Gain Larger Market Share Through User Sentiment

A challenge that many hoteliers feel compelled to do is write body content as if telling the guests what they should hear; what Google wants hoteliers to do is write body content how guests want to hear it. Google wants hoteliers to incorporate user sentiment into the body content. That is, phrase body content the way guests actually say it. That way, it is easier for the guests to get to the content they need.

Some hoteliers may not see the difference is phrasing content different. Below is a case study that shows otherwise.

Goal: measure amount of traffic coming from searches based on user sentiment.

• Website: www.cptampawesthore.
• Time frame: June 2012 – August 2012
• Pages that incorporated user sentiment were Things to Do Pages: Busch Gardens Tampa, Port of Tampa, MacDill Air Force Base, etc.
• Examples of body content that incorporated user sentiment
  • Header “What do I need to know about the wet rides?” on the Busch Gardens landing page
  • Header “Are tours available?” on the MacDill Air Force Base landing page

• Headers “Is it easy to get there from the airport?” on the Port of Tampa landing page

Results for guests coming from user sentiment driven searches:

• The amount of time spent on the website increased. (29 seconds in June. 1:39 seconds in August.)
• The number of pageviews increased. (2.25 pages in June. 2.46 pages in August.)
• Of the guests coming from user sentiment driven searches, 97.73% were new users on average. Of the guests coming from non user sentiment drive searches, only 80% were new users on average.
• New keywords* to the Busch Gardens landing page:
  • Bush Gardens Tampa all inclusive packages
  • Crowne Plaza Tampa Westshore how far from Bush Garden
• New keywords* to the MacDill Air Force Base landing page:
  • MacDill AFB tour request
  • Touring MacDill AFB
• New keywords* to the Port of Tampa landing page:
  • Crowne Plaza Westshore Tampa cab to cruise port
  • Tampa Cruise hotel package

Conclusion: Google’s incorporation of user sentiment searches is in full effect right now. All websites need to add fresh content. Hoteliers need to think of what the guests are saying and looking for, and phrase body content accordingly. Hoteliers should not phrase content on what they think guests should know. The data shows that by abiding by user sentiment driven language, there is opportunity for soft lead generation and to increase conversion by gaining more market share.

*All keywords are verbatim as pulled from Google Analytics

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Contributed by Nelson Toriano, Sr. Account Manager