Top 10 Search Engine Marketing Strategies for Travel Marketers

2007-09-27

By Scott MacGregor
Director of Marketing and Client Services
Search Intelligence

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is now a serious marketing consideration for travel marketers with three-fifths of all online travel shoppers reporting that they rely on search engines as their research and planning resource (source: PhoCusWright). Clearly, search engine visibility can be a major determinant for online success.

There is a great deal of good information written on the subject of search marketing, however little focuses on some of the more unique characteristics of travel and even less specifically for Canadian travel companies and markets. Because of this I decided to share my ‘top 10’ travel search marketing strategies here and – while some are certainly true for other markets besides travel – many of these focus on specific aspects unique to online travel marketing in Canada.

1. Create unique, compelling and relevant content. Leverage your own travel expertise and knowledge to publish meaningful travel content that targets that much discussed long tail of travel search. Uniqueness is worth stressing, syndicated content available to hundreds of other websites may provide some value but know that Search Engines filter duplicate results and the SEO benefits may be little.

2. Become knowledgeable in SEM (or hire someone who is). This is not (entirely) a shameless plug for SEM firms or others. It just not as simple as it used to be and not all web developers, programmers or designers have the skills to compete in the hyper-competitive travel space. So whether you outsource or develop skills in-house, you need to work with people who have developed expertise working in competitive markets like travel.

3. Get quality links. Consider buying directory listings (like Yahoo!) and work on getting relevant links from local sites (if you are a local travel business), suppliers, partners, trade organizations and even your clients where appropriate. Avoid link-swapping schemes and focus instead on getting good links from high quality trusted sites in your locale, industry or vertical.

4. Avoid ‘tricks’ and shortcuts. The search engines are sophisticated and some of those tricks of the past like keyword stuffing and site cloaking don’t work and, worse yet, may get you in hot water. Protect your brand online (from penalties imposed by search engines) and don’t waste your time and energy.

5. Understand your Web Analytics. Google Analytics is free and provides customizable reports that allow you to set and report on Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) like Unique Monthly Visits, Search Engine Referred Visits, Conversions, etc. If you use a hosted reservation system be sure it allows you to track conversions. Whatever your analytics solution, set goals and KPI’s and diligently monitor them.

The next three points relate to more specifically to Paid Placement (or Pay-per-click) tools like Google AdWords or Yahoo! Search Marketing.

6. Employ best practices in Paid Placement. Be sure you understand how to use Paid Placement most effectively. Are you tracking conversions online? Do you really want Content Match traffic or is it just on by default? Are you using all the ‘best’ keywords and employing appropriate keyword matching options like negative, phrase or exact matching? Have you split your campaigns into thematic groups with relevant ads and landing pages?

7. Use Geotargetting to segment your message. The major search engines all now offer geographic targeting within Canada and given our huge regional differences in travel preferences across our great country (and beyond) we should be using this tool to segment our audiences. Selling vacation packages to sun destinations? Maybe you show Dominican and Cuba packages to Eastern Canadians, and Pacific destinations like Hawaii or Los Cabos to Western Canadians? A Whistler hotel may send Washington State visitors to a ‘Drive and Save’ promotion while Europeans see something else (with pricing in Euros)?

8. Test everything and measure results against your desired result. This media is immensely fluid and trackable so try different ads and landing pages in your Paid Placement campaigns. Use Analytics and Conversion tracking to evaluate performance and understand that website and campaign optimization is the art of continuous refinement.

9. Use Local Search when applicable. If your business is likely to be searched with a regional qualifier (‘Victoria BC Boutique Hotel’ for example) be sure you have done the work to make sure it can appear in Google Local or Yahoo! Local results. Is your geographic location clearly available to the search engines?

10. Retain your customers with Email, RSS, Blogs or other compelling reasons to return. Engage prospects and clients to return to your website so that you don’t have to re-acquire them later. Send email followups, leverage Web 2.0 or social media and consumer generated media to engage or share photos, stories and reviews.

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