For business owners in the travel and hospitality sectors, TripAdvisor is without a doubt the most important online review repository. With over 7 million listings worldwide, TripAdvisor real-estate is difficult to pursue but lucrative when conquered.
TripAdvisor is a perfect channel for venue discovery. When guests search for a local business, the results displayed are ranked by average review score and review volume. When a venue is consistently reviewed highly and has buckets of reviews, it generates an incredible amount of exposure which pays dividends in the long run. In this video, we see how you can use your guest WiFi to dominate TripAdvisor’s rankings and generate fresh footfall.
The statistics
- 77% typically or always check TripAdvisor reviews before booking a hotel
- 50% typically or always check TripAdvisor reviews before going to a restaurant
- 44% typically or always check TripAdvisor reviews before visiting an attraction
- When a review is overly negative, 66% of users say they ignore the review
- 87% of diners have picked a restaurant based on its online reviews
- 31% of diners say they will spend more money at a venue that has positive reviews
Tips to rank higher on TripAdvisor
While average review score and review volume are the key factors in ranking your business on TripAdvisor, there’s more too it than just that. Tripadvisors ranking algorithm takes in a multitude of variables that indicate a quality venue that is worth recommending.
Recency
There is no point in having 700 five-star reviews if they were all added more than 6 months ago. Ranking on review sites is an ongoing job which requires pro-actively incentivising your guests to leave a review. TripAdvisors algorithm ranks based on consistency and will not be fooled by a fluke of reviews that fade off.
Ensure that you are making your TripAdvisor page easily accessible for your guests. This means regularly posting it to your social media and making guests aware of your TripAdvisor when they are at your venue. You can also make use of website widgets which will display your review score and prompt guests to leave their own review when visiting your website.
Listing quality
Your TripAdvisor page allows for a lot of information about your venue to be added. It’s important that this information is correct. It’s also important that you are making the most out of the page, as a better-looking page will create a stronger impression.
- Ensure your address, phone number and contact details are correct
- Add your website to improve brand awareness
- People read images faster than words, make your page as visual as possible
Remember that TripAdvisor is a long-term strategy and results won’t come instantly. Be prepared to spend a few hours mastering and updating your page. It will pay dividends in the long run.
Categorisation
An often overlooked aspect of TripAdvisor is the categorisation. Restaurants will often categorise themselves under ‘Restaurants’, but will not assign their venue to the sub-category that is most relevant.
An Italian restaurant ranked #58 for all restaurants within its locality, but they had not set a sub-category. After adding themselves to the ‘Italian Restaurant’ sub-category, they displayed #2 when searches were looking for an Italian restaurant specifically.
Don’t miss out on extra traffic by just categorising yourself as a ‘Restaurant’. Even if you don’t fit into a single category, it is important that you select a primary sub-category that is the best fit for what you offer.
Hungry to conquer more than just TripAdvisor? Check out the 4 local review sites worth being on.
