Google Insight: The 5 Stages of Travel

 

One could do little better than getting data and insights from Google. I might add that these are really cool stats!

Image via Wikipedia

The 5 Stages of Travel | Think Insights with Google.

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• Think Insights with Google is out of beta and packing a data punch (googleblog.blogspot.com)

Staying Ahead of Google

How do our clients consistently rank higher, typically number two or three, for high value keyword searches? Take a look at the SERPs for the search term “St Regis.”

 

The St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort & Spa occupies the second position in organic search results. Starwood, the corporation that owns the St. Regis brand, is the only listing higher than ours. The search term, “St Regis,” has 386,000 Global Monthly Searches according to Google. The placement is not new either. It has maintained that position since the site was launched in 2008. This is a perfect example of why luxury and ultra-luxury brands choose Hyperdisk as their strategic marketing partner.

I’m not going to share with you all of our secrets (that wouldn’t be fair to our clients after all, would it?) but two recent articles will give you a few clues to how we keep our clients ahead of Google.

16 Insights into Google’s Rating Guidelines | SEOmoz.

Google Search Algorithm Change for Freshness to Impact 35% of Searches

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• Starwood Hawai’i Partners with HyperDisk to Manage Web Assets & Drive Revenue (prweb.com)

Hotel Sales: Improving Lead Generation Through Search

Hyperdisk is involved in a partnership with TheMatix who is writing the travel search semantic ontology for Schema.org (Google, Bing and Yahoo partnership launched in May 2011.) We are currently testing several of our client sites to develop a benchmark of data on the impact of semantics search. For more information on semantics, read my earlier post   titled “Ontology 101.” The below is a video of a presentation we did for HSMAI Virginia in September 2011.

We are now expanding our research to include other properties. Contact us if you would like to be considered for this project 949-751-8395.

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• It’s the End for Expedia (hyperdiskmktg.wordpress.com)

Who Is Looking For You?

You are what you eat, or so the saying goes. If, according to comScore, we are what we search, what can you learn about the people who find you using search? How can you use that information to increase the effectiveness of your cross-channel marketing?

Searcher Demographics – We Are What We Search (comScore Voices).

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• Report: Those Searching For Google+ Are Younger & Have More Income Than Facebook Searchers (searchengineland.com)

Why Is It Called Search?

Image via Wikipedia

 

Why is it called search? That is akin to hide and seek. Is your website hidden? Are your future customers “seeking” your website?

Do you want you want them searching for your website or finding your website?

At Hyperdisk Marketing, we specialize in “finding optimization” not search optimization. We want our clients being found not searched for.

 

Hyperdisk Marketing – We’re What’s Next ™

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• Don´t search, find! (julienmatei.wordpress.com)

Ontology 101 – Kendall & McGuiness

Excellent presentation on the ontology of semantic web. Used with permission.

Ontology 101 – Kendall & McGuiness.

You Better Take Notice

Image via CrunchBase

A busy, busy week of hotel related marketing news just heated up again with two articles coming across my transom.

Hotels Turn to Social Media to Connect With Travelers:

http://nytimes.com/2011/04/19/business/19hotels.html?_r=1&src=busln

This article responds to that one by proposing that social media should focus strictly on customer service rather than having them book through those channels:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2011/04/hotels_and_social_media

And add this one to the mix:

By Jennifer Rodrigues April 27, 2011 On April 8, 2011, The Department of Justice approved Google’s acquisition of ITA, a leading airline data collector and software development company.  Of course, no one really knows for sure to what extent Google will enter into the travel industry, but we do have a general example of what they’re aiming to do from Google Senior Vice President Jeff Huber: How cool would it be if you could type “flights to somewhere sunny for under $500 in May” into Google and get not just a set of links but also flight times, fares and a link to sites where you can actually buy tickets quickly and easily? Well that’s exactly why we announced our intention to buy ITA Software. With this in mind, let’s look at ways in which this deal could possibly affect travelers, online travel agencies (OTAs) and hotels. Travelers According to the forthcoming PhoCusWright Consumer Travel Report, Third Edition, most leisure travelers’ plans are not flexible enough to warrant the deals that a Google text-processing search, like the example given by Mr. Huber, will most likely produce.  Such travelers are content with the more specific options available today through OTAs and proprietary airline booking sites—they have set dates and times for travel and they are comfortable inputting their data into these sites to generate their best pricing options.  Where Google will shine for travelers is in last-minute trips that allow for a bit more flexibility in arrival and departure times. OTAs The OTAs are a huge source of revenue for Google.  To give you an idea of how huge a revenue source, in June 2010, Expedia was Google’s number three advertiser, spending $3.59 million.  For that month, Hotels.com spent $3.30 million. It is doubtful that Google is looking to undercut such advertising revenue; however, what other options would OTAs have if Google does go full-scale?  Even if Google looks to start stealing OTA market share, OTAs have relatively few options to reach customers without using the worldwide leader in search engines.  Since I have no information on what, if any, partnerships will exist between Google and OTAs, I’m going to declare that the “jury is still out” on this topic.  That being said, I have a feeling that this will be a good, but expensive partnership opportunity for the leading (read: deep-pocketed) OTAs. Hotels Honestly, I see no downside yet for hotels, as the more pricing options potential guests have for getting to a hotel’s front desk, the better.  The only issue to watch will be how much share hotels from traditionally cheaper airfare destinations will steal from those in areas with traditionally higher airfare.  Given the type of travel that will be most frequently sourced using the Google/ITA “platform” (the spur-of-the-moment trip), the mass market capabilities of a Google search for travel deals that link directly into airline booking engines will be a benefit to traditionally cheaper airfare destinations. But with that being said, it’s all speculation, as we truly have no idea how extensive Google’s entry into the travel industry will be. Nonetheless, I think there will be some dramatic shifts in the travel industry for travelers, OTAs, and hotels with the new Google/ITA platform’s launch.  Whether good or bad, it will depend on which side of the deal your standing. What are your thoughts on the merger? Do you agree or disagree? I’d love to hear your thoughts and opinions; contact me at any time at jlr@travelinkd.com.

The bottom line is that competition for customers is fierce and getting more intense on a weekly basis. It is more important than ever to differentiate rather than merely have a web presence. Booking room nights directly from your hotel’s site remains the most profitable channel. You must aggressively market your site and innovate to compete against the onslaught of competitors who want a share of your customers’ dollars.

• What are you doing to differentiate your website?
• How are you making your site an experience for your visitors?
• What new technologies are you incorporating into your site?

You no longer have the luxury of laissez-faire.

For examples of differentiation and innovation, view my post Company You Keep