Search Marketing Trends and Must-Haves for Hotels in 2023

If you’re in the lodging industry, you’re well aware that hotel occupancy and average daily rates (ADRs) have been rising throughout 2022. What’s more, similar growth projections are anticipated for 2023 – with the caveat of economic forecast adjustments projected by Smith Travel Research (STR).

As you’re planning 2023, you want to leverage search and digital marketing trends critical to hotels. Begin by building on the latest new Google shared throughout 2022:

1. Search algorithm updates: Google places improved discoverability at its core.
2. Helpful Content Update (HCU): Google continues to home in on people-first content, rewarding those content pieces solving for customer problems with authentic expertise.
3. Omnichannel experience: A consistent and user-friendly experience across all devices, particularly for travelers planning on-the-go or last minute.

Google is still a key channel serving your guests

Looking at these critical search marketing trends, it is evident that Google wants brands to put users front and center. Google rewards content that is relevant and helpful to the query at the right time while providing a quality experience. Let’s see how this promises to manifest in the year to come.

Key trends impacting hotel search in 2023

1. Multisearch - Users search across different asset types. Consumers typically spend more than 82% of their time on discovery, leveraging images, videos, text, etc., to get to their answers. Multisearch now allows consumers to take images and use Google Lens to explore everything about the image. By leveraging entity data along with high-quality, relevant, and contextual images, Google can get the most relevant search results faster.
2. Helpful content - Google updated its quality raters’ guidelines and helpful content algorithm system to target content that seemed primarily optimized for SEO. Understanding that this user-first update applies to site-wide content means that your hotel website content should be actionable, relevant, accessible, authoritative, and experiential in nature.
3. Omnichannel experience - Consistent and unified experience across devices and digital touchpoints help to deliver a unified experience. For example, information such as hours of operation for your on-site restaurant, bar, or spa should change anywhere the information is listed, including your Google Business Profile or social media channels.
4. Personalization and focus on local - How well a user experience is personalized and locally tailored is a key differentiator to your customer’s digital experiences. Consumers are more likely to buy from brands with a prominent local presence who engage with their consumers digitally. For hoteliers, this means that highly engaging, local brand messaging can be a recipe for success.
5. Data and attribution- The role of data is evolving with privacy and attribution taking center stage. Prepare for the post-3rd party cookie era by using first-party cookies and behavioral targeting and the long-announced arrival of Google Analytics 4 in 2023.

Search marketing must-haves for hotels in 2023

Maintain your investment in SEO, Google hotel ads, Google Business Profile, a well-optimized website, social media, and content marketing in 2023. While they remain important for your digital marketing, you may want to consider additional opportunities:

1. Use a strong content management platform: Your website is still your main branding and eCommerce engine. By choosing a robust content management system optimized for technical SEO and speed, your marketing year starts on solid footing.
2. Focus on E-E-A-T factors: Invest in creating helpful content to boost your organic growth. Get more eyes on your page and heads in beads by optimizing your website copy by ensuring these E-E-A-T signals are present:
   1. Experience: Any reviews should showcase authenticity. Google understands the difference between a generic blurb vs. a unique and authentic review.
   2. Expertise: Provide quality content on your hotel website and ancillary channels that make readers understand that you’re the genuine expert.
   3. Authority: It is determined by a combination of backlinks and citations pointing to your website, as well as partner links pointing to your website.
   4. Trustworthiness: Determined by visitor engagement. User ratings reflect how well your customers like the hotel experience you deliver--online and offline.
3. Drive top-of-funnel traffic with schema optimization. Having schema tags on hotel websites allows Google to identify, classify, and understand your website content. In turn, it can match your website content with the most relevant search queries. The best way to leverage the power of schema is to deploy a nested architecture where all parts of the content are tagged. Said tags can tell search engines that the content is linked to a website, organization, business type, hotel, room type, amenity, service, and offer. Once the content is tagged, your website signals to search engines that you are ready to be found.
4. Establish local authority with API-based local listing software. Location marketing is critical to establish local authority and drive demand from in and around the area. Hotel customers look for your business in countless ways, and the details can make the difference between getting a booking or losing out. By optimizing location data and your google business profile, you can manage hotel information and send critical data to platforms, like Google Business Profile, Apple Maps, Yelp, TripAdvisor, and directories across the web. The best way to do this is to integrate your hotel information through an API-based local listing software that keeps information about your hotel accurate and up to date. Maintaining your Google Business Profile remains critical as it allows you to share a wide range of information from the basic property address to photos, videos, operating hours, and reviews.
5. Provide relevant and useful FAQs. Every search query is a question; therefore, every search result is an answer. That is why Google has started to feature frequently asked questions in search result pages as rich snippets or enhanced FAQ listings. As potential guests are asking more questions about your hotel and destination, you must try to be the first to answer. Otherwise, OTAs and competitors, like Airbnb will answer for you and take your business. Search algorithms are evolving to address searchers’ needs, not just on computers and mobile devices but also on screenless devices and voice assistants. To help put your property on the map, answer searchers’ questions directly and to the point while showcasing your local expertise.

The year 2023 offers tremendous opportunities for hotels focusing on getting the must-have digital marketing basics right. To ensure you’re on the path to success, perform your digital presence audit; it will help you understand where to focus your digital efforts and set yourself apart from your competition.

About Milestone Inc

Milestone drives online leads and customer acquisition for over 2000 companies by building "Experiences" and "Discovery" natively in our platforms. Milestone solutions include a SEO-first CMS Platform, Personalization Engine, Website Design Services, Site Studio for scaling large volume of sites (for outlets), Local Listings, Schema Platform, Events Calendar Software, Analytics Platform, AI Content Studio, and Performance Marketing services. Milestone unique differentiator is that we drive more online leads and customer acquisition than our competitors. Milestone is a trusted partner to major hotel chains, management companies and independent upscale hotels and resorts including Marriott, IHG, Choice, Preferred Hotels, G6, Sun Outdoors, Crescent Hotels & Resorts, PM Hotel Group, Remington, etc. Milestone is amongst the highest-rated martech platforms with awards and recognition from Forrester, G2, Adrian Awards and many more organizations. URL: www.milestoneinternet.com.

Gaurav Varma
Senior Director of Marketing
+1 408 200 6949
Milestone Inc.