Is Google Getting Into Flight Comparison Shopping?

While looking up the distance between my hometown and Vancouver to find out how far away a friend was from me, I came across this:

If you look at that, you’ll notice there is a spot for you to enter your departure and return date. It seems Dean Cruddace was able to reproduce the same results with his query:

Google now selling flights? No! They’re pushing travel sites. When you click the link, you get this:

Interesting right? But wait! There’s more!

The site links below the title link are as follows:

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

Expedia – Travelocity – Priceline – Orbitz – Hotwire – Kayak – CheapOair

Now, the title link has several referrers: http://www.expedia.com/pub/agent.dll?qscr=fexp&flag=q&city1=YXH&citd1=YVR&time1=720&time2=720&cAdu=1&cSen=0&cChi=0&cInf=&infs=2&date1=10/29&date2=11/05

The site links? As Thomas Fjordside pointed out, some have ref=googleflightlink. Others have what looks to be affiliate codes, and others have nothing really substantial aside from tracking codes.

So what’s the deal here?

Are these sites simply authority sites? Has a deal been reached with the companies? Or is this something they’re just testing and those are the sites they picked out of their magic hat?

Google Beating Up On the Small Guys By Profiting Off the Big Guns?

This has me asking lots of questions:

  • Has Google entered into partnership with Expedia?
  • What about the little guys who are missing out on the profits?
  • Will this spread to hotels, cruises, tours, car rentals, and other competitive niches in the travel industry?

Not sure I like what’s going on here, but I’m sure we’ll find out more in the near future. I’m going to do a bit more digging around, and I’ll get back to you when I find out more. In the meantime, have a look yourself and let us know what you find!

What are your thoughts on the new feature? How could clients use that to their advantage?

The Modern Version of Customer Service: A Note to SEO Naysayers

The entire concept of people squabbling over the death or validity of SEO is absurd, completely ridiculous, and a waste of valuable time on all sides. If I hear someone tell me ‘they don’t use SEO because it’s evil and the Google gods will smite them and wipe them from existence if they use it’ one more time, I’m going to need one of these:


(Curious Expeditions)

You know what? If you own a website, you’re already using SEO. It might not have the most effective tactics on the planet or be one of the worst methods to ever hit the WWW, but it’s still SEO. Don’t believe me? Answer these questions and assign one point for each ‘yes’ answer:

  • Does your website have a URL?
  • Does your site contain text?
  • How about images? (one point for each pic)
  • Do you give visitors the option to explore your site via navigation?
  • Does your site contain any links to any other internal or external page?

Here’s the deal: if you scored ’1′ or more on this test, you’re using SEO. And if you own a website and you’ve called SEO evil, denounced its existence, or said it’s dead, you’re an idiot. Congratulations.

URLs, text, images, navigation, links and many other features are all part of SEO. They’re just done well, poorly, or disgustingly.

SEO isn’t about title tags, anchor text, or what color hat you wear. It’s not dead because, last time I checked, it isn’t breathing, it doesn’t grow, and doesn’t have life. SEO isn’t about how good your buddies think you are, or whether you made it onto some list somewhere as the biggest marketer on the planet. Let’s knock off the bullshit and just cut to the nitty gritty shall we?

SEO is about usability. Period. It’s about making your website, content, ad, or whatever easier to use for both crawlers and humans. It’s about getting found for the right things and providing ‘good customer service’ from the moment someone finds your site until he leaves. It’s no different than keeping the aisles of your store clean, the shelves and racks neat and someone at the cash register.

Got it? Good! So, now that we’ve got that sorted, let’s look at the two basic ‘rules’ of SEO.

If something makes your website more user friendly, easier to explore, and more effective, do it. If it makes the site impossible to identify, difficult to use, complicated, and just plain nasty, or if it clutters up the Web and becomes a pain in the Equus Asinus, it’s a bad thing. Don’t do it. No! Don’t! That’s enough of that silliness.

Now, I know this has been harsh, but it’s for your own good.

If I can’t use your site, or have to fight with you to sell me something, I’m just going to go elsewhere and so will everyone else who might happen to stumble across your site while searching for ‘pink and purple polka dotted squirrels with eating disorders, bald tails, and bad attitudes’. (If your site provides information on pink with purple polka dotted squirrels with eating disorders, bald tails, and bad attitudes, you’re in luck.)

Whether you like it or not, you have to cater to your customer, regardless of whether it’s a human customer or a bot.

I think most would agree that SEO is constantly evolving and changing. It needs to in order to continue serving visitors of all kinds effectively. But, so long as websites exist, SEO will always be there in some way, shape, or form.

Done deal. Can we get on with it now?