By Jill Whalen
As part of my SEO for 2013 and beyond series, I promised to provide more in-depth information about the “SEO killers” I mentioned last time.
Today I’m delving into duplicate content as it relates to SEO. My SEO audits of sites that lost traffic over the past year and a half showed that duplicate content was present on most of the sites. While it’s an issue that generally goes hand in hand with other SEO problems, duplicate content comes in so many forms that I found it to be the single most prevalent problem that can affect a website’s success with Google. Before 2011, duplicate content used to be filtered out of the search results and that was that. However, post-Panda/ Penguin, dupe content on websites can often have major repercussions.
How to Check for Duplicate Content
While there are numerous duplicate content checkers available, the simplest method is to copy a random snippet of content from various pages of a website, then wrap them in quotation marks and do a Google search. If a lot of dupes show up in the search results, you may have a Google duplicate content issue.
Another good duplicate content checker is to go to your Google Webmaster Tools account. Under “Optimization” you’ll see “HTML Improvements.” If you click “Duplicate Title Tags” you may learn about some duplicate content you had no idea existed on your website.
Can you believe it’s already almost 2013? Time seems to go faster each year, doesn’t it?
Search Engines regularly update their algorithms in order to present the most relevant results to their visitors and with each change, SEO professionals grow a few more gray hairs. It’s almost impossible to keep up with the updates, especially since search engines, such as Google keep their ranking methods secret.
Do you have a Twitter profile? Have you been able to get followers, retweets, and clicks back to your site?
Do you want to get more traffic and leads from social media users in your country? Or are you looking to expand Accommodation Guru’s reach to neighboring nations?
Have you been keeping up with the latest search engine optimisation (SEO) best practices?
Social media is, of course, big news in the business world. If you’re a business owner or business leader, it’s not surprising if you’re feeling overwhelmed by everything you see, hear and read about how to get ahead with social media. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be as difficult as it seems, especially if you ignore some of the buzz and hype, and focus on the few things that really make a difference.
Community member 
Before any webmasters out there get all riled up in the comment section, I urge you to stop and think about this article title’s
Marketers love exclaiming “SEO is dead!” and heralding the next big thing that will save your website – social media, retargeting, mobile, tablets, you name it. However, regardless of what some in the industry say, SEO is still alive and well. HeBS Digital’s own experience categorically shows that more than half of website booking revenue (56% to be exact) across our client portfolio comes as direct referral from the search engines, including organic and paid search.
Author Rank has been a long time in the making. Google filed a patent back in August of 2005 for something called “agent rank,” a metric that strongly resembles the authorship factor today.
At Xotels we see a big shift in hotels looking to move to a high quality channel management tool in order to replace some of the tools they are currently working with. Channel management has become an understanding to every hotelier and it is becoming mature. 1000’s of hotels around the world have used channel management tools on a daily basis for years. Step by step the hotel industry is starting to realize that it requires best of breed tools as part of a solid hotel 
Break out the champagne, my Internet comrades! Google finally took the plunge by rolling out the hotly awaited “disavow links”
LAS VEGAS—Christine Petersen, president of TripAdvisor for Business, vouched Friday for the veracity of the thousands of hotel reviews on the company’s site.
Having well-designed calls-to-action — buttons on your website that link to your landing pages — can help you get more leads. If the design doesn’t stand out, or the messaging isn’t effective, your website visitors won’t be able to find your conversion forms.
Last week was a busy one for Google. The search giant ushered in a parade of algo changes starting with the announcement of the spanking new exact match domain (EMD) update on September 28. Then, a couple of days later, Google confirmed that it rolled out a major Panda algorithm update the day before the EMD. To say the tandem updates threw webmasters for a loop would be the understatement of the century.
Marketing has gone through many transformations. In the last couple of years alone, we shifted our focus from print media to online media, from direct mail to social media, from traditional PR to unconventional techniques.
As hotel marketers involved with social media, we talk a lot about telling our hotels’ stories in unique and personal ways. We seek out content that is authentic and user-generated and jump at the chance to share it with our community of fans and followers. Accordingly, when 
If you’re in business for yourself, then you’re likely painfully aware of the importance of social media in your marketing strategy.
41% of businesses using Facebook have acquired a customer from this channel. Have you?
I’m sure that you are all familiar with the term comp set, which is short for competitive set. A comp set is defined as the “other, competing hotels against which a property measures its own performance.” In most cases, properties within a comp set are in the same geographical location, have the same star rating, provide similar amenities and customer experience. Comp sets can be comprised of many hotels or in some cases, as few as two. Surprisingly, some hotels even make the claim: “I have no direct competition.” My answer to that is always: “Wow, that’s exciting. Your hotel is the only one in your destination? Š Oh, there’s more than one? Well, then yes, you do have competition.”
One of the most undervalued and underutilized marketing tactics is public relations (a.k.a. PR). This is most likely because most people – my immediate family included – have no idea what PR is.
You probably saw Part One of this series run here in early September, but in case you didn’t, I’ll get you up to speed. “What Not to Do in Revenue Management – Part One” offered the following don’ts:
Staying front and center in organic search results already can be a daunting task. Now throw in trying to stay front and center in local search results, and you have a challenge on your hands.
Social media is a great way to connect with your audience and have a two-way conversation. But it can be easy to forget that not everyone who finds your social media pages will speak your language, or be able to relate to your region’s latest trends.
Video marketing is one of the fastest ways to get top listings in the search engines for your keywords. YouTube, DailyMotion, and Metacafe videos seem to shoot to the top of the SERPS. Often the thumbnails are conspicuously displayed directly in the natural search listings which seem to jump out at searchers pushing viewers to click.
These days, you are really getting the hang of this social media stuff. You’re utilizing the carefully-chosen medley of social media sites that altogether complement your business. (Congrats!) You’ve been posting to each of these sites regularly and you’ve even been blogging consistently. (Sweet!) And, finally, you’re getting the steady community-interaction you had long hoped for. (Yippeeeee.)
If you’re new to the world of SEO, you’re bound to have heard of the mayhem that Google’s two most recent updates, namely the Panda (originally rolled out around Feb 2011 with many re-releases) and Penguin (released April 2012) updates have caused within the organic search industry. Understanding these changes is essential to the success of any SEO campaign. Here’s an overview:
Ask a hotelier if they would spend marketing dollars on an Online Travel Agency or a Global Distribution System, and you’ll likely hear “why would I pay them more than I already do?” Understandably, many hoteliers feel that between net rates, commissions and segment fees, their distributors are already being handsomely rewarded.
There must be something wrong with me. The whole world is gaga over social media. But I just don’t get it. And neither do my clients.
Last Thursday, September 6th, 
If you’ve been reading much of what I’ve written over the years, you’ll know that I’m not a fan of using search engine rankings as a measure of success for SEO. Thankfully, we have much better ways to measure SEO success today, thanks to tools like Google Analytics.
The hotel price comparison website www.trivago.co.uk surveyed 4,142 people over a two week period (August 13th – August 27th) to discover how they prefer to book their last minute hotel rooms. With travel becoming more digital every day, 85 per cent of participants across eight different countries preferred to book on the internet or via a smartphone app. Just 15 per cent would use more traditional methods of booking through a travel agent or calling the hotel directly.
“Come 2014, there will be at least one billion mobile payment users around the world.” These are the findings of a study undertaken by IE Market research. Given these stratospheric statistics, it is safe to say that at least some of your current website users are visiting on their mobile phones. Subject them to the torturous navigation of a desktop version using their iPhones or Androids and you can be certain of one thing – they will leave. And never come back..jpg "Revenue Management")
Today, most articles are full of advice: best practices, tips, tricks and information that will help you do your job better. But as useful as those tips can be, it can often be even more helpful to learn what NOT to do, especially when it comes to a field like revenue management where there are as many different opinions, as there are hotels.
As Facebook’s stock continues to collapse, the volume of whining is increasing.
Have you seen HubSpot’s 50 international SEO and website tips yet? This ebook was such a big hit that I wanted to make sure you didn’t miss out.
Technology and social media have dissolved the parameters that once neatly defined hospitality marketing, turned consumers into creators, and empowered a whole new breed of travel reviewers. Love it or hate it, most of these travel reviewers are sharing the good, bad and ugly of their experiences on TripAdvisor—including photos and videos.
Have you set up a Facebook page for your business yet? If not, here’s a stat that might change your mind: 67% of B2C companies and 41% of B2B companies have acquired a customer from Facebook. If you’re unsure how to generate leads for Accommodation Guru via Facebook, I think you’ll find this ebook helpful.
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