Travel agencies need to improve their search engine ranking: study
Published: 30 Sep 2008
A study has indicated that Advantage members' websites are failing to rank highly in online searches because they are poorly optimised.
An analysis of the websites of 115 Advantage agents found only 12 percent scored well when it came to search engine optimisation.
According to Click with Technology (CWT), which carried out the analysis, the majority of the independent agents' websites did not appear at all in searches with Google, Yahoo and MSN.
Dan Caplin, head of search marketing, Click With Technology said it was important agents ensured their sites create brand awareness. Caplin said, "The majority of sites do not appear at all on Google. We found on the whole some strong brands and really useful content but minor changes and tweaks to look and feel and how the information is presented would have a really big impact on driving business through your websites."
As per the findings, only 35 percent had enough links pointing to their domain to maximise their search engine optimisation and only 49 percent scored well when CWT looked at indexed pages.
Another common problem found was a lack of pricing and promotional offers on home pages – just 29 percent of transactional websites included this information.
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Viaje said on 7 Oct 08:
It is not clear in this article, but I assume the study was of traditional brick-and-mortar retail travel agencies. If so, I suggest that it is nearly impossible for such a retail agency to ever get a high ranking with Google, Yahoo or MSN. There is simply too much competition from sites targeting a national or global market.
Sure, inbound links are important in search engine ranking. But, it take much more, such as frequent updates, articles with news and reviews of travel destinations, and fresh travel offers at least several times a week.
For the retail agency, the best use of the internet is to gather email addresses from everybody who walks through the front door. Then, send a weekly email listing genuine travel bargains.