Google’s Lack of Algorithm Transparency Criticized by Travel Industry

Tuesday, June 25, 2024

Following a significant Google update in March, Stay22, a travel tech company specializing in affiliate revenue for travel bloggers and media, reported that some travel bloggers experienced up to a 75% drop in organic traffic. This impact has reverberated across the travel industry, with many relying on organic search—including hotels and smaller OTAs—suffering major traffic declines.

Google has never publicly disclosed the specifics of its search algorithm, maintaining that each update aims to benefit search users rather than harm websites. This lack of transparency has drawn criticism, particularly after the ironically named ‘Helpful Content Update (HCU)’. According to research by Digitaloft, since the first HCU rollout in August 2022, 78% of the 671 travel websites analyzed have seen a decrease in traffic.

Recently, leaked internal Google documents, published by SEO expert Erfan Azimi on the Google API Content Warehouse, revealed details of the algorithm’s workings. Some claim the algorithm is unfair, and the documents suggest that Google may have occasionally misled websites with potentially untrue information.

Rami Nuseir, Head of Marketing at Stay22 comments: “The recent leaks show that Google has not only been untransparent with website owners, but it also seems to have often been misleading us. This is the last straw for us at Stay22 and should be for the wider travel media and blogger community. Some of their changes also seem a bit unfair, not rewarding quality websites. If they don’t help us and we can’t be sure they’re not misleading us, then why should we trust them? How do we know that they are not really just trying to push us to buy their Google Ads? I for one feel that’s their goal.

“In the past, many people dependent on web traffic from Google have just shrugged their shoulders and said ‘what can you do, we need Google’. But we don’t agree with that approach and now strongly recommend that travel bloggers – or anyone in the travel industry who depends on organic traffic – start to diversify away from Google, to look for other sources of traffic for their website. It won’t be easy and it won’t happen overnight, but little by little they can make themselves more independent from Google.”

In response, Stay22, which collaborates with over 2,500 travel bloggers and media websites, has recommended five actions for travel content creators and anyone reliant on website traffic to diversify their strategies:

1. Leverage Pinterest: Treat it as a search engine rather than a social media platform. Many bloggers find it a high-traffic source.
2. Develop a Bing strategy: While Bing’s global search market share is between 3% and 4%, it’s higher in some markets, such as the US. Bing is transparent about its ranking factors and offers a URL analyzer to improve content for Bing SEO.
3. Utilize email marketing campaigns: This channel remains under your control regardless of external changes.
4. Add content to Flipboard: This can be automated through an RSS feed, allowing users to browse articles from various publications.
5. Create short-form videos for social media: This can help your website get discovered by a wider audience.
6. Publish guest posts on other websites: This strategy can attract new readers to your content.