Booking Holdings Sponsored Listings uses an auction model to determine which ads appear in sponsored placements across Booking.com, Agoda, and Priceline.
When a traveller searches, eligible ads enter an auction. The system ranks ads based on two factors:
Cost-per-Click (CPC) bid: The maximum amount you are willing to pay for a click on your ad. More competitive bids can improve your chances of winning a sponsored placement.
Publisher Score: A relevance score based on factors such as the traveler’s search context, property attributes, and overall alignment with the search query. Higher relevance can improve ad ranking in the auction.
The ad with the strongest combined ranking wins the sponsored placement for that search.
Sponsored Listings uses a second-price auction model. If you win, you do not pay your full bid. Instead, you pay $0.01 more than the next highest eligible bid.
What affects your competitiveness
You cannot directly control Publisher Score. However, you can influence your competitiveness in the auction by adjusting:
Your CPC bid
Your targeting settings (such as travel window, device, traveler country, and length of stay)
Your campaign structure
Adjusting these settings can improve how effectively you compete for relevant searches.
Where your ads appear
Sponsored listings are eligible to appear in dedicated sponsored positions across our platforms. Placement depends on the platform, device, and search context.
Booking.com - “Ad”
Slot 2, 4, and 6
Priceline - 'Promoted’
Desktop: Slot 1 and 5
Mobile: Slot 2 and 5
Agoda - ‘Promoted’
Up to 8 placements
Positions can appear between Slot 1 and 15, depending on relevance and availability
Your ad uses the same content as your organic listing, including photos, price, and review score. The only difference is the ‘Ad’ or ‘Promoted’ label.
For an overview of features and controls, see the Booking Holdings Sponsored Listings article.
Need Help?
Adie is available on the platform. Click the Chat 💬 icon in the bottom left to get started. You can also visit the Help Center or email us at booking.sponsoredlistings@koddi.com.