By Noor Eltahawy, SEO Specialist
A few months ago, Google began unrolling a new design for their hotel search results. With the updated design, they now display four hotels instead of three and have updated the filters available to the user, all in an effort to help people easily find the hotel that best fits their needs.
So, how can hotels make sure that they are in the best position possible when it comes to this new design? Read on to understand how a hotel can optimize their brand recognition, and ultimately drive more traffic to the hotel website using Google’s new search results interface for hotels.
Understanding the search queries of users
The first thing you’ll need to know if you’re a hotel optimizing for organic search traffic is how your target market is using Google. In order to identify how people search for hotels, you’ll need to understand the variety of search queries people use.
The two primary ways people search for hotels are:
- People search for “Hotels in {name of town, city, or vicinity}”
- People search for “Hotel 48LEX in NYC”
How to make it to the top of Google’s Hotel Search listings
Google’s new hotel listings place more emphasis on the featured properties with larger images, and bigger fonts for hotel descriptions and prices. The display on mobile is much more prominent, meaning there’s little space for organic search results to appear above the fold. With these results being pushed further down the page, the prized first-page search results are more valuable than ever.
The goal for hotels is to obtain a spot on the first page of hotel listings, with a definitive description of the brand and a visible image of the hotel in order to drive traffic and conversions. However, getting to the top of search results pages is not always an easy task. Hotels can’t buy their way to the top, nor can they request for better rankings. The only way to appear is to ensure that complete, high-quality information about your hotel is available (and well-optimized) on your website.
To achieve the best possible organic visibility in Google’s Hotel Search listings, follow these three steps:
- Have quality photos that help to increase conversions and clicks. Be sure to upload photos after verifying your Google My Business account, which is one of the best ways to help Google identify what information to provide about your brand. Always save images with keywords in the file. For example, if you upload an image of the hotel pool, be sure to name the file: hotel-pool-in-Miami-Beach. Google may also source images of your hotel from Google Maps street view, Google users, and professional photographers.
- Encourage guests to leave as many positive Google reviews as possible. Reviews are heavily weighted when it comes to factors that influence your organic search rankings. The more positive reviews you have, the better your organic visibility will be. Google Reviews offer star ratings and reviews for your business, curated from various sites across the internet, including Revinate, ReviewPro, and TrustYou. It’s more important than ever to deliver a quality experience that encourages guests to leave positive reviews that appear in Google search results and Google Maps across all devices.
- Provide useful information, such as hotel descriptions and amenities. Ensure the Hotel Details Card of your Google My Business account is updated with accurate phone numbers, addresses, Google maps geo markers, recent photos of the hotel, guest reviews, and amenities. Keeping this complete, data up-to-date, and updated regularly can develop trust in Google’s algorithm and give your brand more favorable organic visibility.
Conclusion There’s a lot you can do to help drive more traffic and increase conversions through search engines for your hotel. Google’s new hotel search grid, Google Maps listings, and its hotel display cards are crucial to help drive positive brand recognition and drive conversions. Make sure to fully optimize your Google My Business Page with accurate and descriptive information about your hotel and brand. Upload and manage your photos and maintain your reviews in order to improve your rankings within Google’s hotel search interface and begin to see the conversions increase.
