Search engine optimization gets written about as a very complex, intricate marketing concept which then creates a high expectation for the results SEO produces. The last thing we want to do is imply SEO is not complex or minimize the expectations of what SEO can do, but we do want to communicate the concept that SEO is really doing only one thing for a website: bringing in more traffic. Traffic, users, site visitors, potential guests, or whatever label you have chosen to apply to the people who come to your website through organic search, are the result of SEO.
Local SEO is a specific subset of search engine optimization. It focuses on bringing organic search traffic to the website through the features on Google relating to the potential guest’s geographic position and geographic search. For example, a search for “hotels near me” requires Google to know where the potential guest is located (her geographic location), identified by IP address or cell phone location. Google can then serve up results related to her location. Additionally, she could have made the search “hotels in downtown Chicago” which does not rely on her current location. The search itself provides the location.
The results from these types of searches differ from other searches because Google will present a special section on the search engine results page often referred to as the Local Pack. You might hear this referred to as the Local 3-Pack, the Local 4-Pack, but really, does the number matter? No. It is the Local Pack and Google may change how many are in the pack over time.
How Does Google Decide Which Hotels to Put in the Local Pack?
We know there is a purpose behind the order that Google displays the hotels in the Local Pack. We also know that being the first is a very good thing. The question then must be asked: how do you become first?
As with anything related to Google, there is a bit of a mystery as to how their ranking system actually works. Very bright people poke, probe, and analyze how Google treats different sites and attempt to determine what makes one site rank better than another.
We do not want to go too deep into a history lesson, but at one point in time, Local SEO was all about NAPU – the name, address, phone number, and URL of the business. We attempted to get the hotel listed in as many directories as possible, making sure the name of the hotel, the address of the hotel, the phone number of the hotel, and the URL of the hotel were consistent across all of them.
What we were trying to do was build a threshold of confidence for Google to know that the hotel is in the location it claims to be. We all know hotels in suburbs to metro areas using the metro name in the name of their hotel. Google, at one time, believed if enough citations for the hotel were built using the same address, surely that address had to be accurate.
Google now has better ways to verify location information and that is through cell phone location data. Android users are sending Google location data constantly and with this data, they can reliably confirm the exact address of the hotel. They are no longer relying on the various citations built out because they have the location data from people’s phones. They know when people are at a location, they know if that location matches the location the business says they are at on Google My Business, Facebook, Yelp, and TripAdvisor, and they know how long people are at that location.
While Google does not show this information on the knowledge panels for hotels like they do for coffee shops, restaurants, and other businesses, it does not mean the information is not being collected.
Pause for a moment and let that soak in.
People carrying Android phones are sending location data to Google. Google can use this location data to learn about your hotel and the people coming to your hotel. Google even knows how much people are spending at your hotel thanks to their deals with credit card providers.
When Google wants more detailed information like whether the hotel has accessible parking or serves vegetarian options in its restaurant, Google uses a service called Local Guides, which rewards people for answering questions and leaving reviews for places Google tracked them to.
Business owners often have a reason to mislead or misrepresent their business and Google knows this so they rely on other people to verify the information it gets about your business. Google and people answering the questions do not always get it right, though. That is a cautionary tale for another time, but it is important to check-in once in a while on what Google is saying about your hotel in the knowledge graph and correct it when it is wrong.
What is important to Google now is the Google My Business listing, a few core search engine sources (e.g. Facebook, Bing, Apple Maps), and a handful of reputable citation sources (TripAdvisor, Yelp, FourSquare, etc.) especially directories related to the hospitality industry.
Beyond that, additional citations are barely moving the needle. This is not to say those additional citations are not helpful but is to say that the time and energy is better spent in other areas.
