REPORT FROM THE U.S. —For most hoteliers, search engine optimization and search engine marketing are effective ways to reach prospective guests. However, the “keyword world” is changing, and hoteliers need to keep pace, sources said.
As online search features continue to change, “it doesn’t stop you from doing what you’ve always done, and it puts the focus on developing high quality content for your guests,” which can benefit SEO and SEM efforts, said Tim Peter, e-commerce and marketing strategy expert at Tim Peter & Associates.
While hoteliers are in a transitioning period, many of them are still heavily focused on SEO and SEM. For example, SEM plays a big role in InterContinental Hotels Group’s online demand generation, said Michael Menis, senior VP of digital and voice channels.
“There is no shortage of people trying to get in between us and our guests,” Menis said. “As that landscape continues to evolve, we need to make sure we’re evolving as well, so search plays a critical role in our online marketing efforts.”
Competing with OTAs
Hoteliers need to create innovative and cost effective ways to compete with online travel agencies that often bid on hotels’ branded keywords extensively, sources said.
One way hoteliers can up the ante with OTAs is by focusing efforts on mobile, Peter said.
OTA ads outnumber hotel brands’ ads on Google, Bing and AOL—but not on Google Mobile, according to a recent study from BrandVerity titled “Hotel brands, OTAs and paid search: How do these relationships unfold on the SERP?”
On average, each Google Search Engine Results Page included almost two OTA ads, according to the study results. Bing and AOL had considerably more, with 4.77 and 5.27 OTA ads per SERP, respectively. Google Mobile had only 0.49 OTA ads per SERP.
Even though hoteliers are competing with OTAs in paid search, they also can benefit from partnering with OTAs on SEO, SEM and metasearch placement because of OTAs’ spending power, said David Doctorow, senior VP of global marketing for Expedia.com.
“From the perspective of a hotelier, if they can leverage our good quality scores that we work really, really hard to improve every single day, that’s an efficient way to tap into traffic versus having to build their own,” he said.
Doctorow said Expedia has spent a substantial amount of time nailing down the art and science of keyword bidding. Therefore, the company’s track record working with companies such as TripAdvisor, Kayak and Google is significant. And because of that track record, Expedia’s “quality score” translates to less expensive cost-per-click prices, he added.
Budgeting for SEO and SEM
Budgeting for SEO and SEM varies for different hotels, Peter said. Budget and economy hotels don’t need to spend as much time and money on SEO, he said.
“There are certain types of hotels like the economy roadside hotel who, if they’re branded, they’re probably getting all the branded SEO they need from the brand,” Peter said. “Building their own website to draw traffic may not be the investment of their time.”
He said economy hotels rely more heavily on brand traffic, walk-in traffic, and ratings and reviews sites, so they might not see much benefit from the ads.
“I always think of paid search as a travel agent,” Peter said. “If you’re getting a positive return on a paid search, I would keep doing that as long as you have available inventory.”
If hoteliers’ return on ad spend is positive, particularly if they’re getting better returns than spending with OTAs, metasearch, meeting planners or travel agents, Peter said to keep spending that money.
“It becomes a very cost effective way to market your hotel,” he said. “Budget should be driven by not so much how you’ll spend but your returns you see. On the flip side, if you’re full all the time, spending money on paid search might not be the best idea.”