1.    Changes in Search Algorithms

1. Search engines introduced several key changes in 2012 to the search algorithms through Panda and Penguin updates. Most of the changes were focused on getting higher quality, original content to rank high, as well as to focus on the freshness and engagement of the web content.
2. In April 2012, Google launched Knowledge Graph, which was a major update to their search algorithm.  Knowledge Graph puts the emphasis on semantic search and provides additional contextual information for the searched keyword using information from Wikipedia, Freebase, and websites.
3. Search engines also launched the use of schemas for tagging website content making it easier for search engines to index the website more efficiently.

For 2013, we recommend upgrading your websites to include schemas, adding different engagement features, and focusing on high quality original content that can constantly be refreshed. Engagement and freshness can be driven by including polls, contests, events calendar, blogs, and user generated content such as reviews on the website. Milestone recently launched the latest version of our Content Management System Platform Galexi CMS 5.0, which enables hoteliers to include several of these elements with relative ease.

2.    Mobile

With 97.3 million mobile users per month logging in on the Internet, and experts predicting that almost half of the U.S. population will be using mobile Internet by 2015, it is critical for hotels to have an optimized mobile site plus have a presence in key channels that consumers are accessing through mobile. These include hyper-local channels, such as Yelp, and social media channels.

3.    Local Optimization

Search results are increasingly becoming more localized and personalized. Things that impact placement in local search results include the hotel’s location relative to search term, optimization of local profiles, online reviews for the property, and consistency of name, address, phone number, and domain information. Hotels should make sure that they have a clearly defined process for using the same aforementioned data across all channels along with a well-optimized listing.

1. Tool for auditing your website: Screaming Frog
2. Tool for keyword research: Ubersuggest
3. Tool for data sourcing: Blekko
4. Tool for competitive analysis: Link Detective
5. Tool for transferring data or content to graphics: Piktochart
6. Tool for social monitoring: SocialMention

One key point to note is that before deciding which tool is a best fit for you: define your social goals. When defining goals, take into account how you measure key performance indicators, circles, degrees of separation, conversations, exposure, types of content that receive interest, engagement, and more. These differences in ‘successes’ and measurement will help you decide which tool may be a best fit for you.

As Rhea Drysdale of Outspoken Media has made clear, after deciding upon your tool of choice, you must make the business-case for acquiring this tool. Essentially, you must aggregate the true cost and risk of the product, accounting for switching and opportunity costs moving to the tool, and compare this to the tool’s value to the company. Simply:

Tool value – (true cost + risk) = business case

Once you have made this business case, make sure that you leverage the tool to easily access the figures that you consider your key performance indicators. Finally, and most importantly, it is vital that the information gathered from this tool is used to develop new strategies. Put these figures in a think tank and churn out strategies that are strategic, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely.

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Contributed by Brittany Bingham

Mathew Guiver began the panel by discussing the Top 10 reasons why advertisers should use the adCenter Desktop Tool:

1. Import options – directly import Adwords campaigns so there is no need for manual upload
2. Campaign creation – create campaigns on the fly with little effort
3. Keyword generation and bid estimates – perform keyword research directly within the tool, complete with projections on bid amounts
4. Negative keyword wizard – quickly identify and exclude negative keywords
5. Find and replace tools – simple tool for changing keywords, campaign descriptions, etc.
6. Monthly traffic forecasts – receive historical and future projections of search traffic volume
7. Age and demographic predictions
8. Demographic bidding – specify and target particular demographics
9. Reporting tools
10. Ability to copy/paste directly into excel

Joseph Kerschbaum then described his set of best practices:

• Implement conversion tracking
• Add tagging at least at the ad-level to tracking performance (this can be done using the Google Analytics URL builder)
• Cross-pollinate keywords by running search query reports (SQR) for both Adwords and adCenter campaigns and ensuring the top performing keywords in both accounts are present in the other.  Any keywords that are:
  • Similar – are very important!  This shows both search engines find a keyword relevant for the campaign
  • Different – represent opportunities to cross-pollinate. If a keyword works in one search engine, it may be just as successful in the other
  • Negative – consider these keywords a way of fine-tune both adCenter and Adwords
• Segment campaigns by device – do not target all devices using the same keywords and messaging
• Segment by network: Joseph advocated using the search network and content network, but paying close attention to performance on the search partner network,
• Consider budgeting options – recommended setting a daily budget as opposed to a monthly budget with the accelerated delivery option selected. If the budget runs out early, advertisers can customize delivery through ad scheduling

Allan Chuate described the “Ad Serving” logic behind adCenter as involving three elements:

1. Click-through-rate (CTR) Threshold
2. Minimum Bidding
3. Landing Page Relevance

He also advised against launch new terms in ad groups or campaigns with high search volume but low quality score.  He also warned against using bid management tools until pricing and positioning have had enough data to normalize.

Ping Jen took the opportunity to answer some commonly asked questions when it came to campaign performance on adCenter:

• If a Quality Score (QS) changes without changes being made by the advertiser, it’s generally because competition is further optimizing their own campaigns
• Advertisers should focus on keywords with high quality scores but with low aggregated QS to see if they can be optimized
• Similarly, advertisers should focus on low QS keywords with high aggregated QS  to see if they should be changed/removed

Speakers:

• Matt Van Wagner, Find Me Faster (Moderator)
• Allan Chuate, Yahoo!
• Matthew Guiver
• Ping Jen, Microsoft
• Joseph Kerschbaum, Clix Marketing

________________________
Contributed by Jonas Pauliukonis, Sr. eStrategist

Adwords Extensions give advertisers greater flexibility in what content appears with their ads and offers searchers a unique and oftentimes more relevant experience.  From click-to-call extensions to location-based extensions to the latest social extensions, each format is geared towards connecting merchants and customers quickly and under the best conditions for conversion.

The panel discussed several ideas for taking advantage of these extensions within Adwords:

• Optimize campaign structure by extensions – beyond the typical organization by keywords and targeting, advertisers should also consider organizing by how they ultimately want the ads to appear in Google
• Keyword performance may impact which sitelinks and extensions display – based on the user’s search intent, Google chooses which extensions may show, so advertisers should consider all possible scenarios when selecting an extension for a campaign
• Messaging should complement extensions – if the ad’s call-to-action mentions “booking online”, it might be best to not have a click-to-call extension show
• Don’t assume having multiple extensions automatically benefits performance – just because an ad is showing multiple extensions doesn’t connote relevancy – careful tracking and analysis will indicate what combinations works best

Although not applicable to service-based businesses including hotels, the panel also discussed product extensions, which allow retailers and other businesses that ship physical goods to display their products within their ads.  Brian Lewis did share one case study of using product extensions:

• 14% of total impressions
• 76% increase in overall CTR
• Average position increase of .2
• 16% increase in average cost per click (CPC)
• Conversions were similar, translating to a 15% increase in cost per acquisition (CPA)

Although the CPC and CPA data tends to argue against the use of product extensions, Brian said it does depend on the product or good and that is has been shown to be successful in many other cases.  Even if the searcher didn’t become a customer after clicking on the ad the first time, that might present an opportunity for remarketing.

Speakers:

• Pamela Parker, Search Engine Land (Moderator)
• Sarah Dahlin, Point It Search Marketing Agency
• Brian Lewis, Engine Ready
• Laura Thieme, Bizwatch

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Contributed by Jonas Pauliukonis, Sr. eStrategist

Tools Suggested by Brad Geddes:

• Yahoo Clues – Yahoo’s version of Google Insights; find keyword ideas and trends through this tool
• Next Analytics – import your paid search data in Google Analytics into excel for easy analysis and reporting
• Acquisio Broad Match Modifier – except in unique cases, some form of modified broad match should always be used in every PPC campaign; this free tool makes it easy to quickly update a list of broad keywords
• Adsense Sandbox – quickly see the latest contextual and geo-targeted Google Ads for a URL or keyword
• Certified Knowledge Ad Copy Creator – a tool for quickly generating ad copy, especially for accounts with dozens or hundreds of ad groups
• Certified Knowledge Quality Score Analyzer – identifies and provides recommendations for improving keyword quality scores

Tools Suggested by David Rodnitzky:

• Moat.com – search for ads by brand or use the brand analytics tool to measure attention through heatmaps
• Mixrank.com – competitive analysis tool for quickly finding ads and traffic sources
• Google.com/adplanner: analytics tools for content network ad placement to identify the traffic sources and keyword most associated with a site
• 4mads.com – instant rich media creator

Tools Suggested by Chad Summerhill:

• BoostCTR – crowd sourcing tool for developing ad copy
• Visual Website Optimizer – A/B testing tool for creating and comparing landing page performance
• #PPCChat on twitter (Tuesdays @ noon) – not so much a tool as a resource, twitter users can follow this hashtag to stay on top of PPC news and developments
• Gazel Adwords – easy excel plug-in that pulls Adwords data directly into excel so it can be easily manipulated and refreshed in a few simple clicks
• Queryminer – tool for finding negative keywords and identifying keywords that need better landing pages

Tools Suggested by James Zolman:

• Plenty of Fish and Plenty of Fish Uploader – an unconventional approach, James advocated first researching audience demographics through the dating site Plenty of Fish to test how different groups responded to advertisments
• ReverseInternet.com – great research tool for researching Adsense sites or performing a competitors’ analysis
• Rockstar Power Suite (highly recommended) – a research and campaign development tool from banner creation to media buys

Speakers:

• Brad Geddes, Certified Knowledge (Moderator)
• David Rodnitzky, PPC Associates
• Chad Summerhill, ABF U-Pack Moving
• James Zolman, Quality Scores

________________________
Contributed by Jonas Pauliukonis, Sr. eStrategist

Why and how can a hotel use the tool for its own advantage? With Google populating the tool with very rich data, here are 5 tips for a hotel on how to leverage the tool:

1. Driving online traffic and revenue – consumers can book through OTAs or directly through the hotel’s website, hence the tool is a key targeted traffic driver to the website.
2. Competitive intelligence – hotels can use the tool to understand where they stand versus their competition and use the information to enhance their offering. Several metrics they can use for competitive comparison are:
   • Rates
   • Historical rates (rate hike)
   • Number of reviews and the star ratings
   • Type of hotel
3. Consumer insight – acquire an in depth understanding of consumer sentiment. Since the tool provides reviews from several channels, hotels can monitor the ongoing consumer sentiment and find opportunities to leverage. For example, if several reviewers are highlighting their Free WiFi, then the hotel can market that offering on their marketing collaterals.
4. Finding marketing opportunities – by using the tool’s new ‘Magic’ sorting system, hotels can gain further understanding of user needs. When a user clicks on ‘Magic’, the tool brings up hotels that are relevant along key metrics such as competitive price, reviews, ratings etc. If a hotel is not featured on those search results, it is an opportunity for the hotel to try to gain relevancy for those metrics.
5. Leverage location – hotels can use the tool to understand if their location falls under any of the top local searches from consumers and Google’s perspectives. For example, if a hotel shows in the tool’s search results as ‘Near the Convention Center”, the hotel should promote that Location as a unique selling point on their marketing collaterals, including web, brochures, etc. and express its value, i.e. “Hotel is only 4 mins by car to the Convention Center”.

____________________________
*Contributed by Manisha Kumar, Director of Client Services

1. Attribute actual revenue to sources

• Build a separate application that pulls out the APIs. One such application is Good Data or Raven Tools

• When you setup analytics for the 1^st time, analytics is going to track website and your web form. Where the connection breaks is your lead ID. Make sure you specify unique lead ID

• How do you get the lead ID in analytics platform? In Omniture, transaction ID for de-duplication of leads. In Google Analytics, use custom variables

• Once you have the lead ID, you can track revenue, lifetime customer value to the original source, etc

2. Visualize data for transparency

• Omniture API
  • API does not have access to everything
  • Expensive
  • Slow – some implementation cycle could last up to 3 months

• Some good APIs
  • Facebook Open Graph
  • Twitter Klout
  • Majestic by SEOmoz

• Don’t reinvent the wheel. There are great tools out there already for what you need to do

• Recycle existing technologies

• Reduce – there is a real value in data synthesis that cannot be extracted.

• Reuse – feedback loop

• It’s all about people. This is the most important piece in building API. The people who use the APIs provide all the value

Speakers

Nate Griffin

Dax Herrera

• Dashboard – ability to create up to 20 different role-specific dashboards

• Real-time – real-time data for your web site can now been seen, with only a few ms delay. You can use this data to find out if your efforts are becoming fruitful or not

• Intelligence events – it’s a machine-learning algorithm that analyses your data for baseline and then calls out positive or negative anomalies. You can also set text or email alerts when certain preset conditions defined by you are met

• Goal Funnel – you can now define your own goal funnel

• Flow visualization – you can easily visualize your traffic and conversion paths

• Visits flow – shows you all possible paths through your website where people are going. It takes all your data and makes it visual for you

Some of the things to keep in mind:

• Implementation is King – you need to ensure that your analytics account is setup correctly. If you see your own site show up as referrals, you can be rest assured that your implementation is not done right and you need to get it fixed.

• Take the time to understand what it is you want to measure

• Tag relevant stuff.  Make sure you have implemented the correct tag on your web site. Tag banner ads, images, etc by using Google’s URL Builder. If you do not tag your Bing PPC campaigns, GA will report that data as Bing Organic. Therefore, it’s important to tag.

• Use Top Exit Pages report to figure out where to start testing

• Implement Site Search to see if you’re missing content

New items that are going to be added to Google Analytics:

• Forced migration into GA V5

• Google + Pages integration

• You can submit top 3 feedback on how GA can be made better for publishers. Feedback form can be found here.

Speaker:

Ashish Vij, Google

In this PubCon Las Vegas 2001 session, Tim Ash, CEO of SiteTuners.com, examines social media conversions. Too often in social media we focus on niche markets and end up missing the big picture. Social media is not really a new concept: it’s about connecting with people. To truly measure effective conversions, you must define what it is you hope to accomplish with social marketing, and then develop steps to achieve those goals.

Part I: What It Is & Why It Works

• What do we care most about online? Ourselves.
• What do we value in social interactions? Consistency: trust, logic, rationality, stability, honesty
• What don’t we like? Inconsistency: when beliefs, words and deeds don’t match
• Social marketing works when we get people to make a commitment
• Best kind of commitment
  • Voluntary – can’t be coerced
  • Public – must be witnessed or recorded
  • Small – will lead to larger commitments later

Part II: Implications for Conversion & Social Media

• Make sharing easy – the easier the conversion, the more likely it will happen
  • For a behavior to occur, you must combine motivation, ability and a trigger – all at the same time
• Focus on micro-conversions as success metrics
  • Facebook Likes
  • Tweets of a single phrase within a blog post
  • Writing a review
  • Rating a product or service
  • Clickthrough to another page
• Go wide and deep & measure everything
  • Social isn’t just about reach and awareness: define conversion metrics and be able to measure them
• Humanize the computer experience
  • Connect with people rather than making empty requests
• Demonstrate social proof
  • People care about what their friends think, not what you think – you aren’t in their “in” group
• Fight massive filtering with content domination
  • Recycle, reuse and repurpose material to maximize your exposure

To sum it all up:

1. Make sharing easy
2. Measure everything
3. Demonstrate social proof
4. Humanize the experience
5. Dominate with content

Speaker: Tim Ash

As summer transitions into Autumn/Fall, most hotels are looking for a way to increase bookings during this historically slow period of the year. In most cases, trying to make any significant changes to an organic website to accommodate for this downtime may seem a bit overwhelming, and in many cases ineffective.

PPC provides an excellent opportunity for hotels looking to take advantage of this slower period by running highly targeted short term campaigns for the holiday months. Follow the five steps below to make sure you are getting the most out of your PPC during the Fall months:

1. Target Local Events: Check in with your local CVB and find out exactly what conventions may be coming to your area over the next few months and setup a specific AdGroups focused on the big events. Set up short term promotions for any convention that you know will have a big draw, and try to have all campaigns running at least one month before the convention start date.
2. Don’t Forget the Family: Even though school may be back in session, there can still be quite a bit of family travel from October to December. Set up a new AdGroup specifically targeting “family hotels,” “family vacations,” or any travel destination in your area that you know is going to have a strong holiday push.
3. Celebrate the Holidays: Believe it or not, some people do actually travel for Halloween. Combined with potential Thanksgiving and Christmas travelers, a holiday specific campaign has the potential to generate revenue for a solid three months. Try to find some “spooky” destinations for any Halloween travelers, while also providing potential “park and fly” deals for your Thanksgiving and Christmas travelers. This campaign is absolutely crucial to start ASAP as people tend to plan early when it comes to their November and December travel plans.
4. Get Social: Take a look at your different social channels and find out exactly what your clients will be doing over the next few months. Don’t be afraid to ask questions or make any significant interactions with your clients. These open ended questions will provide great insight, and will also start generating some great activity on your social channels.
5. Landing Pages Galore: No matter what new ad campaign you set up, it is absolutely crucial to ensure that you have fresh and relevant content waiting as a landing page. Be sure to set up new landing pages for the holiday season and link them to the appropriate AdGroup. Clicks won’t count for anything at the end of the day if you don’t have relevant content waiting for the user that would lead them to a conversion.

Hotels stand to benefit significantly from these holiday ad campaigns as they present high traffic and low cost conversion opportunities. That being said, short term campaigns require constant monitoring (especially as conventions or holidays come and go) and very careful planning for a very short term window; therefore, it is important to start planning for your holiday PPC now!