Section 01 — Key findings
Five numbers worth knowing before you read a word
67
Iglu Cruise's share of all UK cruise paid search impressions. No other advertiser is within 15 points.
63.3%
P&O Cruises' SOV on their own brand term "po cruises" — and rivals take the rest.
45.7%
Iglu's SOV on "cruises from southampton" at avg position 1.93. The most dominant keyword performance in the dataset.
4.95
ROL Cruise's average position despite 6.2% SOV. 80% of their impressions land below the fold.
Notable anomaly
Galaxy Cruises: 85 total appearances, 72.9% position-1 win rate — higher than Iglu (38.7%) or P&O (39.1%) with 200× more volume. Full breakdown in Section 8.
Section 02 — Market overview
Market concentration
The top 10 advertisers hold 87.4% of all impressions. The rest of the market shares 12.6% across 57+ advertisers.
Split across everyone else
Note
If you are not in the top three, you are competing for 45% of the market with more than 60 other advertisers.
Section 03 — Share of voice
Who dominates the paid search auction
Ranked by % of total ad impressions across all keywords and postcodes tracked. Position is the advertiser's average across all appearances.
Note
All 67 advertisers ranked with pos-1 wins, pos-1 rate, keyword coverage and geographic reach
Section 04 — Keyword intelligence
Each keyword is a different competitive environment
The leader on one keyword is often marginal or absent on another. Select a term to see who competes and where the gaps are.
Observations
31,471
ad appearances
Active advertisers
31
unique bidders
SOV leader
Cruise118.com
31.6% share
Leader avg position
4.07
out of 1–6
Note
Cruise118 leads on volume (31.6% SOV) but Iglu leads on position (2.57 vs 4.07). The broadest and most expensive keyword — top-page presence here requires serious bid investment and established Quality Score history.
Observations
24,068
ad appearances
Active advertisers
33
unique bidders
SOV leader
Iglu Cruise
41.6% share
Leader avg position
2.50
out of 1–6
Note
Iglu's home ground — 41.6% SOV at position 2.50. Vacations To Go holds 15.5% on this term and appears almost nowhere else in the dataset. A deliberately narrow, deal-focused strategy.
Observations
21,775
ad appearances
Active advertisers
31
unique bidders
SOV leader
Caribb. Cruise Disc.
32.0% share
Leader avg position
3.76
out of 1–6
Note
The most fragmented keyword and the most accessible for a challenger. The SOV leader averages position 3.76. Royal Caribbean achieves 2.93 from targeted bids — the efficiency model to replicate.
Observations
18,338
ad appearances
Active advertisers
31
unique bidders
SOV leader
Iglu Cruise
45.7% share
Leader avg position
out of 1–6
out of 1–6
Note
Iglu's strongest keyword by every metric — position 1.93 is the best of any advertiser on any term in this dataset. Effectively a two-player market. London generates more observations on this term than Hampshire.
Observations
8,413
ad appearances
Active advertisers
24
unique bidders
SOV leader
P&O Cruises
63.3% share
Leader avg position
1.61
out of 1–6
Note
P&O holds 63.3% — but rivals take 36.7% of their own brand search. Cruise Critic holds 19.8% at position 2.61. An editorial site outperforming every commercial agent on this term.
Section 05 — Advertiser profiles
What the data reveals about each major player
Strategy, keyword focus, geographic behaviour, ad messaging, and the specific thing a PPC manager should do about each one.
#1 · Market leader
Iglu Cruise
28.7% SOV
pos 2.41
38.7% pos-1
502 unique headline variants. Dominant on Southampton and Deals. Caribbean is their clear gap — 6.7% SOV at position 4.14, well below their market-wide performance.
#2 · Brand defender
P&O Cruises
14.0% SOV
pos 2.21
39.1% pos-1
Highest pos-1 rate in the market from just 90 headline variants. The clearest demonstration in the dataset that Quality Score matters more than creative volume.
Note
Full profiles for all 10 major advertisers including keyword matrix, messaging analysis and PPC action notes — Section 5
Section 06 — Geographic analysis
National reach and regional competitive intensity
All observations mapped across regions and every county. Includes which counties have the fewest advertisers — and where top-page presence is cheapest to achieve.
National reach — top advertisers
Top 3 regions by ad volume
Note
Full 9-region breakdown with county-level data, P&O vs Iglu ratios and whitespace analysis in Section 6
Section 07 — Ad copy & serving
What Google actually served — not what was configured
The most-seen complete ads, extension usage, callout phrase ownership and RSA assembly data — what Google chose to show versus what advertisers set up.
Most-seen ads
Cruises From Southampton - Sunshine Balcony Sale Now On
Best P&O Cruises 2026-2028
P&O Cruises | Official Site | £50pp Low Deposit
We Won't Be Beaten On Price - Clearance Cabins
Ad serving — headlines Google actually assembled
Google almost always serves 3–4. Strong RSA quality.
Large pool — Google mostly serves 1–2. Relevance gap.
Almost always 1 headline from 434 variants. Major relevance issue.
Note
Full RSA assembly data for all major advertisers, extension analysis and callout phrase ownership in Section 7
Section 08 — Efficiency analysis
Who spends well and who does not
Share of voice versus average position reveals who is getting value for their spend — and who is paying to appear below the fold.
Efficient leaders
Iglu Cruise & P&O Cruises
High SOV, strong positions. The dual benchmark for the market.
Broad reach, low position
ROL Cruise & Cruise1st
ROL: 6.2% SOV, pos 4.95. Cruise1st: 2.3% SOV, pos 5.11.
Niche precision
Caribb. Cruise Disc.
32% SOV on Caribbean alone. Zero presence on 4 other keywords.
The anomaly
Galaxy Cruises
72.9% pos-1 rate from 85 impressions. Micro-scale, maximum efficiency.
Note
Full profiles for all 10 major advertisers including keyword matrix, messaging analysis and PPC action notes — Section 5
Section 09 — Recommendations
Three things the data tells you to do
Share of voice versus average position reveals who is getting value for their spend — and who is paying to appear below the fold.
01
Target Caribbean cruises first if you are a challenger. The SOV leader averages position 3.76. Royal Caribbean shows top-page placement (pos 2.93) is achievable with a focused, destination-matched campaign.
02
Do not solve a Quality Score problem by raising bids. ROL Cruise has 434 headline variants — Google serves one headline 78% of the time. Campaign structure and landing page relevance are the issue, not budget.
03
National campaigns are essential for Southampton. Greater London generates more Southampton keyword observations than Hampshire. Coastal-only geo-targeting misses the majority of the market.
Note
Full recommendations by advertiser type — market leader, volume bidder, direct line and challenger — with specific campaign actions in Section 9
