MOUNTAIN VIEW,
Calif. -- Without fanfare, the search giant Google has begun
experimenting with a flight-search widget that links to the search
engines of Expedia, Hotwire, Orbitz and Priceline.com.
Google officials
downplayed the unpublicized test, which began last month, as one of
several efforts by its Search Quality group to improve users search
experiences, in this case searches involving flight
queries.
But Googles
advertisers, which include thousands of travel companies, have long
awaited any hint of how -- or if -- the dominant paid-search
service would enter the meta-search or travel search arenas. That
mystery only heightened last year when Yahoo bought FareChase and
America Online invested in Kayak.
A balancing
act
With travel among
Googles largest advertising categories, the question became how the
search-engine giant, with $3.2 billion in 2004 revenue, would tap
into the travel-search category without competing against -- and
alienating -- its advertising base.
Flight Links, as
Google informally refers to the feature it is testing, provides
that first hint.
Visitors to Google.com have no
indication that Flight Links even exists unless they input two city
names or airport codes into the Google Search text
field.
Typing in Chicago
Los Angeles, for example, produces the result: Flights from
Chicago, IL to Los Angeles, CA in the first or second position on
the initial results page. Two boxes appear underneath with
suggested departure and return dates that can be changed, and links
to the search engines of Expedia, Hotwire, Orbitz and Priceline.com.
For now, Flight
Links, which is geared toward U.S. users, doesnt check to see if
schedules actually exist or whether flights are available in the
selected cities.
The results of the
Chicago Los Angeles search also included more typical Google
results -- barbecued ribs, balloon bouquets and massage training,
among other things.
Jane Butler, who
specializes in travel advertising as Googles managing director for
travel, said Flight Links -- at least for now -- is not
advertising-driven. Expedia, Hotwire, Orbitz and Priceline.com,
which are listed in alphabetical order, pay nothing to participate,
she said.
This is not some
huge, premeditated effort against travel, said Butler, formerly
president of LastMinuteTravel.com. It was just looking at areas
where the user experience can be improved.
Waiting for
feedback
She added, Its just
a limited test that we are trying with a few sites right now that
both seem large enough and have the capacity to handle what wed be
able to send them.
Google officials
were typically coy about their plans.
Well assess where
to go after we have a significant amount of feedback, said Avichal
Garg, Googles product manager for search quality.
Asked whether
Google plans similar functionality for hotels and cars, Butler
replied, probably not anything we can announce right
now.
In this
incarnation, the Flight Links model resembles Travelzoos SuperSearch
and Smarter Livings Booking Buddy, both of which prompt users to select
advertisers flight-search engines one-at-a-time instead of
aggregating results from robotic comparisons -- the model used by
Yahoo
FareChase, SideStep and Kayak.com.
That distinction
has enabled Travelzoo and Booking Buddy to gain traction from
online agency advertisers -- a difficult market for the
supplier-oriented aggregators to crack -- because the agencies
argue that side-by-side comparisons dilute pricing and weaken their
value propositions.
This isnt
meta-search, said Steve Hafner, a founder and CEO of Kayak,
referring to Flight Links. True meta-search integrates the results
from multiple Web sites in a single, integrated display. So, theyve
got a way to go.
Hafner said Google
is probably assessing how Flight Links affects page views and
click-through rates. Im surprised that they didnt do it sooner,
Hafner said.
Phil Carpenter,
SideSteps vice president of corporate marketing, said that Googles
test seems like a modest, incremental addition that is consistent
with their model. I wouldnt read
anything more into it.
To contact
reporter Dennis Schaal, send e-mail to [email protected].