Twitter and Google Partnership Changing Social Search & SEO?

What does this Twitter & Google partnership mean for hotels?

A few weeks ago, Twitter & Google announced a partnership which would share social data for organic search results. Can you hear the Hallelujah chorus in the background? Oh sorry, that was coming from my headphones.

Now, where do I remember hearing about this before? Oh yes, back in 2010 when Facebook decided it wouldn’t play with Google and give up its most valuable asset – their social data. The social data back then included your friends, relationships, photos, comments and likes. Google could then personalize your search results.

For the hospitality industry, this would have been quite a topic! Picture this: your friend at their computer doing a search for a hotel in XYZ City. Your recent public Facebook comment about your stay at a hotel in that exact city comes up and boom – your friend can see your post on Facebook along side organic search results of TripAdvisor & Yelp reviews, hotel website, blog, etc.

It kinda-sorta-not really turned out that way. Each social network has established their individual internal search parameters, never quite achieving the same impact that an organic search result would produce on Google. Some social networks partnered with Google as well. Now that the partnership has been re-established between Twitter and Google, this will offer a rich, effective and more up-to-the-minute search results. The takeaway: social signals will receive more SEO value.

What does this Twitter & Google partnership mean for hotels?

It means you better ensure that your social signals are represented well throughout your social ecosystem.

Ok, I heard it now. Head – Desk – Slam.

Wait! Before your head hits the desk with a ‘What did she write???’, let me explain.

Social Search pulls in the social graph of a person doing a search. The more visibility given to the content touched by users in the social graph, the better the results. Results are collected from varying sources of data: websites, blogs, videos, images and some social networks. Pinterest and other social networks have been working with Google already. Twitter is now doing the same.

Social ecosystem? Yes, it’s your hotel’s social footprint.

Social and Search are no longer 2. They were dating way back in the day, and then they broke up. Got back together and now are engaged to be married.

We are often asked how to rank better on Google, TripAdvisor, etc. Now the question is about mobile ranking.

The answer?

• Stay relevant with good content.
• Stay on top of how PEOPLE use technology.
• Don’t lag behind. Things will change slowly but they will change.

Hotels need to be more proactive. Look ahead to 2016, do you want to be scrambling from behind to make your presence known and found?

All the jokes aside, will this Twitter and Google partnership revolutionize organic search? Nope. But it will have an impact. And as we have learned, it starts with one small thing and grows.

I’m not going to give you a list of “to do” items of when to post and how much and where. Every so-called expert will be spewing that information.

Bottom line: You need to know your audience, your guests, and your customers. The information is already in your hands, just use it in the most human way you can because social media is about people, connections and relationships.

Be real.

Rosella