smx west conference march 2011-tig global presentation: up close with google places by brian...

Up Close With Google Place PagesMarch 8, 2011

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About MICROS | TIG Global

• Global leader in hospitality hardware and software• 100,000+ restaurants and 25,000+ hotels• Acquired TIG Global and Fry.com in 2010 to grow eCommerce offerings

Brian Fitzgerald• Director, SEO and Social Media• 10+ years experience in hospitality industry

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Hotels and Restaurants Rely More Heavily on Local Search

All Categories Restaurants Hotels/Motels0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

0.070.13

0.03

0.15

0.32

0.4

0.78

0.55 0.57

Percentage Breakdown of General Search, Local Search and IYP

General Local IYP

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Google Place Search Opportunities to click to Google Place Pages Opportunities to click to third parties

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Hypothesis, Analysis and Caveats Hypothesis

• Place Search impacted a searcher’s ability to get directly to a website by offering more options to Google Place pages and third party sites

Analysis• Looked at referring data for 250 hotel and restaurant websites• Roughly 90% hotels and 10% restaurants• Compared two time periods (removed the week Place Search launched)

— 11/1/2009 – 10/22/2010— 11/1/2010 – 1/31/2011

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High Level Findings – Before Place Search

50.18%

45.92%

3.12% 0.77%

Before Place Search Percentage of Total

Google (Natural and Paid)

Other

Google Places

TripAdvisor

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High Level Findings – After Place Search

52.62%43.15%

3.18% 1.04%

After Place Search Percentage of Total

Google (Natural and Paid) Other

Google Places TripAdvisor

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High Level Findings – % Change

-3.00%

-2.00%

-1.00%

0.00%

1.00%

2.00%

3.00% 2.44%

-2.77%

0.06%0.27%

Change from Before Place Search to After Place Search

Change from Before Place Search to After Place SearchAxis Title

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Breakdown for Google Places

60

58

130

Breakdown of Google Places Referral Traffic Change

Increased more than 1%Decreased more than 1%In between

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Breakdown for TripAdvisor

49

120

79

Breakdown of TripAdvisor Referral Traffic Change

TripAdvisor Increased .5% or moreTripAdvisor Decreased 0% or moreTripAdvisor In between

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Restaurants Restaurants saw a higher than average increase in Google

Places referrals

Before Percent of Total After Percent of Total1.70%

1.80%

1.90%

2.00%

2.10%

2.20%

2.30%

1.90%

2.27%

Google Places

Google Places

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International International businesses saw a decrease in Google Places

referrals

Before Percent of Total After Percent of Total1.10%

1.12%

1.14%

1.16%

1.18%

1.20%

1.22%

1.24%

1.23%

1.16%

Google Places

Google Places

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Top 10 Highest Changes

ClientGoogle Places % of

Total Change

Doubletree Florida 10.11%

Residence Inn Maryland 6.96%

Crowne Plaza Texas 6.45%

Wyndham Florida 6.28%

Hilton Maryland 5.72%

Wyndham Georgia 5.41%

Hilton Florida 5.14%

Hilton Connecticut 4.42%

Crowne Plaza New York 3.95%

Doubletree Maryland 3.26%

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Doubletree Florida

Google (Natural and Paid)

Other Google Places TripAdvisor

-15.00%

-10.00%

-5.00%

0.00%

5.00%

10.00%

15.00%

1.38%

-11.12%

10.11%

-0.36%

Doubletree Florida Changes in Percent of Total

Changes in Percent of Total

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Conclusions, Beliefs Did Place Search Impact Your Business?

• The always inconclusive… “It Depends”

It likely depends on:• How was your local search optimization before Place Search?• How was your natural/organic search optimization before Place Search?• How reliant are you on Google and third parties for traffic?• What type of business are you?

Place Page Details

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Google and Hotel Rates Introduces rate

comparison at an early point in the researching/shopping phase

Presents risk of commoditization

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Presents inventory control and management issues

Rates and rate checking showing on Place Pages as well

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How does this relate to you and your business? Intermediated businesses as most at risk Does someone other than you control your product or service?

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Where can Google send people other than your website?

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Where can Google send people other than your website?

Google Shopping

Google’s Boutiques.com

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Questions, Comments, Feedback MICROS | TIG Global

• blog.tigglobal.com• @tigglobal

Brian Fitzgerald• bfitzgerald@tigglobal.com• @bpfitzgerald