Next Gen Travel Search Engines Threaten Travelocity, Orbitz, & Other OTAs
Kayak, Farecast, Mobissimo, and Sidestep represent a highly disruptive new breed. Travel specific meta-search engines facilitate real-time fare comparison from hundreds of travel “suppliers” (like airlines and hotel chains) rather than going through a single OTA (online travel agency) like Travelocity or Orbitz. This technology threatens OTAs in serious ways, among other reasons, because the […]
Travel Search Gurus: Brilliant at Basics
The king is dead, long live the king. The old SEO is new again. This session, “Those Who Do…Tell: Effective Travel SEM Case Studies, “reinforced what we all know to be true: There are NO shortcuts. Effective travel search marketing means researching and testing available channels with optimized content. Test some more, measure conversion with […]
Strategies for Maximizing Travel Search Marketing ROI
Greetings from SMX Travel@PhoCusWright from sunny Orlando. 🙂 The second of today’s sessions was moderated by Chris Sherman, Executive Editor, Search Engine Land. The focus was on respective benefits and tactics for SEO vs. PPC, case studies for pumping landing page conversion, the critical importance of direct brand searches, and the advantages of integrating online […]
Travel Search Marketing: Not Just Direct Response Anymore
Moderator: Chris Sherman, Executive Editor, Search Engine Land moderated. The speakers were Bill Tancer, General Manager, Global Research, Hitwise (loves data), James Lamberti, Senior Vice President, Search and Media, Comscore, and Lorraine Sileo, Vice President, Information Services, PhocusWright. It’s clear that search marketing is no longer primarily a direct response form of media. Search marketers […]
SMX Travel@PhoCusWright Orlando Kickoff
Good morning from the inaugural edition of SMX Travel@PhoCusWright 2007 Orlando. This conference, piggy-backed on the acclaimed series of PhCusWright conferences, promises to become the definitive annual travel-themed search marketing exposition. The sun has barely risen over the picturesque Florida palms. Still the immaculate grounds of the Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate are awash in […]
Predatory Jerks Give SEO a Bad Name
<Rant> I’ve wanted to write this post for years. A couple of times a month one of our clients or partners forwards us a laughable cold call sales pitch they’ve received from some bulk email scamming SEO-weasel who’s grubbing for business from the unaware. Though most serious search marketing agency-types provide an honest day’s work, […]
Linkbaiting, the Art of Mass Link Building
Link building is a core value of SEO. The art of linkbaiting is a key tactic for harvesting lasting value from social media activity by generating relevant high quality links with remarkable content. This series of presenters offered practical and priceless real-world tips and anecdotes for linkbaiting success. Rebecca Kelley, Search Marketing Consultant at SEOmoz, […]
12 Billion Local Business Searches. Do Yellow Pages Still Matter?
Wondering about how Google affects Yellow Pages, newspapers, and Yahoo? Online advertising, portals, and local search are important new sales channels and are rapidly overtaking newspapers and other traditional means for customers to find local businesses.
Humbled SEO Warriors: Search is Universal. Blended Verticals Tower.
As a result of Universal & Blended Vertical Search it’s not just about web pages anymore. Google’s Universal Search aggregates local, news, video, book content, blog search, and a number of other verticals from content “repositories” and displays them in various positions on SERPs. This is especially true for some commercial keywords and can include […]