I read a shocking article this morning in Search Engine Land how thousands of hotel listings have had their Google Places pages hijacked by third party booking websites like RoomsToBook and HotelWhiz. This is nothing short of local SEO espionage! Here is an example of what the Google Place page for Courtyard in Sherman Oaks California looks like.
src: http://searchengineland.com/thousands-of-hotels-listings-were-hijacked-in-google-local-181670
Now this is a HUGE deal on a couple dimensions and should be a wake up call to every local business, mutli-location brand and franchise.
The Financial Implication of a Local SEO Hijacking
What is Courtyard Marriott doing that it hasn’t controlled it’s corporate face on the leading search engine, Google, which puts Google Places (Google+ Local) on more than 83% of local searches. By letting a third party hijack a primary point of entry, these hotels are basically agreeing to pay booking fees to a third party. OUCH.
The Marketing Implication of Not Optimizing Your Google Place Page
Forget the hijacking for just a second. The fact that big brand hotels like Courtyard haven’t claimed or optimized on the leading search engine is mind-boggling to me, especially in the wake of the recent leaks that Google is preparing its own hotel and flight search engine. Google Places (or Google+ Local more formally) is crucial to marketing any type of business with an address. To see a blank profile like the screenshot above is embarrassing compared to an optimized one like Canyon Ranch (a LocalVox client) below:
Example of An Optimized Google Place (Google+Local) Page
Big difference hunh? Not only do these pages convert much better, but because they have been local SEO optimized, they show up more often. This begs the question on whether the SEO folks at these major hotel chains are asleep at the wheel when it comes to local. It turns out that local is fundamentally different traditional SEO. Does your digital agency know the difference?
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What Will Google Do to Respond to the Crisis?
If you are Google, this situation is a minor threat to your credibility, but in the end, I think it will be great for them. It highlights yet again to multi-location brands that you can’t ignore your local online listings.
Google will however act to correct this and will act swiftly. I would expect in the coming days that RoomsToBook and HotelWhiz will be completely removed from Google search engine results (like the Rap Genius or JC Penney reaction).
But for now, the collateral damage may be the hotels themselves because it may have to take down the “infected” Google Place pages in the process. Hopefully they can automate the clean up of the URLs without that cost.
Stop Waiting. Take Control of Your Local Online Marketing.
If you have been sitting on the sidelines (only ~30% of Google+ Local profiles have been claimed), it’s time to get in the game. Not just on Google, but everywhere. At LocalVox, we are looking to transform the ways that brick-and-mortar brands connect to local consumers. Not letting a stranger control the interaction is just step 1.
If you are looking for a couple things to do now:
Run a free local directory report and see if your basic brand info is consistent and accurate online
Get a free local marketing consult and find how you can leverage social, mobile, email, SEO in with an integrated marketing strategy
Local marketing is 16-20x more cost effective than pay-per-click and only 2% of local businesses find pay-per-click, TV, or radio advertising to be effective. 2014 is time to act.
What are you waiting for? A hijacker?
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