The following post is from Brian Bagel, Social Media Manager and Lisa Shockley, SEO Manager.
Any time that Google makes an announcement,
it’s big news for the online marketing world. And the latest news about the merging of Google+ into organic Google search results has certainly gotten both the SEO and social world all in a tizzy.
But what does it all mean? Does it really matter? Let’s dig a little bit deeper.
Social Media
If you hear it from Google, and maybe some marketing folks here and there, the story of Google+ is one of a game-changer. The network is cleaner, easier to use and has better features and privacy controls than Facebook. The number of subscribers has grown exponentially nearly overnight, and they’re expecting to have 250 million users by the end of 2012. Wow!
But let’s get a little perspective here. Why has Google+ grown so quickly? The incessant advertising on the Google pages, or the near requirement that you have a Google + account if you want your gmail to function normally are big factors. I don’t know if you can call their growth organic. And while Hangouts and privacy controls are leaps and bound above Facebook, if you frequent Google+, you will normally be met with tumbleweeds and a harsh breeze as opposed to the warming glow of thousands of welcoming and intriguing updates from your friends.
But Google is forcing our hands here. They’re breaking out the almighty organic search weapon. If you want your Google+ profile and updates to show up in SERPs, then it’s tough to ignore.
So on a social side, here are our recommendations.
- Create a Google+ page for your business. Make sure it’s got a photo, and looks nice.
- Monitor it. Ensure that nobody abuses the page, and that you catch any stray questions or comments.
I think many hotels already have trouble finding the time and manpower to manage Facebook or Twitter, and these two outlets still win out over Google+ in the “Great Social Battle.” To add another fully-managed site to the mix is ill-advised. So, what is a hotel to do, when Google is suggesting that its newest venture is a key factor in search engine performance? The best approach for the short-term is to simply cover yourself and create something that will show up in SERPs and will be nice to look at, but won’t require much extra effort on your part. Until Google+ can prove to be a thriving network, and not one on constant Google life support, spend your social time elsewhere.
SEO
The release Tuesday by Google was a familiar concept, the storybook world where results are personalized for you based on your social network. Where relevance is based on the place your college-friend’s-cousin-you-met-once-but-friended-anyway went on vacation last year. This type of relevancy often seems far-fetched, but to be fair, Google has a point. Several studies have revealed that people overwhelmingly trust personal recommendations as compared to search engine results.
But for a moment, let’s step back to December of 2010 when Google’s Matt Cutts confirmed suspicions that social signals were a ranking factor in their web results. This was the first time for many businesses that social became about more than engaging with customers on a personal level. It was a bold statement that search engines were moving to a world where everyone could have a vote as to what content they liked best, not just those with websites. That alteration in Google’s ranking algorithm proved a change was on the horizon by including information from many new sources, arguably the most important being Facebook and Twitter.
Tuesday’s announcement, however, put the other major players in the backseat and focused solely on Google+. So how does this change your hotel’s SEO strategy? If you were ignoring Google+ before, it’s time to get on board. That doesn’t mean to say shifting your total social efforts, because at this juncture, you shouldn’t. But the minimum is now a must – just build a page already! You won’t regret the decision of keeping up with the Jones’s in this case.
All this said, while the effects on SERPs are more in-your-face, I’m skeptical on how much this will truly affect an individual hotel given the current Google+ landscape. Remember, leveraging Google+ to positively impact your rankings requires an active user base. Only spend your time here if yours proves large and engaged enough to make efforts worthwhile. If you find yourself in that lucky and unusual situation, the strategy to leverage this social channel will sound familiar:
1. Optimize your posts
But do be careful. Keyword-stuffed posts sound unnatural, and users won’t gravitate to them. Remember, the idea is not only to get users interested enough to read your posts, but to make them entertaining enough to pass on to friends and colleagues. Weave keywords in naturally, and be sure to provide useful and interesting information.
2. Create content worth sharing
Funny, exciting, controversial, etc. The more people who share information about your business, the greater the likelihood of that content showing in SERPs.
3. Don’t rely on users to correctly tag your photos
Photos are one of the easiest ways to engage users on social networks. Uploading a photo named “beachshot1.jpeg” might be fine for a user, but it’s not going to help you in search results. The lesson? As a best practice, learn to name your photos with descriptive keywords – “hotel-xyz-miami-beach.jpeg” will let Google know how to classify the image.
What’s your opinion on Search plus Your World – do you expect it to change your company’s SEO strategy? Will the change be just the push Google+ needed? Leave us your thoughts in the comments!
Interested in ramping up your online strategy? Check out the full suite of TIG Global interactive marketing tools, send us an email, or give us a call +1 301.841.4700(US) | +44 (0)20 3004 9468(UK).
