25 June 2010

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.

ââ¬ÅâœIn the past communications roles have been put into nice neat boxes - below-the-line, above the line, digital marketing, SEO, PR, advertising,ââ¬~ she said.

ââ¬ÅâœBut 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.ââ¬~

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.

ââ¬ÅâœYes, itââ¬â¢s big and itââ¬â¢s messy, but the beauty of the web is that you can track everything and see where you are,ââ¬~ she said.

Also on the panel was Karen Plumb, commercial director partnerships EMEA for Tripadvisor. She said companies donââ¬â¢t need to produce all of their content themselves.

ââ¬ÅâœSometimes guest created content is more powerful than self generated content,ââ¬~ she said.

See separate story today to find out what the other experts had to day

By Bev Fearis

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