View all posts: Google
Ways Businesses Can Respond to COVID-19 Using Google’s Tools
For additional insights, check out this video showing the Google My Business Tools businesses can use in response to COVID-19.
With the breakneck pace of news, the evolving patchwork of pandemic responses across communities and states, dire economic predictions, panic shopping, and concern for the health of one’s family and self, it’s no mystery why the prevailing national sentiment is a mix of confusion and concern. As a result, people are trying to find answers to a variety of questions online — about travel, safety, and especially local businesses — but...
Farewell, Google Trips App
In June, the Google Trips app was announced among the most recent internments in the Google Cemetery. The free-standing travel app product that was available for both iOS and Android devices had lived a relatively short life (born 2016), but it had evolved quite a bit in three years, and even garnered some speculation that it could grow into an all-in-one super app thanks to its easy integration of reservation management, itinerary building tool, activity and dining recommendations, and more. But, alas, it wasn’t meant to be.
Thanks to our...
A New Normal for DMO Website Organic Traffic
Our latest study of 36 DMOs highlights even greater challenges to DMO website traffic – and the importance of partnerships with major platforms like Google.
Learn more about the Google DMO Partnership Program
For the last 3+ years, Miles Partnership has been analyzing, blogging and speaking about the dramatic changes we are seeing to the organic traffic of destination and other tourism websites. Organic traffic makes up more than 50% of the website traffic on average for DMOs* but this critical and free source of traffic is under mounting pressure.
Capturing Google Street View in Bermuda
Since its launch at the Destinations International Annual Convention in 2017, the Google DMO Partnership Program has received significant industry attention. An initiative that seeks to engage destinations around the world, the program offers opportunities for destinations to learn more about ways to enhance their consumer-facing content across Google’s range of products. One such opportunity is to capture and share Street View 360 imagery of destinations.
The decision-making process for travelers choosing a destination can take months and involve thousands of different digital touchpoints. While maps used to be seen as just a wayfinding tool, they are increasingly being used by travelers for gaining a better understanding of a destination before making the decision to visit. The ability for potential travelers to virtually immerse themselves in a destination before they book can be incredibly powerful, and there’s no better tool to help that process than Google’s Street View platform.
Google Brings Changes, Challenges and Opportunities
Over the last couple of years, Google has been quickly evolving both search and its travel related platforms. These enhancements have created challenges and opportunities for the travel industry. Google notes this evolution is in response to changing travel behavior and technology shifts. In addition, new technologies and the power of artificial intelligence has spurred the growth of voice search, intelligent assistants, smart speakers are more. This is a trend that is beginning to change how we conduct and interact with travel related searches.
In this blog, we highlight some of these changes and what this means for destination marketing organizations (DMOs) and tourism businesses of all types.
