How Google just made travel SEO a bit more complex As far as Google’s process of the new development projects is concerned it something like trying quite hard and releasing a product only once they are sure that it will be appreciated by users and useful to them. It is seen that only one-third of the development projects at Google become a complete product offering. The travel search scenario has undergone many changes in Google recently. They had tweaked this field before but didn’t make any serious moves until the mid summer of 2011. Travel SEO services field is yet to see a major change in the Google’s algorithm for travel related searches. Google’s recent moves in travel tools On September 13, 2011 Google acquired ITA software for $700 million. This was the first indication that Google has renewed its interest in travel field. Based on this buyout, Google launched Google Hotel finder and Google flights. Like other airline information provider sites Google flights can give the option of a number of parameters to the user like arrival and departure times, budget and preferred carriers after which he can select the flight he sees fit. Though there is nothing new which competitors doesn’t provide on their site but the user interface on Google flights for picking out flight itineraries and the speed are the two positives which are lacking in other competitor sites. Hotel finder which is still in experimental phase allows user to search for hotels in specific region based on various user parameters. Travel SEO For average internet users wanting to plan their travel itinerary Google Flights and Hotel Finder make search for hotels and flights quite easy. Bing is the search engine which is currently ruling the travel search functionality but these two tools by Google are great options for collecting information. The main fact which remains a point of discussion is that the new travel services rely on paying for the top spot. This means that one has to pay for top spot in SERP in travel service providing field. Thus for AdWords advertisers it means that they have to pay more to continue to stay in contention. Thus for the travel SEO sites it will mean that they have to rely on organic marketing. Change in revenue models
Google was the first search engine which separately pointed out the paid and non-paid results and made clear which was which. The sponsored listings were handled by Adwords while the organic SERPs weren’t affected by the paid results. This separation is what kept Google different from others. However they are willing to integrate the results of both paid and un-paid sites in the SERPs. This will affect the travel SEO executives who rely on Google for leads through organic traffic. New reality of travel SEO As Google continues to make changes in travel search field, marketers have two options: paying more for the paid listings and getting higher ranks in SERP or increasing the quality and quantity of backlinks through organic SEO techniques and social media. What to understand from this? Based on the interest Google is taking in travel search it is quite clear that it will come up with much bigger things in the days to come as it keeps monetization as the factor to be considered more important along with improved travel search services. This will happen if the advertisers are really impressed by the services Google provide. Thus travel SEO is bound to see even more changes as Google continues to tweak with their algorithm for travel search results.