Breaking down what Destinations on Google means to you
April 18, 2018
Google has made changes with the layout for its search engine results pages (SERPs) for travel-related searches. This change is known as Destinations on Google and it has created a lot of buzz in the industry. You’ve most likely seen the new layout that applies to mobile travel-related searches for continent, country, or state “destination”, or “vacation” searches and been approached about improving your online presence through “new efforts” or programs in order to respond to this new change.
What you can do
Madden can assist you and put your best foot forward to help Google represent your destination in the best way possible and improve your online presence. In fact, Google already works with us and our partners to help benefit travelers with better decision-making information so they gain valuable insight in order to plan their trip and in turn, you gain credibility and trust. Here’s how to get started:
- Perform a Google search for your destination and your key partners and review the content. Create a checklist of issues like poor quality images, incorrect or missing information, and inappropriate content.
- Flag or report issues that you cannot correct yourself. Utilize assets that you currently have to upload new images and content.
- Review the content on your website. Ensure you have up to date event listings, utilizing the correct Schema markup and implement structured data to enable special search result features.
- Empower your partners/members to ensure their destination or business has accurate information on their Google My Business page in order to leverage their content. Access their support page for additional insight: Google My Business Help
As a Google Premier Partner, we have access to the tools you need and the experience that destinations can capitalize on to work with you to achieve your goals. We provide the structured data, descriptions, and content needed to improve your Destination page and presence on the Google Trips app. These efforts are not a standalone campaign, but part of a much larger Search Engine Optimization (SEO) effort that Madden has been focused on for years. Our valued partnerships with destinations, coupled with our Google connection has allowed us to focus on creating opportunities for our partners that are timely, relevant, and focused on constant improvement. It’s not a single commodity component, it’s a component of being a good partner.
The elephant in the room
Although it’s extremely beneficial to improve your Destination page, it may interfere with the intention of your website, which is to drive traffic to it. With Google’s new page layout, some travelers may find the information they are looking for without clicking through to your site, resulting in a traffic drop-off. Again, don’t panic—there are ways to help bring that organic traffic back and get visitors to complete conversion activities. We suggest coupling your SEO efforts with a multi-platform strategy that uses engaging content and immersive storytelling to increase visibility and build a loyal audience. Readers crave content and incorporating a focused paid media strategy across platforms can drive traffic and increase conversions.
