Travel agencies respond to changes in Google’s search function
When consumers search on Google, they expect to quickly find the most reliable information.
And the search giant continues to take steps to ensure that’s the user experience, with the latest changes announced in March, this time focusing on tackling “low quality, low quality” is guessing. [artificial intelligence]”It’s generated content designed to attract clicks, but doesn’t add much inherent value,” Google spokesperson Davis Thompson told PhocusWire.
While some travel industry insiders don’t think Google’s latest adjustments are significant, others say they’ve seen a drop in traffic that could hurt their business. Mike Coletta, senior manager of research and innovation at Focuslight, said site owners should remain vigilant as Google continues to make adjustments.
“If your business model relies on free traffic from Google, you’re going to be holding your breath a little bit with every update,” Colletta says. “Unless you’re sure you have the best content for a query, you’re still basically at their whim.”
Update to Google’s “Multi-core System”
Google said the update is intended to be helpful.
Thompson said the update should benefit creators of all types who produce high-quality content.
If your business model relies on free traffic from Google, you’re holding your breath a little bit with every update. Less so if you’re sure you have the best content for your query, but you’re still essentially at the mercy of their whims.Mike Coletta, Focuslight
“Our recent search updates are designed to surface the most useful, high-quality content on the web, empowering creators who are creating content that helps people,” said Thompson. Masu. “Our system aims to display a diverse range of sites and reward high-quality content, including affiliate-supported content, regardless of publication size.”
Google’s system changes are outlined in a blog post, and we have a separate page for web creators to learn about the changes. The changes relate to content created by automation, which Google calls for things like manipulating search results.
Google shared that the March 2024 update will be more complex than past versions, given that it includes changes to “multiple core systems.”
“This is also an evolution in how we identify the usefulness of content,” Google said.
Google warned that system updates may cause rankings to change more than regular updates. The changes were expected to be rolled out over a month or more from the start of the update. And on May 5, he said, Google will implement a new policy that defines spam as “low-value third-party content created primarily for ranking purposes.”
We directed creators who may not see their preferred rankings to contact us on our Frequently Asked Questions page.
In a blog post outlining the changes, Google referenced past efforts to eliminate bad search results.
“For decades, we have relied on sophisticated anti-spam systems and spam policies to prevent the lowest quality content from appearing in search results, and we continue to do so.” said Google.
Colletta said Google has always worked to improve its search results and reduce low-quality, spammy results.
“But it’s very subjective,” he says. “As we know, small travel bloggers may be the best source of information about a destination. But…it can be difficult to build much authority on Google. They tend to prefer expensive brands.”
Traffic may change due to Google adjustments
Some travel sites are feeling the impact of Google’s changes more than others.
Rami Nuseir, head of marketing at travel affiliate marketing company Stay22, which supports 900 travel bloggers on the platform, said some of his content creator partners lost up to 75% of their traffic “overnight.”
“It’s difficult for some people and devastating for others,” Nusseir said, adding that the loss of so much traffic would lead to a 75% loss of livelihood.
Isabelle Leon, author of travel blog Bel Around the World and search engine optimization coach, said she saw a “clear drop” in traffic with Google’s latest update. , believes that much of the impact on website traffic is due to inadvertence. Google must adapt to the rapid adoption of AI in content creation.
“However, no matter how prejudiced, [be in saying] Punishing bloggers who write pieces based on personal experience is an understatement, as we take pride in our work (and work) in providing quality, authentic content to our viewers. It’s unfair to say that,” Leon said.
Ben Lloyd, director of digital marketing services at Cloudbeds, said the hotel software company hasn’t noticed a change in customer traffic since the Google update because of the company’s focus on high-quality content. That’s what I think.
“To some extent, this is not surprising. The intent of Google’s changes was to reduce spam and unhelpful content across search results for users. “That’s what we’re working hard to ensure that there are no ‘standards in design, technical implementation and content,'” Lloyd said.
At Civitatis, a tours and activities platform serving the Spanish-speaking community, the changes Google made actually increased website traffic, according to Raúl Valencia, head of SEO at Civitatis. .
“Google’s latest updates have had a very positive impact on our domains,” Valencia said, adding that the company’s sites serving the Spanish market have increased by 60%, and its sites in markets such as Brazil have increased by 60%. It added that the number of sites it serves has tripled.
Javier Delgado, CEO of Europe, Middle East and Africa at hotel booking technology provider Mirai, said another factor impacting European travel websites is the timing of Google’s recent updates. He said it could be how this would coincide with the introduction of the European Digital Markets Act (DMA).
He said the DMA had a “direct and negative impact on the traffic of many hotels” and it was difficult to determine the impact of Google’s adjustments in the European Union.
“Nonetheless, Google’s changes come at a bad time and make for tough times for hotels looking to promote themselves online,” Delgado added.
Not everyone understands the changes at Google
Despite Google’s efforts to outline the changes, Stay22’s Nuseir expressed confusion about how to improve or maintain search rankings.
“The problem is we don’t know what the rules are,” he says. “What Google claims to be penalizing, [versus] What are they actually punishing? Until they make the rules clear, we are all in the dark and at their mercy. ”
But in Civitatis’ Valencia’s view, regardless of the changes Google made, increased competition in search rankings was inevitable as the number of travel-specific domains grew.
Nushir is not completely against it.
“Google has good intentions. They want to make content more unique, less spam, less AI generation,” he said. “So they’ll push Reddit, Quora, forums. But a lot of that content isn’t what people are looking for, so I’m not sure pushing these is the best solution. yeah.”
Still, Colletta says the lack of clarity on Google’s part is as perennial an issue as updates.
“They are keeping [updates] “It’s a bit opaque, so it’s difficult for people to try to game the system,” he said. “But many still think more clarity can be done, and have been for a long time.”
This article originally appeared on PhocusWire.
