APPLICATION AND PROSPECTS OF SEARCH

ENGINE OPTIMIZATION AS TOOLS OF DIGITAL

STRATEGY

NAME – BIPITA PAN

ENROLLMENT NO. – A90606420200

DEPT. – BBA

SECTION – 5B

SECTOR - TOURISM
 INTRODUCTION OF THE SECTOR

With the advent of Information technologies, newer avenues for reaching out to target
audiences have evolved. Digital marketing today has become an unavoidable part of every
business irrespective of its nature. The predominating significance of digital marketing has
affected the way industries promote their offerings to actual and potential customers. The call
for digital marketing has been felt like never before in the hospitality and tourism industry
wherein customers have instant access to all kinds of information on the latest offers and best
prices. Today digital marketing plays a decisive role in the triumph of each business that exists
in the hospitality and tourism industry. The hospitality and tourism sector were one of the very
first industries to adopt digital marketing strategies. This early implementation has also allowed
the industry to stay on top of the latest digital marketing trends, mainly because the industry
primarily sells experiences.

The Tourism Sector today relies heavily on search engines. The results of a Google study show
that online search engines continue to dominate the travel industry with 60% of leisure
travellers and 55% of business travellers using them to research and plan travel. Other studies
show that around 92% of natural clicks come from page one of Search Engine Result Pages
(SERPs), 4.8% of clicks come from page two and only 1.1% come from page three. Also, 41%
of unsuccessful searches after the first SERP choose to refine their keyword/search phrase or
their chosen search engine. Finally, 80% of completely unsuccessful searches are followed by
keyword refinement. Users also seem to trust the first SERP results, even in cases where an
unknown brand appears before a well-known one.

Most tourist bookings today start on a search engine. As a result, more and more tourist
businesses pursue an effective presence on search engines. The success of a website on SERPs
is a result of various coexisting factors such as page speed, quality, and quantity of content,
clarity, accuracy of page titles/descriptions, and page refresh rate. Better SERP positioning
leads to more website visitors which in general leads to an increase in online sales. SEO is a
marketing discipline focused on growing visibility in organic (non-paid) search engine results.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) should be the main component of any industry’s marketing
plan, but for the travel industry, it’s essential. Usually, an optimized website is rewarded a good
position on SERPs. SEO techniques require many constant actions to improve SERP rankings.
 HISTORY OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN TOURISM SECTOR

It is common to confuse the terms tourism and hospitality or to define them as the same thing.
While tourism is the all-encompassing umbrella term for the activities and industries that create
the tourist experience. On the other hand, hospitality can be defined as “the business of helping
people to feel welcome and relaxed and to enjoy themselves”.

Tourism/travel for leisure purposes has evolved from an experience reserved for very few
people into something enjoyed by many. Historically, the ability to travel was exclusive and
reserved for royalty and the upper classes. From ancient Roman times to the 17th century,
young men of high standing were encouraged to travel through Europe on a “grand tour”.
Through the Middle Ages, many societies encouraged the practice of religious pilgrimage, as
reflected in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and other literature. Prescribed even earlier, the Hajj,
or the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, has made travel for religious purposes become a default for
every believer of Islam. The word hospitality predates the use of the word tourism, and first
appeared in the 14th century. It is derived from the Latin "hospes", which encompasses the
words guest, host, and foreigner. The word tourist appeared in print much later, in 1772.
William Theobald suggests that the word tour comes from Greek and Latin words for circle
and turn and that tourism and tourist represent the activities of circling away from home, and
then returning.

The continued popularity of rail travel and the emergence of the automobile presented
additional milestones in the development of tourism. Fast forward to 1952, the dawn of the jet
age saw the first commercial air flights from London, England to Johannesburg, South Africa,
and Colombo, Sri Lanka which many also heralded as the start of the modern tourism industry.

In a world where over 3.9 billion people use social media regularly, every working professional
is expected to be familiar with at least the core tenets of Digital Marketing. People are
consuming digital content daily. Very soon, traditional marketing platforms will disappear, and
the digital market will completely take over. There are several advantages to Digital Marketing.
Unlike traditional marketing, digital marketing is more affordable. A person can reach a larger
audience in a shorter period. Technological advances have resulted in considerable attrition of
the customer base of traditional marketing agencies & departments. People have moved on to
tablets, phones, and computers, which are the areas where digital marketers have gained the
most ground.

While it’s easy to remember a time before digital marketing, it’s hard to picture a world without
it now. But we can trace the beginnings of this ground-breaking form of consumer engagement
back to the late 1800s with Gugliemo Marconi who invented the radio in 1896 and was the
world’s first digital marketer. Over the past three decades, marketing has had to keep up and
contend with leaps in technology and our relation to it ever since. While the sales era witnessed
the invention of the telephone, it was then swiftly followed by the rise of television and the
marketing era. The industry evolution of the marketing era saw arguably the biggest change in
the history of marketing: the first commercially available personal computers. But what do
these developments mean for the future of marketing? The answer has been what we are
witnessing now. Without a crystal ball, it’s impossible to see what the future holds, but to look
forward, we need to look back. Here, we look at the three major technological developments
that have changed the way we look at marketing: the internet, big data, and smartphones.
 SWOT ANALYSIS FOR DIGITAL MARKETING IN TOURISM
SECTOR

SWOT stands for strength(S), weakness(W), opportunities(O), and threats(T), which is a

technique that is used in an organization for strategic planning and management. In this
analysis, both corporate and competitive strategies can be used. According to the system
approach, organizations communicate with their surrounding which is made up of different
subsystems. In this context, organizations have two worlds, one within itself and the other
beyond. Analysing these environments is the most important strategic management practice for
an organization. SWOT analysis is the method of exploring an organization and its
surroundings.

1. STRENGTHS
✓ User-friendly online booking engine grows direct bookings
✓ Anytime, anywhere access to software to manage hotel remotely
✓ Control all aspects of the business from one dashboard to streamline operations
✓ Real-time, mobile housekeeping report with checklists maximizes productivity
✓ Online registration/check-in lightens the workload and is loved by guests

2. WEAKNESSES
Weakness refers to a lack of competence in a task. When anything is weak, it is more
disadvantageous than compared to anything else. It appeared as an unfavourable
characteristic.
✓ Is it cost-prohibitive?
✓ Does it integrate with the apps and software you’re currently using?
✓ Will there be a learning curve with the current staff?
✓ Does it require a strong website?
✓ Does the SEO offer sufficient support and training?

3. OPPORTUNITIES
✓ Use guest data to identify guest segments for targeted marketing campaigns
✓ SMS communication
✓ Surprise and delight initiatives to build loyalty and repeat bookings
✓ Automated email marketing for the full customer lifecycle
 ✓ Sustainability efforts and smart room tech integration
✓ Expand ancillary revenue opportunities

4. THREATS
Threats are usually external to the tourism sector and occur outside of its control. Threats
may include events such as the pandemic and loss of business, evolving technologies, and
even hacking.
✓ Pandemic and natural disasters: investigation of what challenges would arise under
specific circumstances and question the ways digital marketing may or may not
support the tourism sector.
✓ Economy: does digital marketing support a framework for diversifying hotel
revenues (i.e. vacation or activity packages) and rate management?
✓ Hackers: about preventative security measures and response plans for potential
threats.
 FEASIBILITY STUDY USING SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
FOR TOURISM SECTOR

The tourism sector incorporates all institutions and enterprises that offer tourism services for
which there is demand. These services are about providing food, transport, accommodation,
leisure, and other facilities that meet specific tourist expectations.
The modern tourism market is global and entities that compete in it are often international. And
that’s when SEO comes in handy – one of its greatest advantages is the fact that a properly
organized and conducted SEO process makes it possible for smaller companies to compete
with the biggest giants on the market.
As the statistics show, people are getting more and more willing to go on vacation.

1. ON AND OFF-PAGE SEO

On and off-page SEO are two halves of one whole, so paying attention to both of them is
important. On-page SEO is the content, internal links, and more on your company’s website,
whereas off-page SEO refers to the factors that boost the SEO off of the travel agency's website
itself, such as other sites that link back to yours. Let’s start with on-page SEO, as it’s more in
a person's control.

To improve the travel agency's on-page SEO, start by weaving in those keywords that they
searched so hard for into their content. Include internal links where appropriate (e.g., links to
relevant blog posts or your contact page). Once the content is finished and polished, create
clear but descriptive meta titles and descriptions for each of the pages on the website. One can
add some keywords in those as well, but do their best to not go overboard—keyword
stuffing(opens in a new tab) doesn’t help anyone! Landing pages and blog posts are also great
avenues to explore. Focus on the first 100 words or so of the page. That’s prime real estate for
your keywords.

Off-page SEO is a bit less predictable since it depends on how relevant the page or content that
a person wrote is for other industry professionals. One great way to improve off-page SEO is
to offer to write guest blog posts for others in this industry. It may be time-consuming, but
they’ll be networking and improving their SEO at the same time!
2. CHOOSING RIGHT KEYWORDS:

Choosing the right keywords is a must, no matter which industry we’re talking about. In the
case of hotels and other accommodation facilities, it’s advisable to go for local SEO and phrases
related to a given location such as “hotel Chicago” or “hotel near the Missouri River”.
When it comes to the tourism industry, where a person has to deal with a numerous competition
on the market, it’s a good idea to use long tail SEO.

Although long tail phrases are less competitive, there is a great chance that Google will rank
the website high for these specific keyphrases. “Last minute Egypt trips September” is an
example of such a phrase. That’s how even not-so-influential travel agencies can compete with
the greatest giants on the market.

The table below illustrates how difficult it is to rank the most popular best keywords for
tourism.

Keyword Volume Keyword Difficulty

hotels near me 2,740,000 80
flights 4,090,000 100
hotels 1,000,000 100
Las Vegas hotels 301,000 91
travel agency 40,500 75
travel agency near me 18,100 76
last minute travel 9,900 94
trip to paris 2,400 67

At the same time if a person concentrates on the long tail keywords the chances to rank high
are much bigger. The volume is not as big, but these phrases are much more specific, so there’s
a chance that people already decided to buy a product or service. Also, the keyword difficulty
is much lower, so it will be easier to rank for them.
 Long tail keyword Volume Keyword difficulty

4 star hotels near me 9900 37

hotel with indoor pool near me 9900 33

3 star hotel near me 1000 36

disney travel agents near me 1000 47

atlantic city hotels with jacuzzi 1000 35

mexico city tours 1000 50

best places to stay in la 1000 49

last minute travel deals from boston 320 49

• So what phrases are most commonly entered into the search bar by travellers?
The most popular key phrases entered into the search bar by potential clients of travel
agencies include tours, holidays, or vacations combined with the name of a
destination (“Croatia vacation"). Thus, remembering about it while creating content for
the website and focusing on the long tail phrases is helpful.

3. LOCAL SEO
Local SEO is another important aspect of SEO for the tourism industry. When it comes to travel
agencies and SEO, it’s a must to create and optimize the Google My Business listing. A
company should place their information concerning opening hours, exact address or contact
details. The possibility of posting customer reviews is also valued.

4. MIND THE CONTENT!

As previously mentioned on numerous occasions, content is a crucial element of doing SEO
for the tourism industry. Descriptions of trips and destinations found on the travel agency’s
website should be unique and valuable. Keeping in mind the basic SEO rules while writing
content for the website. The description should include at least 2 H2 headings optimized for
keywords, <strong> and <em> tags as well as equally important internal linking.

Taking care of regular blogging and publishing of new entries from 4 to 5 times a month.
Obviously, each blog is posted and optimized for suitable keywords and include internal
linking which would redirect users to subpages with trip offers. This way one can direct a
potential client to a specific subpage with trips that are of interest to them. At the same time,
running the blog will increase the visibility of the site in the search results, also during the slack
season.

5. CLIENT FEEDBACK MATTERS

Client feedback is particularly important in the tourism industry. Probably everyone, before
booking vacations, searches for reviews about the hotel, trip, or area where it’s located. It’s a
good idea to properly highlight reviews of the people who took advantage of the services. If
the travel agency belongs to a group of rather small companies, potential clients will also
certainly seek information and reviews about the business itself. That’s when the
abovementioned Google My Business listing and the customer reviews posted there come in
handy.

6. FOCUS ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Being active on various social media platforms will undoubtedly increase the interest in
travel agencies’ offers and traffic to the website. But what can these posts be about? Well,
in the case of the tourism industry, it seems that the possibilities are endless. one can inform
their clients about all trips, first or last-minute special offers, and other noteworthy deals.
Thinking about contests that could attract potential clients to the social media profiles.
Remembering the importance of high-quality pictures and graphics accompanying the posts.

7. THE UX OF THE WEBSITE

The UX of the website is the last but extremely important aspect when it comes to doing SEO
for the tourism industry. A travel agency’s website should be tailored to the users and it should
meet their expectations. Moreover, the site ought to be user-friendly so that people would
eagerly come back and make conversions.
A trip search engine, which needs to be easily accessible also on mobile devices, is the most
important element in the case of travel agencies' websites. It must be visible on the site and it
has to contain all the filters helpful for the users.
The possibility to filter offers is crucial. One should enable users to choose between
important elements of a trip such as the type of room, distance from the beach, type of food,
and many more.
Things a person needs to avoid on their travel agency’s website:
• no mobile website – every year more and more users are searching for vacation offers
via their mobile devices. Responsive web design is a must,
• the website’s design is not updated,
• complicated and non-intuitive information architecture on the website.
 FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION

Every industrial revolution was catalysed by a major technological evolution. Today is no

different. With 90 percent of the world’s data having been produced in the last two years and
more than 26 billion smart devices in circulation, we are living in an era of unprecedented
technological innovation—one that has spurred the Fourth Industrial Revolution. While the
internet has changed everything, it is worth remembering that the old forms of marketing still
carry weight. Despite the growth in digital advertising, TV still takes a third of ad spending in
the globe and continues to grow, albeit at a slower rate. Digital marketing communication has
several characteristics that make it the preferred communication alternative of the modern era.
The impact of digital marketing communication has been significant in categories like
electronics, fashion, online music and games, and many others. The world, with the increasing
number of internet users, the rural population joining the digital revolution, decreasing data
prices, internet-enabled cheap-priced devices, and overall enthusiasm around digital platforms,
technology, and devices; has put itself on the surging trend in terms of digital statistics.

Embracing digital trends does not mean discarding traditional marketing methods. Keep up
with the trends while integrating the old for solid marketing success. As we have seen tourism,
and hospitality is a complex system that is built up of industry sectors including
accommodation, recreation and entertainment, food and beverage services, transportation, and
travel services. It encompasses domestic, inbound, and outbound travel for business, leisure,
or other purposes. And because of this large scope, tourism development requires participation
from all walks of life, including private businesses, governmental agencies, educational
institutions, communities, and citizens. Recognizing the diverse nature of the industry and the
significant contributions tourism makes toward economic and social value, there remains a
great deal of work to better educate members of the tourism industry, other sectors, and the
public about the ways tourism contributes to our province.
 PROSPECTS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE

• Artificial Intelligence
If the company hasn’t already realized it, 2020 may be the year that a lot of people wake
up to the dominance of artificial intelligence (AI). It’s sure to be at the heart of global
business and industry in the future–and it’s already taking over many simple jobs.

• Programmatic Advertising
Programmatic advertising means using AI to automate ad buying so the company can target
more specific audiences. Real-time bidding, for example, is a type of programmatic ad
buying. This automation is much more efficient and faster, which means higher conversions
and lower customer acquisition costs.

• Chatbots
Chatbots will continue to be an important part of digital marketing in 2020. This AI-based
technology uses instant messaging to chat in real time, day or night, with your customers
or site visitors.

• Conversational Marketing
With all that talk about chatbots, the reality of modern marketing becomes clear: it’s more
conversational. People want it that way, and so brands are reacting. When consumers have
a question,82% want an “immediate” response. Conversational marketing facilitates a one-
to-one, real-time connection between marketers and customers.

• Personalization
If the company wants to stand out in the modern era, it has to personalize the marketing –
and that means personalized content, products, emails, and more. Consider these
personalization stats:
✓ 63% of consumers are highly annoyed with generic advertising blasts
✓ 80% say they are more likely to do business with a company if it offers personalized
experiences
✓ 90% claim they find personalization appealing
 ✓ Video marketing is one of, if not the, most important marketing trends today and
likely for the next 5-10 years. These numbers show the importance of incorporating
video into your digital marketing strategy in 2020:
✓ 70% of consumers say that they have shared a brand’s video
✓ 72% of businesses say that video has improved their conversion rate
✓ 52% of consumers say that watching product videos makes them more confident in
online purchase decisions
✓ 65% of executives visit the marketer’s website and 39% call a vendor after viewing
a video

• 5G Technology
In a world gone mad for mobile, arguably one of the most significant digital marketing
trends of 2020 is the dawn of 5G technology, or the fifth generation of mobile technology.
This update heralds a new era of digital communications and its impact will be felt across
virtually every industry.

• Neuromarketing
Last, but certainly not least, we’ll dip our toes into one of the most wow-inspiring digital
marketing trends of 2020: neuromarketing. While this may sound like we’re quoting from
a sci-fi movie, the reality is that this technology is advancing quickly and may become a
viable tool for marketers soon. For the uninitiated, neuromarketing is a strategy that
analyses measurements of a person’s brain activity and nervous system to determine which
types of content they find engaging. It is essentially designing marketing materials
(including your website, ads, email campaigns, and content) to evoke specific neurological
reactions that trigger emotions or responses that are linked to purchasing. One can use this
information to optimize their content accordingly and adjust their strategies, improving the
effectiveness of their marketing.
 REFERENCES

• https://www.hospitalitynet.org/opinion/4024607.html
• https://seoservicesmadurai.com/seo-case-study-tourism-hospitality-sector/
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• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340739678_A_SWOT_analysis_of_the_global_
hospitality_industry
• https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/501050/Indradeep%20Shreesh.pdf?sequen
ce=2
• https://cammyers.com/digital-marketing-swot-analysis/
• https://saletify.com/importance-of-digital-marketing-in-hospitality-sector/
• https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/WHATT-10-2020-0124/full/html
• https://www.simplilearn.com/history-and-evolution-of-digital-marketing-article
• https://ignitizeconsulting.com/feasibility-studies/
• https://www.innsight.com/blog/how-can-digital-marketing-help-your-hotel-to-emerge-
stronger-after-covid-19