The SEO trend is clear… Position #1 = 5 Star, 4 Diamond, Concierge.
Google wants top ranking websites for any search to be the best possible experience on the web. They aren’t shy in expressing their love of user experience. We live in a society where perfection is expected and even a 4 out of 5 star rating will have potential customer choosing your competitor. That’s about a B average. And B Students still have a damn good chance at getting into college — into the top 100, in fact.
Using the hotel comparison is a logical one, considering that its just as ridiculous to expect the perfect website for any given search, its a lot like expecting a 4-diamond, 5-start resort in any city, regardless of size, in the world. Its just not possible. There’s just not enough tourism in most small or remote towns to justify such a lavish experience. Same goes with search terms. There isn’t the demand to build an incredible e-commerce expereince around a product that might sell 10 units globally, per year.
Experience is something that we all hold dear to us. Most of our memories are great past experiences, today’s bad experiences are often tomorrow topics of discussion. There’s no doubt the trend is towards expereince over possessions.
Our world is so accessible. Go find your ideal experiences.
One of the best examples I’ve heard about building a great expereince and how to craft it was in an interview with one of Air BNB’s founders, Brian Chesky.
Building what you see today and using it as a base line, call it a 2 or a 3 out of 10, build out where you would go from there to have a better expereince until you get to crazy ideas like 13’s or 14’s out of 10… then the 10 out of 10 doesn’t seem so ridiculous.
With the variety of websites/accommodations today, its hard to leave anyone disappointed. You might have to look a bit harder, but what your trying to find does exist.
In my mind, this concept is very clear, but I’m cautious to use the typically hotel rating scale since each of our ideal vacations, accommodations and experiences vary so greatly. Globally, the best rated hotels by traveller are not connected to the number of stars or services that the hotel offers.
While I’m always happy to take a night in a W Hotel or something from the Autograph Collection, some of the best getaways I’ve been on have been in 2 or 3 star hotels where the atmosphere, culture or geography was the difference maker.
Empathy. Massive amounts of Empathy… and Data.
Getting into the shoes of your clients or potential clients is the only way to really understand how to provide them the best possible expereince. User Expereince (UX) is measured in multiple ways for you to have a quantifiable way to make sure you’re hitting the mark.
What if your best clients want a no frills expereince. Getting straight to the point might be your best option. While your time-on-site might hurt, if you’re converting and getting happy customers that’s fantastic news.
You might have a large or important product that you’re selling and you need to have a long educational cycle to nurture your leads… you’re conversion goals might look terrible but you’re customer lifetime value would be worth every single new client.
There’s no technical recipe for success with SEO that is perfectly duplicatable for any website. Its got to have your perspective added.
Dive deep into your customers and find the reason they will respond. That’s how you’ll win with your business, regardless of how your SEO looks.
