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Clearly Google+1 is a direct ‘across the bow’ shot at Facebook. While Google+1 might seem similar to Facebook’s Like button, it is a stronger power of influence when it comes to validating the popularity and authenticity of a website.
It should not be news to anyone at this time that the search engines have been quietly incorporating “social signals” into their search engine algorithms. Algorithms are mathematical computations which help the search engines to determine where your hotel website listing will appear on a search results page. Starting this week, if you are logged into your Google account, you can expect to see Google+1 buttons in your Google search results pages. When a user clicks +1, they’re declaring their affinity for a particular search result, which Google is considering as ‘human vote of confidence.” In the near future you will also see the Google+1 buttons on websites across the web, much like Facebook’s Open Graph and their Like button.
So here is the a-ha moment for hotels; Google has found a way to make us all become influencers of relevancy and as we +1 our way throughout the web, we will be shaping and helping to determine which website will be listed on a results page...and which one’s won’t.
We believe Google+1 is superior to Facebook’s Like button because in order to +1, you have to create a publicly accessible user profile. This will make it difficult for companies to game the system by creating fake profiles. While Facebook is closing in on 700,000 million users, we all know people who have multiple profiles as well as zoo animals who have their own profile pages.
So what does this all mean for hoteliers? Clearly hotel search engine listings, organic and paid, will increasingly be influenced by Likes and +1’s. Does your hotel have a strategy to ensure consumers +1 your search engine listings on Google when presented with the opportunity? If your website ranks well on Google now, are you prepared for the loss of rank position when your competitors have more +1’s than your hotel has? Hoteliers should no longer think as marketers do, but rather think as publishers do. Only relevant, informative not overly promotional content will encourage consumers to +1 your website. Gone are the days of simply providing ‘marketing speak’ to get attention, now and in the future it will be all about providing valuable content.
For more information about Google+1 you can visit the Google+1 website: http://www.google.com/+1/button/
"Nearly a year after Facebook Like buttons spread out across the web, Google has announced its own rival, the +1 button. It launches today as part of Google’s search engine, allowing you to “+1″ the search results and ads that you like. And in a few months, it’ll be arriving at a web site near you."
Read the complete article at www.searchengineland.com
"A “social search” is one that ties a searcher’s social graph to his search queries. With social search, each searcher sees unique results that are shaped by the interests of his social network friends.
Google, not the company to often fudge with the appearance or function of its search results, turned on its version of social search more than a year ago. It has since gone on to more prominently feature social search results and blend them in with regular results.
One should not make light of these changes; they point to the company’s recognition that the average web user, who now spends more time on Facebook, may be not-so-quietly demanding a new form of search."
Read the full article at www.mashable.com
"Microsoft's Bing has recently added a new feature called Price Predictors to its travel searches. It suggests if one should buy now or hold off for a better fare based on how fares are trending. Some analysts believe this will have an impact on companies like Expedia and challenge Google's move into travel search."
Read more at www.hotelmarketing.com
"According to Travel Weekly, Pegasus confirmed it is working with Google to include hotel pricing and direct links to hotel booking sites alongside OTA listings on its new Google Maps hotel search function. What's more, the company next week will announce a similar tool for metasearch sites."
Read the full article hotelmarketing.com
"Google first connected with OTAs, such as Expedia, Priceline, Travelocity and Hotels.com, to introduce their application programming interface that would allow for real-time sharing of rates and availability on Google Maps. Now they’re in the process of contacting CRS providers and major brands to offer the same access."
"In a tacit admission that Web publishers are flooding its search engine with low-quality pages, Google has revised its methods to improve the usefulness of its results.
Google said the change would raise the rankings of high-quality Web sites and reduce those of lesser sites, affecting 12 percent of search queries."
Read the full article on www.nytimes.com
"A new Google Maps feature that aggregates real-time hotel rates and availability has passed a seven-week beta test and has gone live, and at least one Central Reservation System provider is on a global road show informing hotel clients of their appearance on the new distribution channel.
Distribution experts still are hypothesizing about what kind of effect the search-engine giant will have on where travelers book hotel rooms, but some say the program should be embraced by hoteliers who don’t want to lose bookings to online travel agencies. Brands have taken notice and are discussing whether to alter their distribution strategies."
Read the full article at www.hotelnewsnow.com
"Google has announced an expansion of its Google Social Search results that’s beginning to roll out today on Google.com. Your friends’ activity on Twitter, Flickr and elsewhere — but for now, not Facebook — will soon be a lot more visible in Google’s search results, including having an impact on how pages rank."
Read more at www.hotelmarketing.com
