Good day fellow hoteliers and welcome to episode 268 of The Hotel Marketing Podcast by TravelBoom. This may be the 268th edition, but it is the very 1st one of the new year!
Podcast Comments
Sharing what fellow listeners have to say.
I wanted to say hello and say I enjoy listening to your pod here in Australia. It has helped me in many ways in the last few years. Please keep it going. I recently moved from a PMS where I was managing an embedded payment product back to digital and distribution. Listening in again to you guys helped me get back in the groove
Thanks again! – Duncan
TravelBoom’s Room for Improvement: Fixing Hotel Failures
TravelBoom’s Room For Improvement uncovers the tough questions guests and hoteliers face every day and shares insights into how staff can connect and improve guest relations.
https://www.reddit.com/r/askhotels/comments/1hw6ip0/rooms_with_no_window/
The Main Topic: Search Marketing Predictions for 2025
The information and strategies hoteliers need to succeed in today’s competitive market.
Today we are taking experts from a recent article on TravelBoomMarketing.com at https://www.travelboommarketing.com/blog/12-hotel-marketing-trends-to-watch-in-2025-elevate-your-strategy.
A Brief Recap of Top Search Marketing Trends + Milestones for 2024
- AI-Driven Search Dominance
- Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) rolled out widely, changing how search results are displayed. Generative AI provides detailed, conversational answers at the top of search pages, impacting click-through rates (CTR).
- SEO strategies have shifted to optimize for AI summaries, focusing on structured data and natural language content.
- Content Focus: Quality Over Quantity
- Google’s Helpful Content Update further penalized thin or AI-spammy content, pushing brands to prioritize user intent, engaging storytelling, and E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authority, Trust).
- Video and multimedia content increasingly dominated search visibility.
- Zero-Click Searches & Answer Optimization
- The rise of zero-click searches due to featured snippets, knowledge panels, and AI answers forced marketers to focus on brand visibility rather than clicks alone.
- Strong Shift to First-Party Data
- With cookies continuing to phase out, brands began prioritizing first-party data to better understand user behavior and personalize experiences.
- The loss of third-party cookies and stricter data privacy regulations forced marketers to adopt first-party data strategies.
- Google pushed the Privacy Sandbox initiative, and brands relied more on tools like Enhanced Conversions and server-side tracking.
- SEO for Multi-Platform Discoverability
- Content optimization expanded beyond Google. Platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube were prioritized for organic discovery as Gen Z leaned into these for search queries.
- Localized SEO Growth
- Local pack updates and the emphasis on Google Business Profiles became even more critical, with new AI tools enhancing local search personalization.
SEO Trends in 2025, According to AI
- Generative AI Becomes the Default for Search
- AI-powered search engines like Google SGE and Bing Chat continue to shape search behavior. Optimization strategies will center around AI-generated summaries and enhancing visibility within AI-generated responses.
- Marketers will focus on content structuring, schema markup, brand visibility (social media, review sites, influencer marketing), and efficient indexing (Google, Bing, etc.) to ensure their content/brand is featured in AI responses.
- Voice Search and Conversational Queries Dominate
- As voice-activated devices and smart assistants become ubiquitous, optimizing for conversational queries will be essential.
- Structured data and natural language processing (NLP)-friendly content will become more critical than ever.
- Visual Search Optimization
- Platforms like Google Lens, Pinterest, and Bing’s visual search tools will see widespread adoption. Websites will need to optimize images with alt tags, captions, and metadata for search visibility.
- Video & Interactive Content Gains More Weight
- Google and other search engines will prioritize short-form videos (like TikTok and YouTube Shorts) and interactive media to match evolving user preferences.
- Embedding videos and optimizing for video search (with captions, keywords, transcriptions, and schema markup) will be crucial.
- Local Search Evolves
- Local SEO will become increasingly AI-driven, offering hyper-personalized local results based on context, reviews, and user behavior.
- Itineraries in AI search will become new pathways to hotel visibility.
- Businesses will be required to maintain a strong, uniform local search presence.
- New features in Google Business Profiles, like interactive AI chat for businesses, will become key engagement tools.
- Experience Metrics Take Over
- Google Core Web Vitals will evolve to include AI-driven experience metrics, measuring not just speed but also interactivity, design intuitiveness, and personalized UX.
- Behavior analytics software like Microsoft Clarity will become increasingly important for providing key insights into UX experiences.
- Focus on Sustainability as a Ranking Factor
- Google may prioritize content and businesses that demonstrate sustainability efforts, aligning with global trends toward climate responsibility.
- As consumers demand more ethical practices, advertisers will incorporate sustainability, diversity, and inclusivity themes into ad messaging for stronger connections with audiences.
Submit your questions and topic ideas on Twitter to @_travelboom or info@travelboommarketing.com.