmericanAdventures.com
ActivityHolidaysGuide.com
       
       
Keyword: cheap package holidays
238,000
MSN
Yahoo
Google
1
cheap-package-holidays.co.uk 
DirectLine
DirectLine
2
cheap-package-holidays.co.uk 
CheaperHolidays.com
MyTravel
3
CheapHolidays.com
TravelSupermarket
TravelSupermarket
4
Holiday.co.uk
Co-op Travel Shop
BargainHolidays.com
5
DirectLine
Kasbah.com
Holiday Hypermarket
6
PackYourBags.com
CheapHolidays.com
BeattheBrochure.com
7
Barrhead Travel
Holiday Hypermarket
Co-op Travel Shop
8
Co-op Travel Shop
Virgin.com
theFirstResort.com
9
cheap-package-holidays.com
Thomson
CheapHolidays.com
10
holidays-package.co.uk
Late-Holiday-Bargains.com
Barrhead Travel
       
       
Keyword: holiday villas 
223,000
MSN
Yahoo
Google
1
Holiday-Villas.com
Holiday-Villas.com
James Villas
2
VillaRenters.com
HolidayVillasinCrete.gr
Holiday-Rentals.co.uk
3
James Villas
TheHolidayLocker.com
Click4HolidayHomes.com
4
Click4HolidayHomes.com
Villa-Holiday-Company.co.uk
DreamVillaRentals.com
5
SunIsle.co.uk
SunIsle.co.uk
Owners Direct
6
VillasToGo
OasisViillas.com
Holiday-Villas.com
7
DreamVillaRentals.com
NorthCyprusVillas.com
VillaRenters.com
8
Premier Holidays
HolidayBank.co.uk
HolidayLettings.co.uk
9
HolidayHomeOnline.com
Holiday-Rentals.com
Premier Holidays
10
HolidayVillas.com
VillaHolidaySeeker.co.uk
HolidayBank.co.uk
       
       
Keyword: villa holidays 
223,000
MSN
Yahoo
Google
1
VillaHolidays.com
Villa-Holiday-Company.co.uk
James Villas
2
Villa-Holidays.com
VillasToGo
First Choice
3
Villa-Holidays.com
Cyprus-Villa-Holidays.co.uk
DreamVillaRentals.com
4
Style Holidays
VillaSeek.com
VillaHolidays.com
5
Villa-Holiday-Company.co.uk
James Villas
VillaWorld.co.uk
6
VillaCentre
VillaCentre
VillaCentre
7
VillaPlus
Iglu Villas
Click4HolidayHomes.com
8
Iglu Villas
LastMinuteVillaHoliday.co.uk
Holiday-Rentals.co.uk
9
villaholidays.com.hk
PrivateVilla.com
Meon Villas
10
Cosmos
Solmar Villas
VillaSeek.com
 
 
Keyword: caribbean holidays 
211,000
MSN
Yahoo
Google
1
Caribbean.co.uk
Caribbean.co.uk
CaribbeanCollection.co.uk
2
CaribbeanCollection.co.uk
Holiday Hypermarket
Virgin Holidays
3
CaribbeanCollection.co.uk
Tropical Sky
Virgin Holidays
4
Holiday Hypermarket
Iglu.com
Holiday Hypermarket
5
Virgin Holidays
Thomson
On the Beach
6
Virgin Holidays
DreamCaribbean.co.uk
Thomson
7
Tropical Sky
Virgin Holidays
Excel
8
LetsGo2.com
Sunvil
DreamCaribbean.co.uk
9
First Choice
LetsGo2.com
DirectLine
10
Elegant Resorts
Free2.co.uk
Tropical Sky
       
       
Keyword: camping holidays 
204,000
MSN
Yahoo
Google
1
EuroCamp
EuroCamp
Canvas Holidays
2
UKCampingHolidays.com 
Camping & Caravanning Club
CaravanCampingSites.co.uk
3
Alan Rogers Travel
LifeStyleHolidays.co.uk
EuroCamp
4
Camping & Caravanning Club
KeyCamp
KeyCamp
5
Camping & Caravanning Club
GoCampingUK.co.uk
Camp-Sites.co.uk
6
KeyCamp
TouringHolidays.co.uk
Camping & Caravanning Club
7
Carisma
CampingChef.com
Carisma
8
BigMeadow.co.uk
EuroCamp
UK-Directory.com
9
GoCampingUK.co.uk
Alan Rogers Travel
Chycor.co.uk
10
CampingChef.com
Park Dean Holidays
ForestHolidays.co.uk
       
       
Keyword: italy holidays 
181,000
MSN
Yahoo
Google
1
Holiday Hypermarket
Italy-Holidays.com
Citalia
2
First Choice
ItalyHeaven.co.uk
Thomson
3
Key2Italy-holidays.co.uk
ItalyHeaven.com
Holiday Hypermarket
4
clickonadream.com
Authentic-italy.co.uk
Kuoni
5
Citalia
Italy-Holidays.com
Cosmos
6
Citalia
DaltonsHolidays.com
HolidayHomesinItaly.co.uk
7
Italy-Holidays.com
Vintage Travel
DirectLine
8
Travel Counsellors
Key2Italy-holidays.co.uk
LastMinute.com
9
Thomson
ItalyMag.co.uk
Italian Life
10
Cosmos
A-Italy-Holidays.co.uk
Expedia
       
       
Keyword: book a holiday 
180,000
MSN
Yahoo
Google
1
Airtours
WatersideHolidays.co.uk
First Choice
2
Portland
DanceHolidays.com
Holiday Hypermarket
3
Holiday-Rentals.co.uk
Book-France-Holiday.co.uk
Thomson
4
Holiday-Villas.com
Book-France-Holiday.co.uk
Airtours
5
Balkan Holidays
WatersideHolidays.co.uk
Holiday-Rentals.co.uk
6
Going Places
Holiday-Rentals.co.uk
Expedia
7
Private Owner
Booka.co.nz
MyTravel
8
First Choice
Chesil Holidays
Going Places
9
Holiday Hypermarket
The Telegraph
The Independent
10
Farm & Cottage Holidays
Just-Gran-Canaria.com
Direct Holidays
       
       
Keyword: balearic island holiday 
178,000
MSN
Yahoo
Google
1
First Choice
HolidayLets.net
DirectLine
2
HolidayHolidayHoliday.co.uk
Holiday-Rentals.co.uk
Iglu.com
3
HolidayHolidayHoliday.co.uk
BalearicInfo.co.uk
HolidayHoliday.co.uk
4
Ibiza-Spotlight.com
IndigoGuide.com
HolidayRentalCentre.com
5
HolidayHoliday.co.uk
Holiday Hypermarket
First Choice
6
Holiday Hypermarket
Holidays-Direct.co.uk
Holidays-Direct.co.uk
7
Holidays-Direct.co.uk
First Choice
AboutMajorca,co.uk
8
OwnersDirect.co.uk
DirectLine
Holiday Hypermarket
9
OwnersDirect.co.uk
Advantage Travel
SunCentre.net
10
Holiday-Rentals.co.uk
OwnersDirect.co.uk
OwnersDirect.co.uk
       
       
Keyword: canada holidays 
138,000
MSN
Yahoo
Google
1
CanadaTravelSpecialists.com
Holiday2Canada.co.uk
CanadaTravelSpecialists.com
2
DialaFlight.com
CanadaTravelSpecialists.com
Virgin Holidays
3
Key2Canada-holidays.co.uk
Arctic-Experience.co.uk
All-Canada.co.uk
4
Virgin Holidays
All-Canada.co.uk
Canadian Heritage
5
Virgin Holidays
Virgin Holidays
DiscoverHolidays.ca
6
Holiday Hypermarket
Canada-Holidays.com
DreamCanada.co.uk
7
Barrhead Travel
CanadianSky.co.uk
Titan Hitours
8
All-Canada.co.uk
A-Canada-Holidays.co.uk
TrailFinders
9
TrailFinders
Barrhead Travel
Virtual Perpetual Calendars
10
Frontier-Canada.co.uk
CanadaHolidays.co.uk
Frontier-Travel.co.uk
       
       
Keyword: holidays to mexico 
125,000
MSN
Yahoo
Google
1
Holiday Hypermarket
DirectLine
Holiday Hypermarket
2
First Choice
Wikipedia
Virgin Holidays
3
Virgin Holidays
Holiday Hypermarket
Thomson
4
Virgin Holidays
IndigoGuide.com
DirectLine
5
DirectLine
Virgin Holidays
LastMinute.com
6
Global Holidays
ABTA
CheapHolidayDeals.co.uk
7
Global Holidays
MexOnline.com
Expedia
8
Cosmos
HolidaysGo.com
MexConnect.com
9
Thomson
Thomson
Wikipedia
10
Cheap-Mexico-Holidays.co.uk
Sunshine.co.uk
MexOnline.com
       
       
Keyword: beach holidays 
125,000
MSN
Yahoo
Google
1
Beach-Holidays.co.nz
BeachHolidays.co.uk
On The Beach
2
DialaFlight
Beach-Holidays.co.uk
DirectLine
3
The Guardian
DirectLine
Holidays-Direct.co.uk
4
Prestige Holidays
AITO
Cosmos
5
PleasureBeachHolidays.co.uk
On The Beach
BeachDeals.co.uk
6
On The Beach
The Guardian
Thomas Cook
7
Virgin Holidays
Kenya-BeachRentals.com
DialaFlight
8
Balkan Holidays
IndianBeachHolidays.com
The Times
9
Balkan Holidays
Superbreak
HolidayLets.net
10
DirectLine
HolidayLets.net
Expedia
       
       
Keyword: all inclusive holidays 
115,000
MSN
Yahoo
Google
1
On The Beach
DirectLine
DirectLine
2
allinclusive-holiday.co.uk
allinclusive-holiday.co.uk
DirectLine
3
Co-op Travel
Holiday Hypermarket
allinclusive-holiday.co.uk
4
YourHolidays.com
First Choice
Cosmos
5
Holiday Hypermarket
DirectLine
Holiday Hypermarket
6
DifferentTracks.co.uk
TravelSupermarket
TravelSupermarket
7
First Choice
Tropical Sky
Co-op Travel
8
DirectLine
HolidaysAllInclusive.com
First Choice
9
VirtualTravelGuides.co.uk
LastMinute.com
On The Beach
10
LetsGo2.com
FalconHolidays.ie
YourHolidays.com
       
       
Keyword: luxury holidays to dubai 
110,000
MSN
Yahoo
Google
1
Lates.co.uk
ClubAirTravel.co.uk
DestDubai.com
2
Kenwood Travel
Key2Dubai-holidays.co.uk
LuxuryHolidaysToDubai.co.uk
3
Hayes & Jarvis
Lates.co.uk
ClubAirTravel.co.uk
4
Amathus Holidays
Destinology.co.uk
TravelDubai.co.uk
5
HolidayHolidayHoliday.co.uk
Carrier.co.uk
The Holiday Place
6
ClubAirTravel.co.uk
AzureCollection.com
HolidayHolidayHoliday.co.uk
7
Tropical Sky
Kenwood Travel
eCruise.co.uk
8
DubaiinStyle.com
Free2.co.uk
Lates.co.uk
9
BestatDubaiHolidays.co.uk
Exsus.com
Kuoni
10
Sovereign
LuxuryHolidaysToDubai.co.uk
Abercrombie & Kent
       
       
Keyword: skiing holidays 
107,000
MSN
Yahoo
Google
1
Skiing-Holidays.net
Chalet1802.co.uk
Crystal Ski
2
Skiing-Holidays.net
Iglu.com
First Choice
3
Chalet1802.co.uk
DirectLine Skiing
Neilson
4
HeadWater
SkiingHolidaysMeribel.co.uk
Iglu Ski
5
Holiday Hypermarket
Iglu Ski
Inghams
6
SkiingHolidays.com
SkiMagic.co.uk
Chalet1802.co.uk
7
Alpine Elements
4Skiing.info
DirectLine Skiing
8
DirectLine Skiing
Extreme Holidays
IfYouSki,com
9
RedPoint
Rocket Ski
SkiLine.co.uk
10
Ski Par Excellence
SkiingResorts.co.uk
LastMinute.com
       
       
Keyword: maldives holiday 
90,000
MSN
Yahoo
Google
1
TropicMaldives.co.uk
DestMaldives.com
Holiday Hypermarket
2
First Choice
DreamMaldives.co.uk
DreamMaldives.co.uk
3
Holiday Hypermarket
Maldives-Holidays4Less.co.uk
Thomson
4
MaldivesHolidays.us
AME Holidays
Kuoni
5
The Holiday Place
ScubaScuba.com
DirectLine
6
The Holiday Place
Iglu Tropical
DestMaldives.com
7
Key2Maldives-Holidays.co.