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HOW WE INCREASED VISIBILITY, BOOKINGS AND ROI FOR HOVERTRAVEL THROUGH SEARCH STRATEGY

40:1 ROAS AND 91% YOY INCREASE IN 'ISLE OF WIGHT FERRY' IMPRESSIONS

Hovertravel, the world’s longest running commercial hovercraft service, partnered with boxChilli to drive more online bookings, strengthen seasonal campaign performance and improve keyword visibility across core travel queries. With increased competition for Isle of Wight travel terms, the challenge was to capture commercial demand in key periods, improve the experience for organic users and build on the client’s brand strength.

Since then, we’ve developed a long-term SEO strategy and rolled out high-performing PPC campaigns for key seasonal offers, including the Family Flyers and Isle of Wight Festival routes.

OVER £70K IN BOOKINGS FROM £1.8K AD SPEND
91% YOY INCREASE IN IMPRESSIONS FOR ‘ISLE OF WIGHT FERRY’
ISLE OF WIGHT FESTIVAL CAMPAIGN HIT OVER 200:1 ROI DURING FINAL DAYS

Overview and Challenge

SEASONAL BOOKING GROWTH IN A COMPETITIVE TRAVEL MARKET

Hovertravel has long been the go-to choice for high-speed foot passenger travel between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight. But with search demand becoming increasingly seasonal and competitive, the team needed a smart SEO and PPC strategy to maintain visibility, reduce cost per booking and capture more family and event-led searches.

Our focus? Create targeted landing pages, optimise priority keywords and launch well-timed PPC campaigns that support organic growth, all while ensuring a consistent, conversion-ready user experience across campaigns.

Key Results

GROWTH IN BOOKINGS, IMPRESSIONS AND ROI ACROSS CHANNELS

Since partnering with boxChilli, Hovertravel has seen…

OVER £70K IN BOOKINGS FROM £1.8K AD SPEND
91% YOY INCREASE IN IMPRESSIONS FOR ‘ISLE OF WIGHT FERRY’
ISLE OF WIGHT FESTIVAL CAMPAIGN HIT OVER 200:1 ROI DURING FINAL DAYS

How boxChilli Helped

SEO & PAID MEDIA WORKING IN TANDEM TO SUPPORT HIGH-INTENT BOOKINGS

We started by addressing key SEO opportunities across the Hovertravel site, from meta optimisation and keyword targeting to content expansion for core routes, activities and festival pages. We created and re-optimised pages for terms like ‘Day Trips’, ‘London to Isle of Wight’, and major events including the Isle of Wight Festival and Cowes Week.

On the paid media side, we built seasonal PPC campaigns that balanced branded and non-branded search coverage. From Family Flyers to Summer Tactical activity, we continually monitored spend, performance and ROAS – adjusting creative and landing page relevance in real time. This included improving ticket filters, testing ad imagery and refining calls to action to align with current offers.

Our approach ensured both SEO and PPC worked together, growing total impression share, booking volumes and revenue.