Considering how important search is in the buyer’s journey – 60% of travelers turn to search first when looking for accommodations– it’s surprising why more hoteliers don’t make use of one of Google’s best features: rich snippets.
What are Google’s Rich Snippets?
Think of rich snippets as extra information that Google lets you provide that appear underneath your page title and URL in search engine results. Translation = They’re extra little goodies you can use to influence travelers to click on your hotel listing versus a competitor’s, helping you drive direct bookings.
You can see the rich snippets (the information underneath the URL, such as reviews, ratings and pricing) in the example search result below:
Why are Rich Snippets Important?
We turn to the internet before we turn to our family and friends – at least, when it comes to travel planning, revealed Google’s latest Traveler’s Road to Decision study. More than 70% of business and leisure travelers use the internet as their top source when planning their next trip, followed by family/friends. When we turn to the internet, the first place we turn is search engines – the number one most used online source in travel planning.
It’s so easy to flick through search results without giving them a second glance – especially when other search results offer the information for which you’re looking.
The three things travel shoppers want to know, first and foremost, are:
- Location
- Price
- Reviews and rating
How convenient that Google’s rich snippets let you provide exactly that.
How Rich Snippets Influence Bookings
One of the common questions I hear is “if I provide that information to Google, doesn’t it mean that users won’t click through to my website anymore, since they now see the most vital information in search results?”
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