Hotel Owner April 2017 | Page 34

ADVICE > improving your online reviews HOW TO GET 5 TIMES MORE GUEST REVIEWS EVAN DAVIES, founder of hotel management and marketing firm The Booking Factory, explains how hoteliers can receive five times more guests reviews on Google and Facebook Why boost your reviews on Google and Facebook? the Google maps section in searches. It doesn’t matter if you’re competing There are three main reasons why you against a large chain hotel in your area, if should put effort into getting more Google you have more real Google reviews, your and Facebook reviews. smaller hotel will show up higher in the 1. You increase brand trust search rankings. 2.  You increase your online exposure and SEO 3. You gain customer intelligence Under the map, your hotel name will appear with a link to your site, along with your overall review rating, some basic info, a picture and your room rate. This is the 34 EVAN DAVIES Brand trust marketing firm The Booking Factory power towards influencing transparency Feedback and social proof. In Facebook’s case, in Encouraging more reviews on Facebook W order for customers to leave a review they and Google also lets you know what hen you ask guests to write a must have an account. This means for you’re doing right, and what you’re doing review of your hotel, where’s the every review, the majority will show a real wrong. These customer insights can tell first place they go? person behind that feedback. you the features your guests like, any are huge benefits for generating more your reviews are authentic and written by reviews on TripAdvisor, there are other someone who has genuinely visited your options to consider. hotel. Real reviews from real people are way to improve your service and make the key to inspiring trust in your brand. incremental changes to enhance the Founder of hotel management and To TripAdvisor, right? Although there Hoteliers have become reliant on power reviews can have on your SEO. Google and Facebook reviews hold great This shows potential guests that improvements they’d suggest and whether they had an overall positive experience. You can use every review as a guest experience. TripAdvisor as their main source of guest reviews, but this could be limiting your SEO scope for increased traffic and conversions. The main reason for encouraging Google 5 tips to encourage Google and and Facebook reviews is the SEO factor. Facebook reviews Google hold great weight in Google’s When Google sees authentic reviews Now you know why you should encourage search algorithms. Google dominates which are not created by fake accounts or more Facebook and Google reviews, search requests in the online world, so it bots, Google gives your hotel more value instead of relying purely on TripAdvisor, makes sense to put focus in encouraging in the search engines. This results in here are a few ways to urge guests to reviews here. higher search rankings for you. review elsewhere. Review pages on Facebook and Since Google pays close attention Google reviews are a contributing 1) Create your Google My Business to Facebook reviews for your search driver for Google local SEO. In fact, 8.4% ranking, both play an equally crucial of Google’s entire search algorithm was role for your local SEO. They’re also driven by review signals in 2016, according For starters, ensure you have a Google an indicator to potential guests that to Search Engine Land. My Business Page set up with all the page Having more reviews on Google’s necessary details completed. This is the enjoyed their stay with you. This is My Business can be one of your best account that has the biggest impact on the crux for generating trust and marketing tactics. That’s largely due to your search rankings. confidence in your property. Google reviews affecting your visibility in you do in fact exist and people have www.hotelowner.co.uk If you need a jump-start, have a look April 2017