Google rolled out changes in its search results about two weeks ago that are proving to be great news for many hotels, inns and vacation rental management companies.  This change represents a pretty dramatic shift in the look and feel of Google’s SERPs for many local searches.

Previously, when a consumer did a location search (like “Orlando Vacation Home”) Google would show the “10-box” at the top of the organic search results and then show the top 10 results after that.

It looked like this:

Now, Google is blending the two and placing the Google Places information right into the organic search results so that it looks like this:

Why is this a benefit? There are three reasons:

1) Because wholesalers and distributors (competitors who don’t have physical presence in your market) are not eligible for a Google Places listing and their resulting listings are not nearly as attractive or prominent as those businesses that do have a Places listing.  They get a pretty boring listing that looks like this:

2) Because many of your competitors have not taken the time to get a nice Google Places listing, and theirs may look like this: [Read more...]

Use of the microsite as an SEO tactic has been a persistent topic of online marketing strategy for years.   Generally, its popularity and effectiveness has waned.

Your average hospitality business is more likely to be saddled with a tenured set of microsites than seriously considering a new microsite effort.  Remember, back in the days, building microsites was typically a profitable endeavor.  They performed well in search engines and enjoyed high conversion rates if thoughtfully designed… which was probably rare.  That is why there are so many legacy microsites.

Over the last few years Google started discouraging the practice in both its words and its algorithms. And for good reason: using microsites to manipulate organic search isn’t good for the consumer.  For the business owner, microsites are a double-edged sword.  They involve risk.  BTW, we say microsites instead of microsite usually because people seem to build them in groups.  It is a herd animal.

Today, the reasons most hotels or resorts use microsites are threefold:

1. A needed technology, tool or content management system cannot be installed within a website, so it is hosted at a subdomain.  Examples include booking engines, tee-time or table reservation functionality, guest/customer loyalty area, blog, etc.  This is a good reason to have a microsite.
2. The resort has a unique product (restaurant, spa, golf course) that justifies having its own dedicated web presence and marketing effort.  This may also be a good reason for a microsite.
3. They have a few old clunky microsites and won’t give them up!

It is that third reason we want to discuss today.  Give them up now, before Google pries them from your cold dead hands! [Read more...]