How to Increase Traffic with Google Maps Listing

Introduction

This case study illustrates the effectiveness of correctly adding a Google Maps Listing as a means of improving search traffic to a Hotels Website. Results achieved illustrate a clear and direct impact on the hotel’s bottom line.

Industry

Hospitality

Location

New Jersey, United States

Client's Obstacles

Search traffic for branded keywords was very low. Online competition for hotels has been growing as various booking engines and review sites push individual hotel websites lower in search results. Guaranteed SEO worked to correctly set up the Google Maps Listing which had a significant and fairly immediate impact on search engine traffic for the property in question.

Lack of local search visibility and the absence of a Google Maps Listing was affecting the overall traffic received by the hotel with a direct impact on the bottom line in terms of reservations made.

Our Strategy

Make the hotel more visible in search results by creating and optimizing a Google Local page (Google Maps listing).

Guaranteed SEO created a Google Local and Google Plus page for the Comfort Inn & Suites hotel and optimized it for specific keywords related to the hotel location and amenities. The Google Plus page was then linked to the website and a rich snippet (shown below) now appears in search results when phrases similar to “Comfort Inn & Suites West Atlantic City” are searched.

By adding a Google Local page, a business receives two things that improve click-through in search results.

The addition of a star rating related to Google reviews as well as the business address.

comfort inn in the SERP

 

A large picture is featured to the right of search results showcasing the hotel name and location 

Comfort Inn SERP feature

The Resuts

Year over Year Results (3 month period): June 1 – August 31, 2013 VS June 1 – August 31, 2012

  • Because the Google Map was sending visitors to the homepage, the number of visitors landing on the homepage from an organic Google search increased by 828.5% (from 210 to 1,950 visits).
  • Organic Traffic increased by 188% (from 941 to 2,712 visits).
  • Clicks on the “check availability” button on the hotel website increased by 191.5% (from 659 clicks to 1,921 clicks)