SEO for Travel Companies in 2018. What's changed, what you need to know and do. These slides cover landscape changes and the current state of SEO for Travel Companies in 2018. It covers aspects of technical SEO for travel companies, content creation specific to the travel sector, as well as how to boost authority signals and link building for travel companies in 2018.

1. How to do SEO for
Travel in 2018

2. ABOUT FREDDY MD @ In Marketing We Trust
Geek hidden in a suit
Analytics & Search background
9 years of looking through
Google Goggles
Charity rally driver
2

3. 3
OUR CAPABILITIES
Insert sub-text here insert sub-text here
CRM
Content Marketing
Analytics & Reporting
Marketing Cloud
Campaign Management
Digital Optimisation
Marketing Automation
Data & Intelligence
Lead Generation

4. What we’ll cover
● Landscape changes
● What matters
● Things you need to do
○ Technical
○ Content
○ Authority signals
4

5. A new
landscape
for SEO
5

6. ”
Is SEO Dead Yet?
IS SEO DEAD YET?
Everyone in Digital Marketing

7. Qualitative user
research by Google
shows how users
interact the most with
other key entities in the
travel space
GOOGLE AND TRIPADVISOR REMAIN THE
GATEKEEPERS OF TRAVEL RESEARCH

8. MOVING FROM RESULTS TO ANSWERS
Landscape What matters To do: analytics To do: technical To do: content To do: authority
😭
No more sites for basic
answers
Publisher must move to
complex answers to survive
Article Credit: Martin McDonald

9. Credit: @Randfish
STUDIES SHOW THAT ORGANIC STILL
GETS 45% CLICKS

10. ADWORDS IS GETTING MORE PIXELS
Landscape What matters To do: analytics To do: technical To do: content To do: authority
😭
AdWords is
getting more
visibility across
SERPS.
Whether classic
AdWords or tools
like Google
Flights, Hotel Ads

11. GOOGLE FEATURES GETTING GREATER
SHARE OF CLICKS

12. GOOGLE FEATURES GETTING GREATER
SHARE OF CLICKS
Attention is drawn away from results and onto pics and tools

13. FAST TRACKING PART OF THE JOURNEY
WHERE THEY DON’T MAKE MONEY...
Not much
spend here
Lot of mulla!!
$$$$$$

14. Removing the need of SERPs for high volume,
low commercial queries
… WHILE MAXING OUT
COMMERCIAL TERMS
While increasing competition on
commercial terms
Bypassing result pages
altogether

15. Sample from 500k travel keywords
Only 2.7k have no features
Only 30k with only AdWords
This is an opportunity for businesses to
build more engaging content from the
time of search
RARE TO FIND RESULTS
WITHOUT SOME FEATURES

16. 2017/2018:
THE ALGO STORM
For many publishers and brands SEO, 2018 has been
a tough year.
Google algorithm updates have been more frequent
and targeted publishers and affiliates
Those who weather the storm had better content &
UX
Many algo updates are now rolling updates which
means no jump or drop overnight for most sites
December January

17. No more massive jumps or drops
Either some pages penalised or whole
site progressively fade
Link quality is now a constant
MAJOR ALGORITHM UPDATES ARE NOW
PART OF THE MAIN ALGO

18. AI can process a whole new set of
signals
Changing the DNA of ranking factors
Situational Awareness
Context & Intent
UX Graph
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE BRINGS FULL
CONTEXT TO QUERIES

19. ▹ Google remains the main source of traffic for most sites. Source
▸ You get this traffic for free.
▸ It could be worse, think about Facebook organic...
▹ Algo update tend to clean spam rather than punish good sites
▹ Featured snippets rewards best source, including niche sites
▹ Rank Brain rewards better UX and answers
▹ Voice search opens up a new era of long tail
▹ A ranking function on any site is an opportunity to optimise
▸ Think beyond Google
▸ Most algos are simpler than Google
BUT IT’S NOT ALL DARK

20. ➢ SEO in 2018 is a new discipline compared to 2016
○ Voice Search will be a game changer
➢ AI based rankings means you won’t be able to ‘cheat your
way to high rankings/traffic
○ SEO is a by product of your overall optimisation efforts
➢ Big brands dominate the top terms. Go niche, really niche:
▹ Adventure Travel (2012)
▸ Motorsport adventure travel (2015)
⬩ Motor sport adventure travel off the beaten path
(2018)
SUMMARY

21. What we’ll cover
● Landscape changes
● What matters & things you need to do
○ Technical
○ Content
○ Authority signals
21

22. And how to maximise
WHAT MATTERS

23. The new tech stack requires an adapted approach
TECHNICAL

24. Source: think with Google
MOBILE MATTERS MORE THAN EVER

25. ”
Over 60% of Google Search AMP
clicks now go to non-news related
sites
Dave Besbris at the 2018 AMP Conference

26. Credit: @ericenge
AMP SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCES PAGE
SIZE

27. Mobile
Responsive
Site
AMP
AMP Page

28. Use either plugins or GTM to implement valid tracking
MAKE SURE YOU ADJUST YOUR
TRACKING FOR AMP

29. One of the key factors
leading to a technical
SEO renaissance
A bit of a learning curve
on both sides + some
test + dev resources
AMP + PROGRESSIVE WEB APP =
Lighting fast
loading focused
on delivering
main content
rather than
loading ads
Rich user
experience
using mobile
hardware

30. WHAT ARE PROGRESSIVE WEB APPS
● No need to maintain multiple code base. All connect
to same content and user DB
● They Simplify App Development and Maintenance
● Create rich experience as if you were in a native app● Except They Are Also Your Regular Web Pages Too
● Making use of phone hardware (location, gyro, etc)● PWAs are “Apps” Just Like Your Smartphone Apps

31. Native Apps enable
site designers to
access phone
Hardware
Normal Web Sites
cannot access these
resources
Credit : @ericenge
PROGRESSIVE WEB APPS ENABLE
ACCESS TO PHONE HARDWARE

32. Must read article by Elephate
PLATFORM - CONSIDERING JS
FRAMEWORK FOR YOUR FRONT END?

33. Tagged, structured content
enables multi use
Difficulty: med/hard
Resourcing: need tech SEO
person + dev support
Biz case: future proofing +
extra channel + chat + sales
recommendation
33
PRODUCT - CONTENT MANAGEMENT
PLATFORM

34. 34 PRODUCT - CONTENT MGMT PLATFORM
Messenger

35. This is going to be Huge: Rankings based on DB data.
HTML Crawl, indexing, ranking is a resource intensive
and inefficient process.
Structured markup is a way to speed things up but still
depends upon relevant content
DB often hold the freshest, most accurate dataset
[patent] Resource identification from organic and
structured content Kudos to SEObyTheSea for finding it
35
PLATFORM -
RANKING BASED ON DB DATA

36. Personalised search will increase.
Making ranking results blurrier.
Google is also doing strides in app
indexing and deep linking.
Providing individual experience.
36
PLATFORM -
PERSONALISED SEARCH

37. Schema.org is a vocabulary (of many), but really is more comparable to a dictionary. Credit :
@AlexisKSanders
USE SCHEMA.ORG MARKUP

38. ”
“I want to live in a world where schema is not that
important, but currently, we need it.
If a team at Google recommends it, you probably should
make use of it, as schema helps us understand the
content on the page, and it is used in certain search
features (but not in rankings algorithms).”
Gary Illyes @ Google - Webmaster Trends Analyst

39. USE MARKUP TO HELP VOICE SEARCH
1
Feature Snippets used for
voice answers
Google voice uses Google answers to
produce short sharp and trusted answers
3
Better CTR = Valid/Trusted
answer
Google is always looking
5
Schema create rich SERP
results
Schema markup simplifies content
classification and help Google showcase
richer info on SERPs
2
Trusted answers/sources
used for feature snippets
Most featured snippet answers come from
reliable sites with deep knowledge
expertise and good user engagement
4
Rich results get better CTR
By providing more information upfront and
a visually appealing results, sites with rich
snippets receive a greater share of clicks

40. SERP Feature Type
Video units
“People Also Ask”
Featured Snippet
Maps Box
Knowledge Panel
Top Stories (News)
Images
Apps
FEATURE SNIPPETS WORTH
CONSIDERING
How to Get In
Create & optimise on YouTube
Branding –get searched for with/after the query
Phrasing & position of short answer in content
Claim GMB, get links, earn citations, be nearby
Earn brand association, use structured markup
Get in Google News, earn links, title w/ KWs
Relevant images, alt attributes, & direct embeds
KWs in title/description, get popular in app store
List by @Moz

41. SERP Feature Type
Books
Related Searches
Tweets
Search Suggest
Sitelinks
Section Sitelinks
In-Depth Articles
Carousels/List Results
FEATURE SNIPPETS WORTH
CONSIDERING
How to Get In
Write a book, use KWs in the title, have an ISBN
Be searched+found commonly w/ the KWs
Verified accounts help, use KWs in tweets
As w/ related searches, also geo-sensitive
Get links & visits to several pop pgs; use markup
Grow popular subsections w/ popular subpages
Author longer pieces that receive
attention/links
Be listed alongside common sets on the webList by @Moz

42. This is going to be sweeeet:
http://pending.schema.org/speakable
http://pending.schema.org/SpeakableSpecificatio
n
SCHEMA SOON TO INCLUDE
SPEAKABLE

43. Similar to featured snippets,
short sharp answers is what
Google and users are looking
for.
More info: Guidelines by
Google
WHAT MAKES A GOOD VOICE ANSWER

44. Try tools like
Answer the public
Keywordtool.io
WHAT TO
WRITE FOR
VOICE SEARCH?

45. User intent > Topical/semantic depth > Keywords
CONTENT

46. ➢ Analyse user behaviour to answers
query intent
➢ Understand hard to answer queries
➢ Dwell time matters for RankBrain
➢ Google secret sauce - need to
approach audience + optimisation as
whole
Article
RANKBRAIN INCREASES PERFORMANCE
FOR QUALITY CONTENT

47. RankBrain cares for dwell time
=> Visual, videos and tools help engage
users but can also help answer queries
RankBrain sometimes ranks pages
higher up than they “should” rank
=> Good CTR can bump up your
rankings as Google sees your results as
a better answer
WHAT RANK BRAIN CARES ABOUT

48. INCREASE TIME ONSITE
Too many sessions are bouncing/ not engaged
Driving greater on-site engagement and attention will lead
to better conversion. Test layout + Increase page speed

49. BUILD REASONS
TO COME BACK
Sticky engagement beyond
on-page CRO tactics
Having a user centre and
developing an integrated
solution to bring data and
automation into the system

50. It’s rare for a piece of content to achieve both goals
successfully. Pick your objective for each piece.
CONTENT FOR RELEVANCE VS REACH
1
CONTENT
FOR RELEVANCE
(PROVIDE AND ANSWER
QUERIES)
2
CONTENT
FOR REACH
(MAXIMISE BRAND
RECOGNITION AND
ENGAGEMENT)

51. CONTENT FOR RELEVANCE VS REACH

52. BUILD CONTENT WHERE YOU CAN
STILL CAPTURE USER INTEREST
Capture
attention
here
So you
spend less

53. Unique value refers to the
usefulness and takeaways
derived by visitors to the page.
Many pages can be "valuable,"
but few provide a truly unique
kind of value
Answer the question:
Does the Internet need
another page on [topic]?
CREATE SOMETHING
UNIQUELY VALUABLE

54. Win the SERPs over by creating in-depth, detailed
answers. Credit: Backlinko
IN-DEPTH CONTENT RANKS BETTER

55. Create semantic relevance -
Good for rank brain
Help you become a trusted
source
Get more visibility via featured
snippets and voice search
BUILD AUTHORITY AND
DEPTH OF CONTENT IN
YOUR NICHE

56. 56
Related keywords = semantically
connected.
Google is going to view this as critical
to proving that your content is relevant
to the searcher's query.
ex. which Apple are you talking about?
Tool: https://lsigraph.com/
CREATE A SEMANTIC KEYWORD
FOOTPRINT ACROSS A WHOLE TOPIC

57. RANK WITH IN-
DEPTH REVIEWS
OTAs and booking sites are
transactional in nature.
They don’t do a great job with
detailed reviews.
Partner with unique
hotels/tours needing more
visibility.
57

58. 1 IN 5 SEARCHES IS FOR AN IMAGE

59. PICS CAN DRIVE
MORE TRAFFIC
Recent change in Google
layout will drive more traffic
to your pages/posts
Less likely to get your image
‘borrowed’
59

60. 1. Descriptive image filename: http://images.lacarmina.com/160925-godzilla-hotel-monster-statue-
gracery-tokyo-14.jpg
2. Descriptive image alt tag: alt="godzilla hotel tokyo japan"
3. Detailed image caption (visible on the page): N/A
4. Relevant copy close the image: Did you know you can stay at a Godzilla monster themed
hotel: Hotel Gracery Shinjuku?
5. Keyword-rich page title:
6. SEO-friendly page URL: http://www.lacarmina.com/blog/2017/01/godzilla-hotel-tokyo-gracery-
shinjuku/
7. Regular image aspect ratios: classic 4x3
8. Medium image dimensions: This pic: 81.3kb (688x459 px)
Harder to optimize small images (<500px), Google doesn’t favor those of course. (There are
exceptions).
Larger images (>2500px) should be OK. In fact. Google has the tools to filter by image
dimensions:
10. Descriptive anchor texts: N/A
TIPS FOR IMAGE SEO

61. a) Submit an image sitemap to Google
b) EXIF data
It’s not yet clear if Google users image EXIF data in their algorithm.
c) Watermarks don’t matter
Google’s webmaster guidelines state:
“[…] Some people add copyright text, watermarks, or other information to their images. This kind of
information won’t impact your image’s performance in search results, and does help photographers
claim credit for their work and deter unknown usage. However, if a feature such as watermarking
reduces the user-perceived quality of your image or your image’s thumbnail, users may click it less often
in search results.”
d) Unique metadata
If you copy-paste keywords/phrases for multiple images, they’ll matter less in Google’s eyes. As with
regular web searches, Google wants to show unique images that are relevant with the user’s query.
e) Time and effort
Working on all this image SEO is not easy. Do it manually a few times, and then try to work out a routine
for whenever you add more images to the site. Try to cover as many of the image SEO factors above as
OTHER TIPS FOR IMAGE SEO

62. CONTENT OPTIMISATION IMPORTANCE

63. WHAT GREAT ONPAGE OPTIMISATION
LOOKS LIKE

64. WHAT GREAT ONPAGE OPTIMISATION
LOOKS LIKE

65. Not your grandma’s recipe for links
AUTHORITY SIGNALS

66. With more signals coming in, multi points of authority become necessary
SEO IS A BYPRODUCT… WHAT ELSE
SHOULD WE DO?
Image
credit:
@randfish

67. Getting links to your site still matters. Make sure you strive for
quality > quantity. Credit: backlinko
AAANND YES… LINKS STILL MATTER, A
LOT

68. SEARCH ENGINES JUDGE YOU BY YOUR
LINKS
YOU
Supplier
Friend
Blog
Competitor Forum
Partner
Related
?

69. WHY DO PEOPLE LINK TO YOU
❏ They Know You and/or owe you a favour
❏ Your website Is unique, interesting, engaging, etc.
❏ You link to their website In return (genuinely)
❏ Provide content to publish on their website
❏ Financial incentive (careful here)
❏ You improve their profile/ego/product
❏ You offer most relevant resource (Data, tools, tips)
❏ You offer a different perspective
❏ You are the only/first one to talk about it (in depth)
❏ You are famous/trusted source of information

70. NO.
PEOPLE WON’T LINK
TO YOUR
BORING PRODUCT/CATEGORY PAGE

71. LINKBUILDING IS AN ONGOING WORK
7
1
Launch PR
campaign
Build base
links
Get industry
links
Use content
to get links
Get PR type links

72. ▹ Get target sites user involved in content creation
▹ Gather and share data (great for PR)
▹ Build tools
▹ Reach out to unlinked mention
▹ Reach out to linkerati
▹ Get local links (school, sport centre, meetup)
GOOD OL’ CLASSIC METHODS THAT
STILL WORK TO GET LINKS

73. THE MAKING OF A LINKWORTHY STORY
Time Authority
New &
Unique
Relevancy
Reasons to cover;
seasonality/days/
events
Are we experts in this field
and offering something
we have an opinion on?
Is this information
available
anywhere else
and are we
dispelling a
common truth?
Is it relevant to the target
audience where we’re
looking to secure
coverage?
Purpose
What’s the
purpose/
reason
to make the
news?

74. WHAT ARE YOU ASKING THEM TO LINK
TO?
DO’S
➔ Offer something that makes sense to link
to
➔ Respond to topics in the news agenda you
can offer content/commentary on
➔ Get in touch, be personable and find out
the kinds of content they want to receive
➔ Work with experts in a related field for
greater exposure
DONT’S
➔ Offer content that already exists and ask
for a link with no further builds
➔ Offer content that an expert writer can
source themselves
➔ Ask for a link from something that was
covered months ago
➔ Lead with the brand rather than the story
you’re trying to sell

75. Bing uses it and a patent by Google
(along with observations from many
SEO experts) indicates that Google
may be doing this as well.
So get out and build your brand name,
even if you don’t get a link back
AUTHORITY SIGNALS - LINKLESS
MENTIONS

76. CHANNELS
ORGANIC
SEARCH
PAID
SOCIAL
DISPLAY
VIDEO
CONTENT
AGGREGATORS
SOCIAL
CHANNEL
DIVERSIFICATIO
N
By opening up additional mediums and channels
we can exponentially increase audience reach and
user acquisition.
We see the biggest opportunities in (priority order):
1. Video content; social channels
2. Optimised content aggregation
3. Display (awareness over acq.)

77. 77
VIDEO
CONTENT
AUDIENCE
LEISURE
TRAVELLERS
AUDIENCE
LUXURY
LEISURE
ADVERTS INSTREAM
ONLINE
LEARNING
60% of consumers watch
branded videos on a daily basis.

78. 78 ADVERTS
INSTREAM
ONLINE
LEARNING
YOUTUBE ORGANIC
Creating a strong instream video
presence on Youtube and Facebook
can open up a new channel of
consumers for your brand
Like standard SEO, start with a niche
target.
Build strong set around closely knit set of
kwds
Ensure copy, title and
Test & learn for what works best for
duration
Leverage video across all medium (site,
email, etc) to rack up views and
engagement
USERS
15,000,000
UAV
14,800,000

79. 79 ADVERTS
INSTREAM
ONLINE
LEARNING
A successful strategy will
blend the discoverability of
Youtube, with the
engagement of Facebook.
As a search engine, Youtube
exposes users to new content
based on search intent. 55% of
consumers watch branded
content at an engagement rate of
32%.
Facebook exposes users to a
greater volume of branded video
(60%), at a higher engagement
rate (49%).
Facebook leads exposure
Facebook leads engagement

80. Go where the
world’s best
content
publishers and
creators are.

81. https://cdn.flipboard.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Media-Kit-Pubsales-2.pdf
While Australia is a small market,
presence continues to grow.

82. Go where the
world’s smallest
publishers are
competing with
media giants.

83. ▹ With 74 million Global users,
Medium.com is rapidly growing.
▹ Online publishers and independent
content creators are moving content to
medium.com

84. Go native on
Android and iOS.

85. Optimise for
native news
aggregators

86. What we’ll cover
● Landscape changes
● What matters & things you need to do
○ Technical
○ Content
○ Authority signals
86

87. 87
KEEP IN TOUCH
@freddychanut
frederic@inmarketingwetrust.com.au
https://www.inmarketingwetrust.com.au/
https://www.adventourists.com.au