Anyone whose hotel or chain has developed a significant online presence is likely to know about search engine optimism, or SEO. This is based on the idea that by covering particular subjects in its online content, it can gain more exposure in good rankings. This is particularly focused on keywords, which have historically been essential in driving traffic.
Whether individual words or what is known as long-tail keywords – lengthy but precise phrases – these have played a key role in SEO strategies and with it the whole approach to online and digital marketing by brands of all kinds, including hotels. Like everything else involving the internet, this has evolved. It used to be the case that simply stuffing in keywords was enough. That led to some outright abuse of systems as sites would slip in completely irrelevant mentions of popular subjects or people – such as David Beckham or Kate Middleton – to drive traffic to sites selling something completely unassociated.
Updated logarithms have changed all that, however, filtering out spam and irrelevant content, and making more sophisticated content marketing necessary. Indeed, a more considered overall search engine marketing (SEM) strategy is now required.
SEM matters to travellers
SEM in its various forms has now become the leading form of online marketing. In the US, for example, 47 per cent of marketing budgets are spent on it, according to data from HeBS Digital. Moreover, other research has shown that the use of search engines is an important factor in consumer behaviour. For example, a study by Prognosis Digital has revealed that no less than 96 per cent of travellers begin planning their trip via Google. 79 per cent start searching by looking for a hotel via a search engine, 63 per cent said search engines are their ‘go to’ source of travel information and 45 per cent are prompted to follow up ads and brand listings on a Google search. The last of these indicates that paid-for online adverts are a key part of an SEM strategy. The others show that being able to produce optimised content is vital.
The key to clicks
One way SEM has become a part of the landscape is the advent of pay-per-click, which means content earns cash for each hit made by potential customers in response to powerful keywords, who can then be drawn by what they read into making a booking. In terms of effectiveness, it appears this is a very valuable strategy that is well worth the hotel investment. Prognosis Digital’s analysis indicated that the use of strong keywords helps a hotel raise online bookings by over 300 per hotel in a ten-month period. It is not just big hotels and chains who can benefit from this. Describing the effectiveness of pay-per-click, which can be switched on and off as and when needed, general manager of the 96-bed Beach House Hotel Hermosa Beach, California Marje Bennetts said: “Our hotel ran promotional packages in January and February (2015) including a discount package and a romance package for Valentine’s Day… and the paid placement on TripAdvisor led the programme to fill. “We were able to immediately shut off the paid-search promotion as soon as this occurred,” adding that “feedback on how each reservation was booked, what guests were paying, and where every reservation came from.” Thus pay-per-click is flexible, profitable and also provides plenty of information to help guide a hotel’s future marketing efforts.
SEO
As described above, SEO is a key element of an SEM strategy. Unlike pay-per-click, it is basically free, except that a hotel must pay either a member of staff or an outside agency to write the content. Even so, it is comparatively cost-effective. Hotels must ready to develop a relevant content strategy. Since spammy content is out and shoehorning keywords in is equally likely to fall foul of present-day search engine algorithms, the sort of content being produced effectively now is different from that of a few years ago. Agencies will have updated the way they write for most clients and if a hotel or chain has not had its content strategy updated in the last couple of years, it is worth asking why not. The key with modern content that contains SEO is that this must closely follow the fundamental principle of content marketing, in that it is less about direct selling than seeking to indirectly interest the consumer in the product. Good content is now about writing interesting content about a broad subject, although it may slip in mentions of the products available, or hyperlinks. SEO-based content can be short or long articles, news-based, longer feature articles or static content that only needs updating when something significant changes (such as when a hotel adds a new facility).
The future
A good SEM strategy is certainly effective in helping drive traffic to a website. The key for anyone adopting it is to make sure they keep in touch with changes in the way content is written and how search engine algorithms operate. Those who do will stay well ahead of the rest.
