Hi there,
Just saw your post and thought I’d offer some initial thoughts and guidance based on my experience. It sounds like you're doing great with the travel agency, which is fantastic, but you've hit a very common wall when it comes to affiliate advertising. It's a problem we've seen quite a few times before.
You're absolutely right that you're likely creating more work and spending more than you need to by sending traffic directly to affiliate sites. It’s almost impossible to properly optimise a campaign when you're essentially flying blind. Let's break down how you can get this sorted.
We'll need to look at your tracking setup...
Right, the biggest issue you've pointed out is tracking. Pushing traffic to affiliate sites is a right pain, innit? You pay for the click on Google, the user vanishes onto a partner site, and you're left guessing whether that click turned into a booking or just evaporated. You can't see which keywords are driving actual revenue, which ads are working, or where your money is best spent. It makes scaling your campaigns properly next to impossible and you end up just throwing money at the wall to see what sticks.
Your instinct to create your own landing pages is spot on. This is definately the first and most important step. By directing ad traffic to a page on your own domain, you regain control. You can install your Google Ads tag, your Meta Pixel, or any other tracking scripts you need. This means you can track what we call 'micro-conversions'. While you might not be able to track the final sale on the affiliate's site without a very cooperative partner (which is rare), you can track valuable user actions on your own page. For example, you can set up a conversion event for every time someone clicks the "Book on [Partner Site]" button. This single change gives you a crucial piece of data. Now, your Google Ads campaigns can be optimised towards generating those clicks, which are a strong indicator of booking intent. You're no longer optimising for blind traffic, you're optimising for qualified leads who are one step away from purchasing.
I'd say you need to build a proper sales funnel...
Once you have landing pages, you're not just solving a tracking problem; you're building a proper sales funnel. A landing page isn't just a holding pen for traffic before you send it away. It's your digital shop window and your chance to sell the dream before they even see the price. The affiliate sites are often quite generic, designed to cater to everyone. Your landing page can be highly specific and persuasive.
Think about what a potential traveller wants to see. If your ad promotes "All-Inclusive Holidays to Greece," your landing page should be a stunning visual and written experience about exactly that. It should have:
-> Persuasive Copy: Don't just list the hotel's features. Sell the experience. Talk about the warm sea, the local food, the relaxation. Good copy makes an emotional connection. This is something a professional copywriter can help with, its often a worthwhile investment. -> High-Quality Imagery and Video: Use incredible photos and videos of the destination and hotels. People buy holidays with their eyes first. -> Trust Signals: This is massive. Why should they trust you? Display reviews from happy customers, your ATOL/ABTA numbers prominently, any awards you've won. This reassures people that you're a legitimate and trustworthy business. -> A Clear Call-to-Action (CTA): The button to click through to the affiliate site should be unmissable. Something like "Check Prices & Availability on TUI.com" is clear and manages expectations.
By building these pages, you're not just a middleman anymore; you're a curator and a trusted advisor. You warm the lead up, get them excited, and then hand them over to the partner site ready to book. Your conversion rates from click-to-booking will go up significantly because the traffic you're sending is far more qualified.
You probably should rethink your Google Ads structure...
With proper tracking and landing pages in place, you can then turn your attention to the ads themselves. You mentioned doing things wrong and creating twice the work, which usually points to an inefficient campaign structure. A common mistake is lumping all your keywords and ads into one or two campaigns.
For a travel agency, a much better approach is to structure your campaigns thematically. You could have separate campaigns for:
-> Destinations: e.g., 'Spain Holidays', 'Caribbean Cruises', 'USA Multi-Centre Trips'. -> Travel Type: e.g., 'Luxury Holidays', 'Family All-Inclusive', 'Adventure Travel'. -> Travel Brands: If you specialise in certain cruise lines or hotel chains, give them their own campaigns.
Within each campaign, you'd create tight-knit ad groups with highly relevant keywords. For the 'Spain Holidays' campaign, you might have ad groups like "all inclusive majorca", "luxury hotels tenerife", and "city break barcelona". This structure allows you to write incredibly relevant ad copy that speaks directly to the searcher's query. Someone searching for "luxury hotels tenerife" sees an ad about exactly that, which takes them to a landing page all about luxury hotels in Tenerife. This relevance is rewarded by Google with higher Quality Scores, which means lower cost-per-click (CPC) and better ad positions for you.
You can then A/B test your ad copy and landing pages relentlessly. Does a headline mentioning "price matching" work better than one focused on "expert service"? Does a landing page with a video convert better than one with just images? With tracking in place, you can answer these questions with data, not guesswork, and continuously improve your return on ad spend.
You'll need an agency with the right experience...
Now, onto your main question: how to find an agency that isn't just "all smoke". This is a tough one, as the barrier to entry for starting a PPC agency is very low. Here’s what you should be looking for.
First, take a good look at their case studies. Do they have experience with travel, eCommerce, or high-volume lead generation? It doesn't have to be an exact match, but you want to see that they've handled campaigns with similar dynamics. Ask for specifics. For instance, I remember working on a campaign for an eCommerce store launch where we generated 1500 leads at just $0.29 per lead using Meta Ads. An agency worth their salt should be able to show you real-world examples and talk honestly about what's realistic for your market.
Second, get on a call with them. Lots of agencies offer a free initial consultation or strategy review. Use this to gauge their expertise. Don't just listen to their sales pitch; ask them direct questions about your problems. Ask them exactly how they would approach your affiliate tracking issue. If they give a vague answer or just say "we'll handle it," be wary. If they start explaining options like creating landing pages, setting up custom conversion events, and restructuring your campaigns thematically, that’s a very good sign. You're looking for genuine expertise, not just empty promises. Tbh, in paid advertising, anyone who promises you specific results is a major red flag.
Finally, look at their reviews and how they present themselves. Do they seem transparent and knowledgeable? A good agency will feel more like a partner than a supplier. They should be focused on your business goals, not just on vanity metrics like clicks or impressions. Be careful of any agency that wants to lock you into a long-term contract straight away. A 3-month initial term is pretty standard, but 12 months from the get-go is a bit much.
This is the main advice I have for you:
| Challenge | Recommended Solution |
|---|---|
| Tracking & Attribution You're "flying blind" by sending traffic directly to affiliate sites, unable to measure what works. |
Develop custom landing pages on your own domain. Implement robust conversion tracking (e.g., Google Ads tag, Meta Pixel) to measure valuable actions like click-throughs to the partner site. |
| Inefficient Ad Spend A disorganised account structure leads to wasted budget and higher costs. |
Restructure Google Ads campaigns thematically (by destination, travel type, brand). Use tight ad groups with highly relevant keywords and ad copy to improve Quality Score and lower CPC. |
| Low Lead Quality Traffic sent to generic affiliate pages may not be ready to convert. |
Use your new landing pages to build a sales funnel. Optimise them with persuasive copy, high-quality visuals, and strong trust signals to warm up leads before they click through. |
| Choosing the Right Agency Difficulty in finding a competent agency that isn't "all smoke". |
Vet agencies based on relevant case studies (travel/eCom), the specific, actionable advice they give in an initial call, and transparent communication. Avoid long-term contracts upfront. |
Getting this all organised is a big job, but it's the difference between having a marketing channel that you have to constantly wrestle with and having a predictable, scalable system for acquiring customers. Working with an expert can shortcut the learning curve massively and help you avoid costly mistakes.
If you'd like to chat through this in more detail and see how we might be able to help you get this all organised, feel free to book in a free consultation. We can take a proper look at your current setup together and give you a clear plan of action.
Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh
