Presentation by Kevin Gibbons on how to use social media for SEO benefit in the travel industry.

1. How
to
use
social
media
for
travel
SEO
Kevin
Gibbons,
Director
of
Strategy
-­‐
twi>er.com/kevgibbo
@kevgibbo

2. “Social
media
is
changing
the
face
of
travel”

3. Social
Media
vs
Search
–
who
to
trust?
90% of consumers trust
recommendations from people
they know…
70% still trust online consumer
opinions from people they don’t
know!
41% trust search engine results
* Nielsen – July, 2009

4. But
how
does
this
influence
SEO?
Here’s
some
ideas
on
how
to
use
social
media
to
impact
your
search
strategy…

5. Twi>er
–
find
journalists/bloggers

6. AcPon:
Use
relevant
hashtags
&
Jounalisted

7. Video
–
universal
search
results

8. AcPon:
Distribute
to
mulPple
channels

9. Facebook
–
search
isn’t
just
Google

10. AcPon:
Build
great/shareable
content

11. Images
–
universal/image
search

12. AcPon:
encourage
users
to
credit
you
=
links!

13. Reviews
–
Improve
Seller
Extension
RaPngs

14. AcPon:
IncenPvize
users
to
leave
reviews
e.g.
Offer
10%
discount
to
returning
hotel
customers
who
leave
a
review

15. Blogging
–
become
an
authority
=
links!

16. AcPon:
Build
relaPonships
online
Connect
with
authority
bloggers
by:
• InteracPng
on
Twi>er
–
sharing
content,
@replies,
#followfriday’s
etc…
• Linking
out
–
get
there
a>enPon
by
linking
to
them
–
and
use
their
name/brand,
they’ll
probably
spot
it
in
Google
Alerts.
• CommenPng
on
relevant
blogs
–
adding
value
to
a
discussion
of
course!

17. Social
media
bookmarking
–
traffic
&
links

18. AcPon:
Use
great
images/infographics

19. Forums
–
targeted
links
&
traffic

20. AcPon:
Don’t
spam
–
build
a
trusted
profile

21. Flowtown
–
find
customers
social
profiles

22. AcPon:
turn
customers
into
brand
advocates

23. Social
signals
–
boost
topical/QDF
rankings?

24. AcPon:
Being
first
is
very
important

25. Catch
users
early
in
buying
cycle
via
social

26. AcPon:
Give
users
a
reason
to
return
to
influence
personalised
search
via
brand
queries

27. Recap
–
so
how
does
this
impact
SEO?
• Search isn’t just Google organic - changing search trends/habits means you
can’t ignore social, e.g. Facebook, YouTube, Tripadvisor searches
• Universal search – travel generates high volume of video/images results
• Target users at earlier research stage in buying cycle – so that they return via
brand query, this is likely to impact personalised search results
• Links! Great potential to strengthen backlink profile with targeted/relevant links
• Social signals – more social buzz = better search rankings?

28. Thank
you
Please
subscribe
to:
www.seopPmise.com/blog
And
follow
me
on
Twi>er:
@kevgibbo