Changes to Google's search engine results page (SERP) are as inevitable as death and taxes. More often than not, those updates come without warning, making flexibility in the ever-changing search marketing world critical to success. At the 2015 ClickZ Live NYC conference, I shared some perspective and tips on how to navigate those unexpected changes and be nimble with your search marketing strategy.

1. March 30 – April 1, 2015
#CZLNY | @ClickZLiveThe Global Conference Series Designed by Digital Marketers, for Digital Marketers
Transforming SERP
Obstacles Into Opportunities
Melissa Walner
Hilton Worldwide
Director, Global SEO

2. Agenda
• Preparation and Approach Towards Google
SERP Changes
• Examples and Lessons Learned from the
Hilton Enterprise SEO Team
– Adjusting Metrics To SERP Changes
– Evolving Best Practices – The <Title> Tag
Experiment
– Uncovering Opportunities From Low-Hanging
Fruit
• Key Takeaways

3. The Nature of the Beast
Each year, Google changes its search algorithm
around 500–600 times, including updates to
SERP layouts. SEO best practices and metrics
must be adjusted accordingly.
• Panda
• Penguin
• Pigeon
• Hummingbird
• HTTPs
• Mobile-Friendly
• Knowledge Graph
• Local 3-Pack

4. Potential
Proactive Positivity: Focus on what potentially could be
there and look for a way to attain it.
Image Source: http://www.larrywinget.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/glasshalffull.jpg

5. ADJUSTING METRICS TO
SERP CHANGES
Example # 1

6. The rollout of the
Google Local
Knowledge Carousel in
the summer of 2013
presented a new
challenge and a new
opportunity for us.
• Appeared above paid ads
• Displayed more business
listings
• Used less SERP space

7. SERP Impact on Performance
Metrics
Average classic
rankings increased
immediately after
the Carousel
rollout.
Universal results
drastically decreased
immediately after the
rollout. This is
because the large
number of results we
had were local listings.

8. Metrics
Impressions
& Visits
Social
Signals
Revenue
Conversion
SOV
Technical
Errors
Universal
Rank
Paid Search
When SERP changes
occur, having a holistic
approach to reporting
performance can help
put things in
perspective.

9. Holistic View of Page 1 Occupancy
Hotel has representation on all keywords via at least one unit.
Keyword/Search Type Carousel Organic Listings Hotel Finder Ads
Chicago Hotels None 10 None None
Downtown Chicago Hotels None None None 7
Hotels in Downtown Chicago IL None 7 None None
Chicago IL Hotels None 9 None None
Chicago Hotels on Michigan Ave 1 4 None None

10. TITLE TAG STRATEGY TEST
Example # 2

11. Actual HTML Title Tag
Torrance Hotels - DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Torrance – South Bay, CA
• Google’s algorithm
began overriding hotel
title tags, inserting
other brands from the
portfolio into them.
• Overuse of the city
name and/or the word
“hotel” were suspected
to be the issue.
• Test: Remove “by
Hilton Hotel” from the
title tag.

12. Test Result: Title tag reverted back to normal after removing “by Hilton Hotel” from it.
Torrance Hotels - DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Torrance – South Bay, CA

13. • March 10th – New SERP layout is
launched
o Title tag font increased from 16 pixels
to 18 pixels
• March 24th – “Soft” Panda update
(rumored)
o Large fluctuations observed via Google
Webmaster tools
• April 28th – Friendly reminder from Matt
Cutts
o Google can and will change your page
titles if they think something else would
be a better fit
• May 19th – Panda 4.0 (confirmed)
Potential root cause…simultaneous Google updates taking place

14. • Title tags too long - over 60 characters
• LOTS of repetition
• City name and the word “hotel” repeated
• Missing page content identifier
• Hotel brand name located at the end of the
title tag and getting cut off from the users
view in search results
Time To Rethink Title Tags?
While there is very little in the world of SEO that hasn’t gone through
changes over the years, title tags have very rarely required any sort of
dramatic shift in strategy. However, these updates had us re-
evaluating best practices.

15. Over a period of 60 days, we tested two different approaches for formatting
title tags, using Hampton Inn and Embassy Suites hotels. Performance
would be measured through clicks, CTR and rankings.
Test Group 1
Natural language structure and format
Test Group 2
Traditional structure and format
• Tested on home page
• Location-based keyword
untouched
• Shorten length to 55
characters or less
• Eliminate repetition of words
• Hotel brand name listed first

16. Market Keyword Target Title Tag Example CTR
Total # of
Rankings
Page 1 # of
Rankings
Houston Hotels in Spring TX Hampton Inn Houston Cypress Station Hotel in Spring, TX +2pt +13% +111%
Phoenix
Hotels in Phoenix
Area
Hampton Inn Hotel in the Midtown Phoenix Area +2pt -7% +31%
Fresno Hotels Fresno Hampton Inn and Suites Hotel in Northwest Fresno -1pt +18% +67%
Tucson Hotels Tucson AZ Embassy Suites Paloma Village Hotel in Tucson, AZ +2pt -6% +395%
Market Keyword Target Title Tag Example CTR
Total # of
Rankings
Page 1 # of
Rankings
Houston The Woodlands Hotels Hampton Inn Houston - The Woodlands Hotel +2pt +61% +413%
Phoenix Phoenix Airport Hotel Hampton Inn Phoenix Airport North Hotel +7pt +19% +417%
Fresno Fresno Hotels Hampton Inn and Suites Fresno, California Hotel +1pt +25% +150%
Tucson Tucson Hotels Embassy Suites Tucson Williams Center Hotel +3pt +15% +183%
Group 1
Group 2
Individual Hotel Results

17. Clicks CTR
Total # of
Rankings
Page 1 # of
Rankings
-4% +2pt -1% 175%
Clicks CTR
Total # of
Rankings
Page 1 # of
Rankings
+17% +2pt +26% 251%
Group 1
Group 2
Group Total Results

18. Doubletree Chester hotel – Spa hotel
Chester – Hilton
Doubletree Tower of London hotel -
Tower of London
Doubletree Sheffield hotel - Sheffield -
DoubleTree
London West End hotel - Doubletree
by Hilton West End Hotel
Testing Google UK Results
Determine if Google prefers generic terms listed before branded terms or vice versa.

19. LOW HANGING FRUIT
OPPORTUNITIES
Example # 3

20. Goodbye Carousel. Hello 3-Pack
On November 13, 2014,
Google began replacing the
Google Local Carousel a
new local results feature in
the US called the Local
Universal 3-Pack.
OUT
IN
The 3-Pack lists three
organically ranked hotels
between ads and classic
organic search results when
a location-based search such
as “New York hotels” is
entered.

21. Local 3-Pack User Experience Flow

22. Impact From 3-Pack
3-Pack Rolls Out
No Reporting On
3-Pack
Reporting On 3-Pack

23. Inconsistent NAP

24. Low Hanging Fruit Opportunity
Total Hotels
Tested
Avg. Local Profile
Completeness
Avg. Local Profile
Inconsistency
Locations with
<5%
Inconsistency
300 70.7% 13.1% 6.0%
Having a 100% complete and consistent business
citations across the local search ecosystem is
critical for local search visibility.
Manual research indicated additional citation cleanup could
improve visibility in local search results and potentially yield a
conservative estimate of 300K new visits per month

25. Key Takeaways
• The SERP’s change constantly - best practices and metrics
must always remain nimble.
• Always be looking ahead. It’s better to prepare than to react.
• Take a holistic approach to analysis. All KPI’s are interrelated
in some fashion. Go broad and look at as many applicable
metrics as possible.
• Be willing to question the status quo. Experimentation can
often lead to unexpected results.
• Tool are helpful for scalability, but a little manual research can
sometimes shed light on opportunities that might not have
emerged otherwise.