ì Improve Your Hotel’s Online Presence
How Google sees businesses’ presence on the web
By Emilie Alba, extract of thesis “The Online Compe;;on Between Hoteliers and OTAs”, September 17, 2012. Supervised by E.A.Craig, Oneglobe Network
-‐ Guide 2 for Hoteliers -‐
Web-‐Marke<ng Strategy of a Hotel viewed by an Independent Hotel
Web-‐Marke<ng Strategy of a hotel viewed by Google
How independent hotels use the web to a1ract customers
How Google thinks hotels should use the web to a1ract customers
% = the importance hoteliers aDribute to each touch point* to aDract customers.
Many independent hotels -‐ visualize their website at the center of the
Internet -‐ try to bring poten<al clients on their
website through a limited use of Social Media (10%), Local directories (10%), Google Maps and Places (10%).
50% of the touch points combined are not op;mized to target and aDract poten<al hotels’ guests.
* Touch point: Website, Social Media, Local Search Sites, Google Maps/Places
% = the importance Google thinks Hoteliers should aDribute to each touch point to aDract customers.
Hoteliers have to be present on all these touch points + pay a par<cular aDen<on to online influencers, because they are the ones who are the most likely to spread words about hotels online. Each touch point has to bring poten<al clients to a bookable plaUorm, because poten<al clients should be able to make reserva<ons through the touch point of their choice.
Graph made in April 2012 for the Think-‐Tank Now 4 Next by Oneglobe Network
Google visualizes poten<al customers in the center, and strategically posi<oned itself on all the different exis<ng touch points.
Note: Touch points are NOT distribu<on channels
G+ Local Standardized the Online Presence of Hotels
G+ Local expands hotels’ visibility on each touch
point
G+ Local improves the web-‐user
experience online by making Google’s tools more social
-‐ Makes Google Maps more social by displaying “Review” links poin<ng towards the G+ local pages of the hotels.
-‐ Reinforces hotel guests’ direct access to booking plaEorms on each touch point, with the “price comparison booking boxes”.
G+ Local… -‐ Strengthens Google’s posi;on on
Local Search Sites (=Local directories), which provides businesses with an addi<onal local search plaUorm (made possible by Google’s partnership with Zagat).
-‐ Makes hotels more visual on Google Search (photos of businesses present on G+ Local shows up on Google search, which influences web-‐users to visit hotels’ G+ Local page).
More about, next slide!
Google’s “Price Comparison Booking Box”…
…is now present on Google Search, which makes of the laDer an addi<onal touch point for customers.
Google Maps
G+ Local
Ø Google values a lot businesses’ informa;on coherence online. If Google can
rapidly iden<fy a same hotel on several touch points, this hotel is more likely to be ranked among the top results on search engines.
Ø G+ Local having integrated all the touch points hotels are using to target poten<al
clients, it means that Google values the hotels’ presence and ac;vity on each touch point.
Hotels have to update all their lis;ngs and accounts on each touch point in order to provide Google with coherent informa<on about their business, so that Google can recognize a same business on different touch points.
What Does This Mean For Hotels ?
G+ Local is therefore the opportunity for hotels to review their online presence and make it
coherent.
Updating the Online Presence of a Hotel = a Heavy Task?
You need to dis<nguish: -‐ Which touch point needs to be handled in priority -‐ What are the most important pieces of informa;on to update*.
*The update of a touch point consists in checking and modifying (if necessary) all the points listed on the top lec-‐hand corner of the graph next slide.
Follow the graph next slide !
NO, it’s easy ! Time consuming but easy
1 • Update your hotel’s lis;ngs on Google Places,
because Google is currently merging these pieces of informa<on within G+ Local pages.
• It only consists in verifying: -‐ if the pieces of informa<on concerning the hotel are correct -‐ if the hotel has only one lis<ng created per street address (if the hotel is present on different loca<ons).
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• Focus on social media because if this touch point is well-‐maintained, hotels can gain visibility, which compensates the loss of traffic many hotels’ website affected by Google’s new algorithms (Google Panda and Penguin) experienced.
• The objec;ve is to gain in popularity, because Google values the web-‐user experience. The more a page is followed by web-‐users, the more it gives Google proofs of the real existence of the business.
A Step-‐by-‐Step Process
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“Show Google You Know Its Requirements”
“Show Google How Popular You Are”
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• Update your hotel’s presence on local and recommenda<on sites.
• It consists in finding: 1-‐ the sites on which the hotel’s compe<tors are present 2-‐ crea<ng lis<ngs on these sites.
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• Review the performance of your hotel’s website. Google algorithms analyze every detail of the website to see if the business related to is s<ll exis<ng, and if it provides web-‐users with relevant informa<on (likely to enhance good consumer experience). • A website has to be well organized, dynamic and interac;ve. The best way to improve a hotel’s website is to have a web-‐developer and a web-‐marketer working together on it.
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A Step-‐by-‐Step Process
“Show Google You Are A Real Business”
• It is important to be present on sites that are valued by Google. In general, the ones ranked on top results and the ones who display Google devices (like maps) or visuals (photos, videos, etc.) are efficient.
“Show Google Your Website Provides A Customer Experience”
The op;miza;on of each of these touch points will be further developed in -‐ Guide 3 for Hoteliers -‐ , in order to sa<sfy the hoteliers’ need to visualize:
-‐ Where they lack performance -‐ How to relieve the situa;on
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Did you miss -‐ Guide 1 for Hoteliers -‐ ?
You can s<ll find it on: -‐ FutureMKRS blog hDp://futuremkrs.blogspot.com/ -‐ My own blog hDp://marketmyrooms.wordpress.com/
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