Google Hotel Finder Business Impressions Not Reported in Analytics / Google My Business / Webmaster Tools etc
Post date: May 3, 2016 12:35:53 PM
It's worth noting that some hotel businesses (as opposed to their websites) may be getting impressions online via Google Hotel Finder results integrated in 'normal' search results which are not counted in Analytics / Google My Business (a.k.a. Google + for Business) / Webmaster Tools. These are paid listings, often created by Online Travel Agents.
This has taken the place of Google Map listings for the following phrases for example: “hotels farnborough”, “conference venues farnborough”, “conference venues hampshire”, “luxury hotels hampshire” and “wedding venue hampshire”. “Wedding venues hampshire” shows 2 Hotel Finder results alongside 1 Google Map listing.
Google Hotel Finder is a hotel booking engine integrated into Google search results / Map listings with paid listings (ads) from Online Travel Agents etc. See below for an example of Google Hotel Finder results integrated in 'normal' search results on google.co.uk for the phrase “luxury hotels hampshire”:
Thus your ranking reports for your hotel business generated with Analytics / Google My Business (a.k.a. Google + for Business) / Webmaster Tools may not be showing the full (paid) visibility of your hotel business online. This may also include searches for other related phrases e.g. “wedding venue hampshire” (if your hotel is a wedding venue) which can also bring up Google Hotel Finder results. It's worth noting that neither search ranking report tools nor ranking data tools like semrush.com will not show these listings as they don't link to the site.
There appears to be no way to report on this other than doing manual checks with a defined searcher location using http://adwords.google.co.uk/apt/anon/AdPreview (which will only show the first page of results).
A similar situation can be found on Yahoo – e.g. https://uk.search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A9mSs3avRjxXAoQAfYRLBQx.;_ylc=X1MDMjExNDcxNzAwMwRfcgMyBGZyA3lmcC10LTQyNARncHJpZANwWFVFS29Ic1R5ZXF5OHdxRDJJTjZBBG5fcnNsdAMwBG5fc3VnZwMyBG9yaWdpbgN1ay5zZWFyY2gueWFob28uY29tBHBvcwMxBHBxc3RyA2x1eHVyeSUyMGhvdGVscyUyMGZhcm4EcHFzdHJsAzE4BHFzdHJsAzI5BHF1ZXJ5A2x1eHVyeSUyMGhvdGVscyUyMGZhcm5ib3JvdWdoBHRfc3RtcAMxNDYzNTY4MDY4?p=luxury+hotels+farnborough&fr2=sa-gp-uk.search&fr=yfp-t-424 where the hotel listings on the Map link to a summary of Tripadvisor content e.g. https://uk.local.yahoo.com/info-2053174844-aviator-hotel-farnborough;_ylt=A9mSs2TCRjxXFicAK1ZLBQx.;_ylu=X3oDMTByZmVxM3N0BGNvbG8DaXIyBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw--?p=hotels.
Also, a similar situation can be found on Bing – e.g. http://www.bing.com/search?q=luxury+hotels+farnborough&go=Submit&qs=n&form=QBRE&pq=luxury+hotels+farnborough&sc=0-25&sp=-1&sk=&cvid=0E7A8CB2AA2D4C8789D6725CFF338C01 with the carousel of listings at the top.