We all love free stuff and the recent announcement by Google about free booking links was shocking for the hotel owners and the managers. People from the hotel industry are spending billions of dollars every year advertising their hotel businesses. Will Google abandon their money with free booking links? Well, these free links are a bit different from the usually paid advertisement on Google. Hotel and property owners can display the availability and rates of their units for free under the block.
Is Free Booking Links Google actually free?
This free advertisement is the best way if you want to advertise your hotel in a natural way. Google is only giving away 10% of the traffic to these natural listings by free booking links. So you have to pay the extra revenue for this free advertisement. Google is being very smart by making money out of these free booking links.
Who Can Use Free Booking Links Google?
Just about every hotel can use these free booking links Google for their business. However, only places that are property owners can display their availability and rates for free under the block.
For owners of hotels that are using carrier rate services like Hotels.com, Expedia, TripAdvisor, etc. can only display the availability and rates for their hotel units under the block by paid hospitality service providers.
How to be on Top of Natural Hotel Listings?
You have to follow the guidelines of Google for this. Well, you can’t except Google itself. However, there are many other ways to promote your business through paid advertising. Here are some tips to get a better position for your hotel with free Google links:
1- Offer best rates
2- Make sure to offer the most attractive listings
3- Make sure that your GMB profile is properly optimized
Only very few people would opt for paid advertising as compared to the natural way of business promotion by free booking links. So, if you want to display your availability and rates on top of natural listings then you should go with paid advertising channels like Google Adwords or any other similar program offered by different search engines.
Why is Google offering Free Advertisement?
There are many ways to ask this question. However, the answer is very simple. Google is making money by providing free booking links to the hotel industry. However, they are not charging upfront fees for this advertisement service. They will just withdraw the extra money when your customers book the hotel rooms through Google search engine or anything else related to paid advertising on Google.
Why should you be Promoting your Property on Google My Business?
GMB stands for Google My Business. This is a very powerful tool where social media meets local listings of businesses on Google. You can manage all your business listing information here and you can also create a new business listing without having to call yourself up for different services providers like Yellow Pages etc.
For natural listings, your Google My Business profile must be updated and accurate. Google obviously checks all the information and updates the business listing on the My Business page itself. If you want free advertisement then Google free booking links are a great way to promote your business in a natural and smart way.