Hotels.com aims to dominate search engines

October 18, 2011 | Online Travel

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Whether people are searching for cheap hotels in Prague, Paris or Palm Springs, Hotels.com is ready to serve its customers by improving where the company’s website ranks in the search engines.

Hotels.com has announced an agreement with SEO.com, a leading provider of search engine optimization. Before approaching the online marketing firm, Hotels.com was already a well-known place for finding cheap hotel deals. Like most companies, however, Hotels.com wanted more traffic driven to its website from search engines. With more of the company’s competitors embracing Internet marketing, Hotels.com hired SEO.com to boost its visibility online.

“SEO.com has been a great fit for us. Their expertise and willingness to go above and beyond was what we’ve been looking for in an SEO agency,” said Phil Ayres, a spokesman for Hotels.com. “With a great blend of new strategies, as well as tried and true methods, we have found their team is comfortable and easy to work with.”

According to Preston Van Dyke, an SEO manager at SEO.com, his firm’s search marketing solutions have already increased business for Hotels.com in many popular markets.
“The travel industry itself does really well online,” Van Dyke said. “Hotels.com is definitely a leader within the industry, but with concerted SEO.com strategies they are geared to dominate the search engines."

The professional SEO firm has delivered strong results since Hotels.com hired the firm, Ayres said.

“Because of their efforts we have experienced considerable increases in (website) rankings and traffic,” he said. “We are very happy with our decision to begin working with SEO.com and look forward to our continued business with them.”

SEO.com implemented an aggressive search campaign for Hotels.com, which has already improved its website rankings and increased traffic and revenue, Van Dyke explained.
Part of the strategy was expanding Hotels.com’s authority so organizations would mention the company online, and link to the website. Press releases were issued and writers at SEO.com provided guest posts for travel blogs while also spreading the message using social media like Facebook and Twitter.

“Online marketing is all about how far reaching your brand and company is,” Van Dyke said. “Search engines track this via links. Our goal for Hotels.com is to pursue legitimate practices proven to increase their brand awareness through website relationships.”

With New York City such a popular travel destination, SEO.com targeted that region with its Hotels.com campaign. So this fall when people use search terms like “New York hotels” to plan their holiday vacations, Hotels.com will appear near the top of the search results, Van Dyke said.

Greg Shuey, vice president of client services for SEO.com, said he is pleased to partner with Hotels.com to improve the company’s rankings in the search engines.

“A win for our client is a win for us, and we are excited to be an integral part of their business growth,” Shuey said.