Travel firms urged to act on latest move by Google

Travel firms are being urged to set up Google + brand pages following the internet giant's revelation that it will be incorporating Google + into its search results to give users more relevant results.

Social marketing agency Greenlight hailed the move as the biggest change to Google in the past five years and said it was one businesses should not ignore.

Google + is similar to Facebook, except users can set up different social circles on their accounts, so for example they can have one for friends, another for family members and a separate one for business.

Crucially, Google + users can +1 websites, which is similar to pressing the 'Like' button on Facebook, so effectively making a personal recommendation to all their acquaintances. When users search for a website using Google, they will be able to see in the search results if anyone in their Google + circles has recommended the site.

Chief operating office of Greenlight Andreas Pouros described Google + as a huge opportunity for companies to increase their online presence. Having a decent Google + brand page, with relevant content, will enable them to appear higher in search engine rankings, he said

Companies that don't have a Google + brand page risk their rivals slipping in and snapping up their customers, he warned.

Pouros added: "This is a major change to how Google"s search results are assembled and something brands and business with an online presence cannot afford to ignore."

By Linsey McNeill

Monday, January 16, 2012

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Enough of this hype!

I am really tired of hearing all this high pressure hype from so called "SEO experts". It just frightens clients into believing that they have to spend more money and allocate more time and resources to maintain good positions in search engines. We have been representing clients large and small for many years and continue to win and maintain excellent rankings for them by carrying out the solid basics of SEO (at a much lower cost), without needing to scare them and pressure them to react every time some new SEO related fad comes to town. In reality, most of these apparent "must have" SEO tactics have so far not been responsible for the most significant ranking improvements for our clients (and for the clients of those SEO practitioners who keep calm and collected in the turmoil of hype, and who keep focused on good old fashioned common sense SEO basics). It is still the best way to outgun and outperform the competition in search engine rankings. So please, stop needlessly frightening everyone with this talk of "you can't afford to ignore this".

By Frank Orman, Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Not convinced

As founder of http://www.goprotravelling.com a travel community with high social engagement I have to agree with David and Ben.

By Guido Colombo, Friday, January 27, 2012
Google+

Google+ is more about Google being defensive than offering the Internet public something they really want. Google sees Facebook as a threat and has decided it should create its own walled garden. As we saw with the demise of MySpace I can't see that there's really room for two social media services of this type. My own view is that people are even losing interest in Facebook as it gets more complex and more overtly commercial. Google+ could be yet another Google dud.

By David Burdon, Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Sign Up But Be Realistic How Much Time You Dedicate to It

This is perhaps a shade alarmist. Google+ is small (est. 49m users December '11 compared to Facebook's 800m), albeit growing fast with a user base that is biased male and techy - much of the content being shared will reflect this user base (i.e I doubt there's a high proportion of holiday-related content being shared.) To receive recommended content from their Google+ network, users will have to be signed up and signed into Google. Although it makes sense to spend some time claiming your Google+ brand page now and start posting (and it sensible to try to include your targeted search terms in your posts) it's not going to become the cornerstone of your social media strategy just yet.

By Ben Blackler, Tuesday, January 17, 2012