Travel and Tourism - SEO

Session Objectives

- Thinking about SEO in 2014 and how it has changed- Introduce key areas for focus- Introduce key areas of opportunity- Present some ideas for how to operate successfully in a landscape dominated by resellers and aggregator sites

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SEO in 2014

Search Engine Algorithms

Still rely on LINKS to your site to assess the QUALITY of your websiteStill rely on the WORDS used on your site and linking sites to assess RELEVANCE

This hasn’t changed and isn’t likely to any time soon.

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SEO in 2014

What has changed is that search engines have stepped up their ability to spot and take action against manipulation taking place to ‘game’ their algorithms

This makes the requirements for success with SEO much different than 5 or even 3 years ago ….

Up until 2011 lots of loopholes being used by SEO’s :

- link volume without quality worked- keywords ‘stuffed’ in anchor text worked- keywords ‘stuffed’ into page copy worked- keyword ‘stuffed’ low value pages worked

This activity (or a history of this activity) can now bring penalties

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Google Panda Updates

Penalise if your site has lots of duplicate and/or low value content pages

Result = loss of rankings and traffic/sales

Even if duplicate and low value content is unintentional you will be penalised. Panda is indiscriminate.

Action Points:-Ensure your CMS isn’t causing duplication -Ensure every page on your site provides user value. If not improve the content or ditch the page

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Google Penguin Updates

Penalise if your site has lots of links with the same keywords terms stuffed into their anchor text

This was a strategy heavily employed by SEO’s in the past

Result = loss of rankings and traffic/sales

Action Points:- Ensure your SEO is not building links stuffed with keyword rich anchor text-Ensure you don’t have old links stuffed with keyword anchor text because of past SEO activity-Look towards Content Marketing for gaining natural looking links

The Rise of Content Marketing

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Content Marketing

-Kills 3 birds with one stone:- achieves links and brand mentions – search engines like!- provides an additional traffic stream- drives brand awareness

What is it?

The creation and promotion of branded content that is so useful/helpful/interesting/entertaining/inspirational that people want to tell others about it!

For best results your promotion needs as much effort as creation

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Content Marketing for Travel & Tourism

We’d suggest tailoring content to one or more different stages of a customers trip/holiday...

-planning the trip

provide useful/helpful info on your site e.g comprehensive things to do guides

-en-route/on holiday

e.g useful emergency and logistical informatione.g up to date local events schedules

-afterwards

keep the conversation going with UGC that inspires others:

e.g photo competitions e.g ‘stories’

The key is to strive for content that is genuinely useful/helpful/interesting/entertaining/inspirational or else it wont work!

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Tourism Australia do ‘Planning’ and ‘Afterwards’ content really well……

Content for planning a trip:

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Content for :afterwards

Share user submitted photos…..

The Rise of Mobile Search

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 Mobile Search

“I wouldn’t be surprised if mobile searches exceeded desktop search queries this year”

Matt Cutts, Google, March 2014

Mobile search is being driven by the increase in smartphones and tablets for internet usage….

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Three key drivers:

-Global penetration of mobile devices is increasing year-on-year.

-People are using mobile devices at home in conjunction with offline media like television and print

- People are using mobile devices to find local information (businesses, offers, opening times etc etc).

Action Point:

-You should use analytics to understand how big your mobile audience is and how fast it’s growing

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Study by Google, published Nov 2013http://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/research-studies/mobile-path-to-purchase-5-key-findings.html

Action Point:

- ensure your site provides a good user experience on mobile devices

Action Point:

- ensure you rank well in mobile search results. Search engine results are different on mobile to desktop.

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Google have stated that they are starting to eliminate pages from their mobile search results if the user experience on a mobile device is poor

Action Points:

- eliminate any slow load time of your pages on mobile devices- eliminate issues with layout etc that may cause users to return to search results (bounce)

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Mobile Search and Location

If your business has local retail presence it’s important to understand that mobile search results are heavily localised.

This provides opportunity….

Action Points:

- perform searches on what you offer on mobile devices to understand where local results are being triggered

- ensure you have Google + Business profile setup that is optimised for search terms

- ensure you are soliciting Google user reviews

Break for Questions

How to compete with reseller/aggregator sites in search

engines

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Reseller/ Aggregator Sites

How they operate:

operate on high volume, low margin so have to be at the top of the SERPS for highest volume search terms in your niche

therefore they invest heavily in SEO to achieve websites that are very ‘strong’ in the eyes of search engines

What this means for you:

unless your budgets can compete your website will be ‘weaker’ in the eyes of search engines and might struggle to rank on page 1 for the big volume, competitive search terms

What to do? …………….

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Diagnose “head against a brick wall” syndrome

Lost count of how many times I’ve seen the following…- website is optimised for big volume search terms - website ranks on page 2 or 3 and has little traffic/sales- SEO is told to “do better”- SEO continues to plug away- website continues to have little traffic/sales - SEO is replaced - rinse and repeat

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no matter how much you’re insisting on it…your website may not be ranking on page 1 for the terms being targeted because it’s not ‘strong’ enough compared to the big players

Theoretically search engines assign a ‘strength’ score to each website and determine the order of rankings by comparing the ‘strength’ scores ‘Strength’ is determined by how many links point to your website and how ‘authoritative’ linking sites are.

Big SEO budgets are focussed on achieving lots of strong links.  

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Re-focus on achievable

Action Points:

- make it your business to know which search terms are being targeted on your website- have your SEO ensure that page 1 position is achievable for those terms

A number of third parties provide ‘strength’ scores:

- Moz.com - Majestic SEO

Where necessary achieve page 1 rankings for lower volume, lower competition search terms SOME TRAFFIC IS BETTER THAN NO TRAFFIC

  

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Don’t be afraid of ‘Long Tails’

When you start using ‘strength’ scoring you’re might see that only the lower volume 3, 4, or 5 word search terms are ACHIEVEABLE LONG TAIL = search term that is really descriptive and specific, 3 words or more

A person using a long tail search is likely to have already done the majority of their research, is refining their research and be closer to making a decision

Long tails mean better conversion rate despite lower search volume

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An example:

You offer a range of holidays in Turkey. The holidays are suited to families and focussed around adventurous activities such as kayaking, turtle spotting and trekking.

You’ve been targeting the terms “holidays turkey” and “turkey holidays” for over a year but are on page 2 of the SERPS with resellers and aggregators dominating page 1.

How about you consider optimising for: “family adventure holidays turkey”“turtle spotting holidays turkey”

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Employ Reviews

If you were looking for London Bus Tour which one of these listings would draw your eye?

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Review rich snippets require:

- independent review site to be capturing reviews of your company and/or to capture product reviews on your site

- special code used on your pages to make the review scores available to Google

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Be a barnacle where possible

“Attaching oneself to a large fixed object and waiting for the nutrients to float by in the current.”

Barnacle SEO:

to ensure that your product features on reseller and aggregator sites that have better visibility than your website for high volume search terms

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e.g. you offer motorcycle tours across Europe but don’t have a strong enough site to achieve page 1 visibility for “motorcycle tours europe”

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Any Questions?