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Widen the net on the net, says web panel
Delegates at a TravelMole Question Time yesterday were advised to look at every aspect of web content in order to reach their audience.
A panel of experts at the Microsoft-sponsored event told the audience they must look beyond basic search engine optimisation to make sure they have a good web presence.
Debbie Hindle, MD of travel public relations company BGB, said the search engines are now using more sophisticated methods to determine what comes up in a search.
“In the past communications roles have been put into nice neat boxes – below-the-line, above the line, digital marketing, SEO, PR, advertising,†she said.
“But Google and Microsoft’s Bing search engine scan organic results, news, images, maps, social results, live feeds and blogs before returning what they think you want to see against a given search term. They are reading the results of far more than your website, Facebook and Twitter feed.â€
She said anyone in travel or tourism, whether a small B&B or a large company, can take steps to improve their presence on the internet.
“Yes, it’s big and it’s messy, but the beauty of the web is that you can track everything and see where you are,†she said.
Also on the panel was Karen Plumb, commercial director partnerships EMEA for Tripadvisor. She said companies don’t need to produce all of their content themselves.
“Sometimes guest created content is more powerful than self generated content,†she said.
See separate story today to find out what the other experts had to day
By Bev Fearis
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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