Airlines lead in the top organic positions; OTAs follow closely behind; metasearch sites dominate the lower half of page one; and Google Flights ranks among the most visible individual brands.
Search for a flight on Google, and in most cases, you will see four types of flight sites in the search results: online travel agencies (OTAs) that resell flights, metasearch sites that compare fares, schedule and flight-tracking sites, and Google’s own flight pages.
We wanted to see how these sites divide up flight-search SERPs today. For this, we analyzed the organic results of 33,520 US English mobile flight searches recorded on September 2, 2026 (before the SERP poisoning issue). The short answer: airlines hold the top of the page, OTAs crowd in directly behind them, metasearch sites fill the lower half of the first page, and Google Flights ranks among the most visible single brands.
What was measured
The analysis covers 33,520 distinct flight-related searches tracked by 13 airlines, using Advanced Web Ranking (AWR) data for Google US English on mobile, recorded on September 2, 2026. The sample includes only keywords with explicit flight intent, such as “flights from Boston to Denver.”
The analysis focuses exclusively on organic search results.
Each organic listing was classified into one of six website categories:
- Airline: Any airline website, not just those tracking the keywords.
- OTA: Online travel agencies.
- Metasearch: Flight comparison and aggregation sites.
- Google Flights: Google Flights webpages appearing as organic search results.
- Route information: Flight schedules, route information and flight-tracking websites.
- Other: Airports, publishers and other websites.
The top of the page belongs to airlines
Airlines rank first in 51% of searches. OTAs hold it in 28%, Google Flights in 15%, and metasearch sites in 5%. Airlines remain the largest group at every position down to fourth.
Below the first position, each site type settles into its own band. OTAs are strongest in second place, accounting for 31% of searches. Google Flights is concentrated in positions 2 to 4, at 13% to 15% each, and falls to 5% or less from sixth place down. Metasearch sites are rare at the very top but become the largest group from fifth place down, holding 32% to 38% of positions 5 to 10. Schedule and flight-tracking sites sit in the middle of the page.
Who holds each organic position?
Share of US mobile flight searches where each type of site holds organic positions 1 to 10.
- Airline
- OTA
- Google Flights
- Metasearch
- Route information
- Other
Each bar adds up to 100%. Labels under 8% are hidden; hover or tap a segment for its value.
View the data
| Position | Airline | OTA | Google Flights | Metasearch | Route information | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | 50.9% | 28.3% | 15.0% | 4.9% | 0.2% | 0.7% |
| #2 | 39.4% | 31.0% | 15.3% | 12.4% | 1.4% | 0.5% |
| #3 | 40.2% | 19.2% | 15.4% | 19.5% | 4.8% | 1.0% |
| #4 | 33.7% | 16.4% | 13.0% | 27.4% | 7.8% | 1.7% |
| #5 | 29.2% | 16.2% | 9.0% | 32.7% | 10.3% | 2.6% |
| #6 | 23.8% | 16.4% | 5.5% | 36.6% | 13.9% | 3.8% |
| #7 | 19.4% | 16.6% | 4.2% | 38.1% | 16.5% | 5.2% |
| #8 | 18.4% | 19.0% | 3.9% | 36.8% | 15.6% | 6.3% |
| #9 | 19.4% | 22.6% | 3.9% | 35.3% | 12.5% | 6.5% |
| #10 | 19.9% | 26.0% | 4.9% | 32.3% | 10.7% | 6.2% |
Nearly every top five includes an airline and an OTA
At least one airline reaches the organic top five in 95% of searches, and an OTA in 89%. Metasearch sites appear there in 66% and Google Flights in 62%.
Who reaches the top five?
Share of US mobile flight searches with at least one organic result of each type in positions 1 to 5.
A search can include several types of site, so bars do not add up to 100%. "Airline" means any airline.
View the data
| Site type | Share of searches | Searches |
|---|---|---|
| Airline | 95.0% | 31,855 |
| OTA | 89.4% | 29,979 |
| Metasearch | 66.0% | 22,113 |
| Google Flights | 62.4% | 20,909 |
| Route information | 23.7% | 7,942 |
| Other | 5.9% | 1,971 |
The first page is shared even more widely
On first page, airlines appear in 97% of searches and OTAs in 96%. Metasearch sites reach 86%, Google Flights 71% and schedule sites 55%. In other words, Google Flights’ webpages are missing from the first page in roughly three in ten mobile flight searches, while airlines and OTAs are almost always there.
Who makes the first page?
Share of US mobile flight searches with at least one organic result of each type on the first page of results.
A search can include several types of site, so bars do not add up to 100%. "Airline" means any airline. The first page follows Google's own page break, not a fixed number of results.
View the data
| Site type | Share of searches | Searches |
|---|---|---|
| Airline | 97.0% | 32,524 |
| OTA | 96.2% | 32,262 |
| Metasearch | 86.2% | 28,887 |
| Google Flights | 71.3% | 23,899 |
| Route information | 54.6% | 18,306 |
| Other | 19.7% | 6,601 |
Behind the categories: one OTA and Google Flights
The OTA category is largely one company. Expedia ranks in the top five in 86% of searches. It holds the first organic result in 28%, almost every first place won by an OTA. No other booking site comes close: Trip.com ranks in the top five in 4% of searches, and Booking.com in 2%.
Google Flights is the second-most-visible brand after Expedia. It reaches the top five in 62% of searches and ranks first in 15% of searches, ahead of every metasearch brand. Skyscanner, the strongest of them, reaches the top five in 49% of searches but ranks first in only 4%. Kayak follows at 22% and Momondo at 8%.
That matters because Google is playing both referee and player. Of course, the data cannot tell us whether Google favors its own pages, but it does show that Google Flights is one of the most visible brands for flight searches in organic search.
Which brands compete with airlines?
Share of US mobile flight searches where each brand has an organic result in the top five.
- OTA
- Google Flights
- Metasearch
Country sites and subdomains count under one brand. Individual airlines are not shown.
View the data
| Brand | Type | Top five | First organic result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Expedia | OTA | 86.1% | 28.1% |
| Google Flights | Google Flights | 62.4% | 15.0% |
| Skyscanner | Metasearch | 49.4% | 3.6% |
| Kayak | Metasearch | 21.9% | 0.8% |
| Momondo | Metasearch | 8.4% | 0.0% |
| Trip.com | OTA | 3.5% | 0.1% |
| Booking.com | OTA | 2.0% | 0.0% |
The type of search changes the race
Most searches in the sample include both ends of a route. In these city-to-city searches, 78% of the total, airlines rank first in 52% and reach the top five in 96%, with OTAs close behind at 91%. Searches from a city to a country look similar at the top, but metasearch sites appear in the top five far more often, at 77%.
Broader searches tell a different story. For “flights to [city]” searches, Google Flights ranks in the top five in 88% of searches and in first place in 25%, compared to 36% for airlines. For “flights to [country]” searches, it holds the first result 32% of the time. For “flights from [city]” searches, airlines reach the first result in only 10%: Google Flights does it in 27%, and airport websites in about 40%. OTAs rank within the top five in fewer than half of these searches. These groups are small, from 181 to 541 searches each, so the pattern is only indicative.
Who reaches the top five, by type of search
Share of US mobile flight searches in each group with at least one organic result of that type in positions 1 to 5. Darker means more often.
Swipe sideways to see all site types.
| Type of search | Airline | OTA | Google Flights | Metasearch | Route info | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City to City26,115 searches | 96% | 91% | 62% | 64% | 26% | 5% |
| City to Country5,902 searches | 93% | 88% | 61% | 77% | 12% | 3% |
| To City541 searches | 94% | 85% | 88% | 46% | 21% | 40% |
| Country to City346 searches | 86% | 88% | 61% | 66% | 31% | 9% |
| From City345 searches | 86% | 47% | 83% | 52% | 67% | 78% |
| To Country181 searches | 97% | 80% | 88% | 62% | 2% | 7% |
Groups with fewer than 100 searches are not shown. Unclassified searches are included in the other charts.
View the data
| Type of search | Searches | Airline | OTA | Google Flights | Metasearch | Route information | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City to City | 26,115 | 95.7% | 90.6% | 61.8% | 64.2% | 25.8% | 4.7% |
| City to Country | 5,902 | 93.3% | 88.0% | 60.5% | 76.8% | 12.1% | 3.3% |
| To City | 541 | 93.7% | 85.2% | 88.4% | 46.4% | 21.1% | 39.9% |
| Country to City | 346 | 86.1% | 87.6% | 60.7% | 65.6% | 31.2% | 9.2% |
| From City | 345 | 86.1% | 47.2% | 83.5% | 51.9% | 66.7% | 77.7% |
| To Country | 181 | 96.7% | 80.1% | 88.4% | 62.4% | 1.7% | 6.6% |
Conclusion: flight pages are where airlines win
The clearest takeaway from more than 33,000 flight searches is that airlines can compete for and win the top organic positions, even against OTAs, metasearch sites, and Google Flights.
Dedicated, well-maintained flight pages are how airlines earn those positions. The findings are consistent with an earlier analysis of airlines using airTRFX flight pages, presented at PROS Outperform 2024. In the first year after those pages were indexed, airlines saw 306% more non-branded keywords ranking in position one compared with the pre-indexing baseline.
Airlines that migrated existing flight pages to airTRFX also increased the number of keywords ranking first by 61% within three months. In that study, the median airline generated approximately $1.9 million in incremental organic revenue during the first year.
