{"id":9926,"date":"2026-11-05T20:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T20:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pros.com\/learn\/?p=9926"},"modified":"2026-11-05T21:10:11","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T21:10:11","slug":"google-flights-indexing-iii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pros.com\/learn\/blog\/google-flights-indexing-iii\/","title":{"rendered":"The Indexing of Google Flights:\u00a0The Empire Expands, Airlines Hold the Line\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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EDITOR\u2019S NOTE:<\/strong> This is the third article in our research series on Google Flights\u2019 organic search rankings. Part I<\/a> explored its initial growth and the regulatory context; Part II<\/a> examined how airlines, OTAs, and metasearch sites were faring through August 2024. This update extends the analysis to September 2026, adds non-English markets, and uses a refined sample of comparable searches across all three dates.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In late 2023, we began seeing Google Flights route pages in the organic results for searches we track for airlines. By September 2026, those pages ranked in the top five for 44.6% of the tracked searches on average across our 15 English locales. Airlines using PROS airTRFX also reached the top five more often than before. Several online travel agencies and metasearch sites, meanwhile, dropped off page one for many of the searches they ranked for in 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Google Flights is gaining ground on a playing field Google controls<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Around August 2023, Google began indexing its own flight route pages. For years, users searching for flights on Google had seen the Google Flights box near the top of the results. Now, Google also shows them Google Flights through an ordinary organic listing. In Part I, we suggested that growing regulatory pressure on the box may have given Google a reason for this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By late 2023, we were already seeing Google Flights pages reach page one for 5,403 of the English-language searches in our study. By September 2026, their average top-five coverage across those English locales had risen to 44.6%. Rankings alone can\u2019t tell us whether Google favored its own pages. However, Google\u2019s dual role deserves scrutiny. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those concerns have already prompted regulatory action. In July 2026, the European Commission found Google in breach of the Digital Markets Act for self-preferencing in Search<\/a>, imposing a \u20ac460 million fine for giving its own services, including transport, preferential prominence and presentation. Separately, the UK\u2019s June 2026 fair-ranking decision<\/a> requires Google to rank organic search results using objective, non-discriminatory criteria. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Airlines using airTRFX are holding their ground against Google Flights<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Google Flights closed much of the gap in English, but airlines using airTRFX also reached the top five for more of their route searches. In September 2026, the airline appeared in the top five more often than Google Flights on the same keywords in 12 of 15 English locales and all 11 non-English locales. Airlines\u2019 average top-five coverage rose in both groups. For airline SEO teams, that\u2019s a reason to keep investing in route pages. A traveler can search for a flight without mentioning a carrier and still find the airline\u2019s own flight pages among the first few results. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we published Parts I<\/a> and II<\/a> in November 2024, we had tracked English-language flight searches from December 6, 2023, to August 7, 2024. This update follows those searches through September 2, 2026, and extends the study to other languages. We look at where Google Flights has climbed into the top five, how often it now ranks above the airline, and which OTAs and metasearch sites have lost ground on page one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Methodological notes<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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  • Data.<\/strong> We used Advanced Web Ranking (AWR) to track how PROS airTRFX customers rank for route searches on Google. All charts use this data. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
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    • Dates.<\/strong> We compared the December 6, 2023, August 7, 2024, and September 2, 2026 crawls. A keyword qualified when at least one tracked site had a ranking on each of the three dates. We used that same set of keywords throughout. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
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      • Locales.<\/strong> Each locale combines a language, a country, and a device, such as English searches in the US on desktop. We kept the device with more eligible keywords for each language and country, and included both devices for US English. After all keyword and route exclusions, a locale needed at least 100 distinct keywords. That left 38 airlines across 26 locales, 15 in English and 11 in other languages. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
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        • Keywords.<\/strong> The final panel contains 40,566 airline-profile keyword records, or 39,904 searches counted once per locale. We included five kinds of non-branded flight searches: to a city, from a city, between cities, from a city to a country, and to a country. We screened out removed route pages and excluded ambiguous 404s and self-redirects. Current page checks cannot date a route\u2019s removal. The appendix gives the keyword count for each locale. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
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          • Measures.<\/strong> First-page coverage is the share of tracked keywords where a site has an organic listing on page one. For top-five coverage, we count organic listings in positions one through five. A search feature can occupy one of those positions. We count Google Flights webpages under \/travel\/flights. The Google Flights box is a separate search feature and is excluded. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
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            • Comparisons.<\/strong> Each locale has equal weight in our averages. For Google Flights alone, we count each keyword once per locale. For the airline comparison, we measure Google Flights and each airline on that airline\u2019s own keywords, including searches where either site was absent. Coverage describes the searches in these customer profiles. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

              Google Flights is becoming a fixture on page one in English searches<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

              By September 2026, Google Flights appeared on page one for at least half of the tracked keywords in 12 of our 15 English locales. Every English locale finished above both earlier dates. The median desktop locale went from 29% first-page coverage in December 2023 to 57% in August 2024 and 88% in September 2026. On mobile, the median went from 16% to 35% to 70%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n