TripAdvisor was the most effective site in the hotel sector in terms of its natural search visibility this March, according to SEM agency Greenlight. Greenlight has changed the methodology of its study and will now provide actual search figures for the month under discussion. Previously, the monthly figures were an average based on the previous…
Reworked SEO study still has TripAdvisor as top site
TripAdvisor was the most effective site in the hotel sector in terms of its natural search visibility this March, according to SEM agency Greenlight.
Greenlight has changed the methodology of its study and will now provide actual search figures for the month under discussion. Previously, the monthly figures were an average based on the previous twelve months. The rethink is in response to a change in how Google makes its data available.
TripAdvisor.com came up on the first page of Google results in 39% of searches in March, with tripadvisor.co.uk appearing 37% of the time. TUI Travels laterooms also featured in 37% of the searches.
The leading hotel chain web sits were Marriott.com and Hilton.co.uk, although both sites were only visible on 5% of searches.
The study looked at 1362 key words relating to 115 top destinations. In total, 8.2m searches were carried out using these key words. Greenlight pointed out that In many sectors only a handful of keywords make up the bulk of audience search behaviour. The hotel sector is different in that a number of phrases make up the mix with many making a substantial contribution.
London hotels was used in 10% of the searches, although hotels without a specified destination was also used for one in ten of the searches.
Elsewhere, the study found that in March, more than 4m searches were carried out for hotels in the UK, Northern and continental Europe. The most searched-for long-haul destinations were New York and Las Vegas.
