Presented at the Eye For Travel, Travel Distribution Summit, this presentation introduces the topic of semantic search in the context of tourism marketing. It presents opportunities to to travel and tourism business to excel.
2. +BronwynWhite | @BronwynWhite | @Travelresearch0 | email me: bronwyn@MyTravelResearch.com
Today
• Internet marketing, what happened?
• Social signals
• A mobile future
• Tactical implications
3. +BronwynWhite | @BronwynWhite | @Travelresearch0 | email me: bronwyn@MyTravelResearch.com
Internet Marketing? What happened?
Hummingbird and semantic search
Draws on the personal information it
has collected from the user
The algorithm uses true meaning,
intent and context, to identify and
prioritise pages with relevant
content
And provides real answers to search
queries rather than returning
keyword stuffed pages
+
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+BronwynWhite | @BronwynWhite | @Travelresearch0 | email me: bronwyn@MyTravelResearch.com
4. +BronwynWhite | @BronwynWhite | @Travelresearch0 | email me: bronwyn@MyTravelResearch.com
Implications of Hummingbird
What appears on Page 1 of a Google
search result is different for every
search query, every mobile device
and every desktop.
5. +BronwynWhite | @BronwynWhite | @Travelresearch0 | email me: bronwyn@MyTravelResearch.com
Why should we care?
The traveller path to purchase
• Internet search is the one constant tool people turn to for inspiration and
travel planning at every point across the path to purchase
Dreaming Planning Booking Anticipating En route Destination
Google has changed the way our potential customers find us and what
information they will receive, and in doing so, has profoundly changed how
we need to market our businesses and manage our online presence
Search
7. +BronwynWhite | @BronwynWhite | @Travelresearch0 | email me: bronwyn@MyTravelResearch.com
What is the role of social media in semantic search?
The power of the social signal
• Importance of social sharing and engagement of content
• Verify veracity and quality of website content
• Helps generate:
– A clearer understanding of the meaning behind the
content
– Better indexing of the content
– An assessment of authority and trust
– And assessment of the contextual value
Google Semantic Web, David Amerland
Content, search and social media are now inextricably related
9. +BronwynWhite | @BronwynWhite | @Travelresearch0 | email me: bronwyn@MyTravelResearch.com
The way customers search has evolved
• The way we perform searches has evolved
• We may ask our phone a question as we would a friend
“Voice search naturally tends to mean more conversational and more natural language.
Rather than searching for a one or two word phrase, people will be more inclined to use
whole sentences, questions, and more complex queries when they speak.
Hummingbird will be well placed to determine the most relevant and highest quality
pages that meet the needs of the searcher. Websites that place well under the new
algorithm changes may also experience an increase in their mobile traffic as a
result”. Amit Singhal, SVP, Google Search
10. +BronwynWhite | @BronwynWhite | @Travelresearch0 | email me: bronwyn@MyTravelResearch.com
The future
Is mobile and semantic search
• Users are shifting their search habits from desktop to
conversational mobile
• 50% of people start their search on their mobile
devices
• Products like Google Now emerging
• Users simply ask their phone questions like a friend
What is the weather going to be today?
12. +BronwynWhite | @BronwynWhite | @Travelresearch0 | email me: bronwyn@MyTravelResearch.com
An SEO checklist used to look like this
http://www.slideshare.net/David-Amerland/what-is-hummingbird-and-the-entity-search-revolution
Old SEO Checklist
Keyword optimisation and placement
Website development
Link structure
Backlinks
Domain and Hosting
On-page SEO
Link building
Easily gamed by practices like building artificial links and
stuffing poor content with keywords
13. +BronwynWhite | @BronwynWhite | @Travelresearch0 | email me: bronwyn@MyTravelResearch.com
Now looks like this
• Time for businesses
and destinations to
think more like
publishers of
content.
• A whole range of
dynamic entities at
play working
together
Source: Eric Enge, Stone Temple Consulting
14. +BronwynWhite | @BronwynWhite | @Travelresearch0 | email me: bronwyn@MyTravelResearch.com
HOW TO CONNECT YOUR BUSINESS
OR DESTINATION IN THE WORLD OF
SEMANTIC SEARCH
15. +BronwynWhite | @BronwynWhite | @Travelresearch0 | email me: bronwyn@MyTravelResearch.com
How to connect your business or destination in the
world of semantic search
Your business / destination
• Create compelling content
• Post often
• Variety of output
• Link online activities
• Quality and legitimate links
• Natural language
• Mobile optimised
• Geo-coding
• Clear distinct branding
• Social media engagement
Potential customer search query
• Previous search history and
interests
• Geographic location (at the
time of search)
• Social media interactions
Match
with
17. The role of content marketing in semantic search
• Publishers of, compelling, relevant content are:
– become trusted authorities of sound reputation
– Recognised as influencers
– More likely to create active social signals
• More likely to be matched to a relevant search query
“Content marketing has become so vital to all of search engine opitimisation in the semantic web
that it underpins many activities that a business or brand needs to engage in”. David Amerland
+BronwynWhite | @BronwynWhite | @Travelresearch0 | email me: bronwyn@MyTravelResearch.com
18. +BronwynWhite | @BronwynWhite | @Travelresearch0 | email me: bronwyn@MyTravelResearch.com
Linking it all together
From
• Keywords
• On-page SEO
• Backlinks
• Publishing frequency
• Link dumping in social
networks
• Content length
• Keyword stuffing
• Keyword placement
• Anchor text
• Link building
To
• Search queries
• Intent
• Trust
• Authority
• Reputation
• Citations / listings
• Social network
footprint
• Comments
• Social proof
• Band equity
• Authenticity
How
• Link your entity
• Mobile optimised
• Compelling content
• Ensure a variety of
output
• Connection to your
business and USP’s
• Speak to a persona
• Develop a clear
distinct brand
• Social media signals
19. +BronwynWhite | @BronwynWhite | @Travelresearch0 | email me: bronwyn@MyTravelResearch.com
Take-outs
• Review current SEO practices
• Review content
• Create a content marketing
strategy
• Ensure content is socially
engaging and relevant
• Ensure you engage socially
with your customers
• Be mobile
- Bing and yahoo also there, latest commscore Google owns 67% of market share
Worth saying indeed we think of our phones as friends. I was at that MEL conference for Liz and the guy for google asked people to hand their phone to the person next to them – it’s quite a powerful trick
Example of searching Yarra Valley all day breakfast
Can you cite the source for the 50%? We should do that…