The flight industry was one of the first to be revolutionized by the
internet. EasyJet pioneered selling 100% of its flights online from 2000 to avoid a costly distribution system dominated by travel agents, whose commission represented up to 20% (agency and GDS fees). Now that online reservations have become the norm, which airlines and flight comparison sites are faring well when it comes to SEO?
The top keywords for air travel in France:
- Cheap flights (246K) – “vols pas cher”
- Airline Tickets (200k) – “billets d’avion”
- Flight comparison site (200k) -“comparateurs de vols”
- Paris Barcelona (15k) – “Paris Barcelone”
Departing from Paris, the biggest pool of airline passengers in France, the main destinations are European (Barcelona, London, Berlin, Lisbon) and domestic with no high-speed train connection (e.g. Toulouse and Nice).
Airlines awareness in France
Unsurprisingly, Air France gets the biggest numbers of monthly searches, followed by iconic low-cost carriers EasyJet and Ryanair. All three snap up more than one million hits each month. Hot on their heels are low-cost alternatives Transavia, Vueling and Hop. North Africa specialists Aigle Azur, Air Algérie and Royal Air Maroc form a third block of high profile airlines with traditional European airlines like British Airways and Lufthansa not far behind.
| Keyword (Keyword planner) | Avg. Monthly Searches (June 2017) |
| air france | 2 740 000 |
| easyjet | 2 240 000 |
| ryanair | 1 830 000 |
| transavia | 823 000 |
| vueling | 368 000 |
| hop | 368 000 |
| aigle azur | 301 000 |
| air algerie | 301 000 |
| royal air maroc | 246 000 |
| british airways | 165 000 |
| lufthansa | 165 000 |
| emirates | 165 000 |
| iberia | 135 000 |
Airline rankings for generic keywords
EasyJet comes in a commendable 4th for “cheap flights”, although performs less well for “airline ticket”, which was snapped up by Air France (14th). EasyJet is also well ranked for key phrases comprising “flight + destination” (e.g. flight Paris Barcelona), and “city + city” key phrases (e.g. Paris Toulouse, Paris Lisbon).
Air France is the only airline to get these kinds of rankings for high-volume searches (e.g. No.5 for “Paris Nice” with 40k hits), while Ryanair trails at the bottom. The long history and number of links to this major French brand make all the difference compared to the other airlines.
Flight comparison sites ranking for airline names
Liligo ranks best for airline brand names, but Jetcost also gets some good results.
Flight comparison ranking for generic keywords
Opodo takes gold for the top two air travel keywords, “cheap flight” and “airline ticket”, and bronze for “flight comparison site” (Liligo No.2 and Kayak is No.1).
Opodo is also king for keywords combinations based on “airfare” (e.g. airfare and cheap airfares), but ranks less well for destination searches.
Opodo has made incredible progress compared to Liligo, who held the leading spot just one year ago.
Don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and comments…
