There are a lot of exciting digital marketing trends to be aware of in 2020. It is even more exciting to see how you can incorporate these tactics in your marketing strategy. We are reviewing which online trends hoteliers and marketers as a whole, should stay on top of. We have separated upcoming trends by channel, based on the digital marketing services we offer:
- SEO (search engine optimization)
- Social Media
- Design & Development
- Paid Media
- Strategy
Read on for specific actions hoteliers can take to stay competitive in a market that is constantly changing.
SEO: Featured Snippets
“One of the key trends in SEO is going after Featured Snippets. Featured Snippets are one of the few ways on-page content can vastly improve search visibility, though it is still up-in-the-air if featured snippets lead to increased revenue.”
-Sean Francis, SEO Director at Blue Magnet Interactive
What Are Featured Snippets?
Featured snippets are a search results feature introduced by Google in January, 2014. It is a way to give searchers answers to their questions immediately on the search engine results page, without having to click through to a website. It is often called “position zero” because it is the very top organic result, taking up a large amount of real estate on the page. If you have not noticed this helpful feature, here is an example:
Why Featured Snippets Continue To Grow?
Even though position zero was introduced around six years ago, it is constantly gaining in popularity. This is because the features are convenient and provide a great experience for searchers. Popularity will only continue to grow with the continued rise of voice search. Voice devices like Amazon Echo and Alexa, Google Home, and Apple’s Siri use Featured Snippets to provide people with answers to voice search queries every day.
Marketers may be concerned that they would lose traffic because people are getting the answers to what they are looking for right on the Google results page. However, do not fear! Stats say that featured snippets have a 2X higher click-through rate to websites, further proving the trend that advertisers should always be optimizing to serve the user.
Why Hoteliers Should Optimize Towards Featured Snippets?
Note: Featured Snippets do not appear on every type of search result. Due to this, hoteliers should be prepared, always looking to assist the user with helpful information. The steps to obtaining a Featured Snippet go hand in hand with having your usual, strong SEO strategy in place, which includes:
- Completing solid keyword research.
- Going after long tail keywords seen in voice search.
- Phrasing long tail keywords in the form of a question, beginning with words like “what is,” “what are,” “how do,” etc.
- Using tools like Google’s “People Also Ask” feature, Google autosuggest, and Answer the Public to find good questions to use as long tail keywords.
- Ensuring all of your on-page content is lifting up the primary long tail keyword, and doing the best it can to answer the question.
- Answering the question in a clear way using paragraphs and bulleted and numbered lists.
Overall, keep a strong SEO strategy in place where you are already trying to rank #1 for a specific long-tail keyword. An example of a long-tail keyword for a hotel might be, “what is the best boutique hotel in Wicker Park Chicago?”
Social Media: Instagram Story Highlights
If you are a hotel and you are not on Instagram, there are a myriad of reasons you should be.
