What Really Drives Hotel Rankings on Google?
The world's leading search engine has recently launched a Google review collection widget in which ReviewPro and other vendors are partners. There has been some confusion in the market but Google confirms that all partners offer the same Google review collection capability to clients.
The only point of differentiation is that Google has licensed TrustYou data to use in search results for some hotel properties. It is important to realize that the Google review score and ranking algorithm are only based upon Google reviews. This can be confusing and some hotels might believe that by using TrustYou they can directly influence their rankings in Google. In fact, Google has confirmed that their review score and ranking algorithm are based only upon the ratings and volumes of Google reviews and that TrustYou's data has no direct impact on the ranking of hotel results on Google.
Relevance, distance and prominence are the key drivers to improve a hotel's ranking on Google. As explained in Google help pages, "relevance is how well a local listing matches what someone is searching for. Adding complete and detailed business information can help the search algorithm better understand your business and match you to relevant search results." With respect to distance, "just like it sounds—how far is each potential search result from the location term used in a search? If you don't specify a location in your search, Google will calculate distance based on what's known about your location." The third factor is prominence, which"describes how well-known a business is. Some places are more prominent in the offline world, and Google tries to reflect this in local ranking." Additionally, it is important to know that "Google review count and score are also factored into local search ranking—more reviews and positive ratings will improve a business's local ranking."
Google reviews are visible across the entire Google network, whether a consumer or business traveler is searching for a hotel from their desktop, tablet or mobile device. The Google review collection widget allows hotels to leave reviews directly on Google from a guest survey so that ratings and reviews are displayed in Google search results.
ReviewPro's market leading Guest Intelligence Suite, combined with the Google review collection widget, provides hoteliers with the best tools available to improve their positioning on Google and to drive direct traffic to their website. By implementing this widget, hotels can push reviews directly to Google, building their review volume and boosting their presence on the search giant. Together with the Google review collection widget, ReviewPro clients will benefit from actionable insight to increase guest satisfaction, rankings on Google and ultimately revenue.
About Shiji ReviewPro
Shiji Group provides software solutions and services for the hospitality, food service, retail and entertainment industries, ranging from hotel management solutions, to food and beverage and retail systems, payment gateways, data management, online distribution and more. Founded in 1998 as a network solutions provider for hotels, Shiji Group today comprises 5,000 employees in 80+ subsidiaries and brands, serving over 91,000 hotels, 200,000 restaurants and 600,000 retail outlets.
