Visibility – the surprising and not surprising impacts to your business
Hey Everyone! Amy here again from Rooms Online bringing you some tips and tricks on the online world of accommodation listings.
Visibility is one of the things we are asked about the most, how can we increase visibility in order to gain more bookings. We want to share with you the surprising, and not so surprising things that can impact your visibility in the digital world.
As discussed previously a big one is rate parity, making sure that your rates that you are offering across the different platforms, not only is this picked up by the platforms themselves, but also by Google, they are also wanting to know you are being fair and just with your business practices. This also goes for content, if Google is picking up inconsistent information or inconsistent photos of your property, this can also affect how high you rank in searches in your area.
Photo quality also has a large impact, and the OTAs are always moving that goalpost of what they are looking for. Minimum requirements on the number of photos, as well as what the photos are showing (these need to be tagged!) is an important requirement to be meeting.
- Airbnb has just included photo tours with amenities attached to each photo
- Trip.com have increased the quality requirements and have the highest number of photos per room type
- Expedia have very specific requirements on what photos need to be listed and tagged based on your property. They have also moved to photo sort order based on “best photo” so checking what they are determining as best is important to keep an eye on.
Things you may be more surprised are picked up by the algorithms:
- All photos should all be horizontal
- Each photo should only be used once
- Optimal height the photos are taken from is 1-1.4m from the ground
- Not using a wide angle or fisheye lenses
- You shouldn’t have the TV on
- You also shouldn’t have photos with people in them
If you are already meeting all these requirements and have 100% scores on content, the more surprising impacts on visibility may be where you need to be looking. Firstly, original content is important, we all have been very excited with ChatGPT and the ease of being able to create descriptions with the click of the keys, this however cannot be hidden to the algorithms and is deemed as not original content. If you are using this on our website, it could be decreasing your ranking on Google.
Your Channel Manager connection could also be having impact; depending on who you are using, the connection does differentiate. Some are connections are stronger than others and as such, the property with the stronger connection guarantees a smoother service, and thus is prioritised in rankings with OTAs.
Visibility is crucial for all businesses; it directly impacts the ability to attract bookers and drive growth. In today’s competitive, digital world, a strong visibility ensures that you stand out from the crowd, and reaches the clients you want to attract. Consistency and updating listings regularly is the best way to ensure that you are staying ahead, and ultimately boosting your revenue.
Need help with making sure that you are doing all you can? Give us a bell.
Amy Billaney
Rooms Online
(Winner of the 2024 Supplier of the Year – Hospitality New Zealand)