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Latest Breaking News on Monday 06 February 2012

Housing:
- What the Policy Exchange report says
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Technology:
- Mozilla launches Snowl messaging prototype
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- Six steps to an effective data governance program

Finance:
- Venezuela lifts basic food prices
- ADV: Shenval Bed & Breakfast
- Spanish inflation at 15-year high

Motoring:
- Industry tries new ways to make cars fuel efficient
- GM to slow output of big cars
- Ex-GM exec turns focus to disabled

Online Travellers Hindered by 'Cost of Search'-Tuesday 22nd of August 2006 16:27:44

According to new research, it is becoming increasingly difficult for consumers to find the exact holiday they want using conventional search engines.  Over the last few years there has been a constant, rapid growth in the number of travel-related web sites.  This, combined with poorly designed travel sites and a massive increase in paid-for listings in search engines, has made it more difficult for consumers to find what they are looking for quickly and easily.

The research, carried out by Darlington-based Internet technology company Geo-net Solutions, found that many travel searchers now have to employ longer and more detailed searches in order to find exactly what they want.  The two surveys conducted, one in July 2005 and another earlier this year, show that the number of travel searchers having to type-in four or more keywords has more than doubled during that period.

Another highly significant finding was that almost three quarters of searchers claimed that they could easily spot paid-for links and most said that they would not click on them.   The increasing number of these paid-for links in the search results therefore makes it even more difficult to find particular sites listed on merit alone.

Further evidence of the difficulties consumers experience when trying to book a holiday came earlier this month when online travel agent, Ebookers, admitted to having problems with its search engine optimisation*.

Geo-net’s research concluded that, whilst search engines have got much better at finding pages closely relevant to users’ queries, the travel industry has been slow to clearly differentiate its products to match the way in which users are actually searching for them.  This is frustrating for travel consumers and costly for the industry. 

Peter Bulloch, managing director of Geo-net commented, “The time and effort a consumer has to spend on finding exactly what they want has become known as the ‘cost of search’.  The goal of search engines- and online marketers alike- should be to reduce this ‘cost’ and make it easier and quicker for consumers to find what they’re looking for.

"Creating web pages which can't be fully understood by search engines is the equivalent of locking the door on a high street store and asking customers to guess a password to get in."

In response to their research findings, Geo-net have been developing a suite of software tools aimed at supporting the most sophisticated online marketing strategies, which are now available to travel companies wanting to provide their customers with the best possible online service.

 The first to be released, TravelSearcher, offers user-friendly, free-form text search on most types of travel website.  Equally importantly, it also captures valuable data about users’ search habits by recording all the words they use in these queries in a database.

TravelSearcher captures the natural language people use in keyword strings by offering a simple, Google-like, free-form search box as opposed to the usual pre-formatted drop-down menu queries. Users can type in any words and the software will interpret those into a meaningful search query, just like Google does.  Also, like Google, it understands and interprets misspellings in resort names, acronyms like SC or B&B and that “Thompsons” really means “Thomsons”.

The small TravelSearcher window can be placed on any website allowing marketers to monitor changes in the nature of search strings being typed-in.  Each successful, as well as unsuccessful, search can be recorded and analysed.  This data can be used to dynamically enhance web pages for search engine optimisation (SEO), as well as for paid-placement marketing campaigns.

Mr Bulloch added, “In the information-rich but time-poor world we now find ourselves, companies must adapt quickly to the changing search environment and the increasing demands of customers.  I believe TravelSearcher is a quantum leap forward in on-site travel search technology and will hugely enhance the on-line travel industry for both the consumer and travel companies.”

The service can be previewed at www.travel-searcher.co.uk.

* At the beginning of August 2006, Ebookers said it had problems with its search engine optimisation on the Google platform after it emerged the site could not be found in Google’s search listings until at least the second page of results.