Page 116 - MARSIUM'21 COMP OF PAPER

FYP PRESENTATION

AHIBS UTM SKUDAI JANUARY 2022

INCREASING HOTELS’ WEBSITE FINDABILITY ON THE WEB WITH SEARCH
ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

ANNISA JIFANNI JIMMY LUKBAR, ASSOC. PROF. DR. NOOR HAZARINA BINTI HASHIM

Azman Hashim International Business School, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru

*Corresponding author: annisajifanni@gmail.com, m-hazarina@utm.my
Abstract
The objective of this study was to evaluates the application of major SEO techniques in enhancing hotels websites. Nowadays,
search engine is becoming an important part of our everyday lives since it provides us with a worldwide source of information and is
frequently utilized for e-commerce and social networking. Search engines are recognized as a platform for promoting and advertising a
website or company via the internet. SEO is the strategies of optimizing a website to increase the visibility of a hotel website in search
engines to draw the attention of travelers to the website and increase traffic. In this research, the objective is to evaluates the application of
major SEO strategies in improving hotels’ website findability based on Global Traffic Rank with website characteristics based on the number
of External links, Internal Links, Google Indexed Page, and Total daily page view. A content analysis was employed in this research. Through
the website characteristics were adapted to investigate the application of major SEO techniques in enhancing hotels websites visibility in
SERP. The quantitative research method was conducted through website content analysis on website analytical tools such as alexa.com,
seoquake.com, websiteoutlook.com and a total of 132 hotels in Province Bali, Indonesia was collected. The findings indicate that there is a
significant correlation between website findability based on number of Global Traffic Rank with website characteristics based on the (a)
number of External links; (b) number of Internal Links; (c) Number of Google Indexed Page & (d) Total daily page view on a hotel website.
The results of the study make an essential contribution for marketers and future researchers on how SEO strategies can improve hotel website
findability on SERP.

Keywords: Search Engine, Search Engine Optimization, Hotel Website, Website Findability

1.0 INTRODUCTION
The internet has become an important part of our everyday lives since it provides us with a worldwide source of information and
is widely used in e-commerce and social networking. Many people take advantage of internet to shop, bank, play games, learn, shop online,
and socialize. Furthermore, with Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) available all over the world, the internet can be conveniently accessed via
smartphones and handhelds at any time and from any location. With the internet affecting business development more and more, every
company must use the Internet as the primary promotional channel for digital marketing.
According to Prater (2021), Google processes around 63,000 search queries per day, for a total of 5.6 billion searches each day.
These figures demonstrate that a large number of individuals use search engines to find the information they require daily. Aside from being
a source of information, search engines make life simpler for individuals since they don't have to memorize the entire address of a website
because they just need to search for a portion of it to obtain the desired results. By searching for several keywords, search engines will attempt
to match them with relevant information and provide the best results to users (Zhang, Zuo, Liu, 2008). According to Google (2012), 83% of
leisure travelers and 76% of business travelers prefer to access information resources over the internet. Many hotels have established websites
to provide consumers with all the information they want in response to the rising demand for Internet services (Zafiropoulos and Vrana,
2006).
According to Taylor (2019), the hospitality industry has long been one of the most dynamic, with independent hotels and affiliated
hotels dealing with OTAs (online travel aggregators) and cost comparison travel websites. Since then, Google as a search engine has since
expanded its market presence, with significant adjustments to the way hotels appear in results during the previous period: Hotel reservations
are now included in Google's search results. According to Taylor (2019), Google local search Rates hotels depending on Geography; Google
Remodels the hotel search interface on desktop; and new search capabilities and custom information result sections, such as Google hotels.
Search engine companies, such on Google, make lots of money exclusively on internet ads. Many of these businesses will pay them to have
their advertising pop up at the highest rank of SERP so that website visitors can easily identify the websites. Through this context, many
hotel decision-makers continue to invest huge sums of money in adopting and developing e-marketing websites. Despite the numerous
benefits of establishing an online presence, prior research has revealed that not all websites are successful in turning visitors into customers
since not all hotels can optimize their websites.

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