How To Improve Your TripAdvisor Ranking
As a business owner, there are few things that carry more weight than the opinion of your customers. In fact, review sites like TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel site, are so important to a company’s performance, that some companies see up to 90% of their business driven by their TripAdvisor presence alone.
The challenge is that your rating can be a double-edged sword. While things like a high volume of reviews, positive comments, and five-star ratings can drive business, negative reviews, few and infrequent reviews, and low ratings can fiercely damage a company’s ability to attract new visitors.
While there’s no shortcut to building a strong TripAdvisor presence, knowing exactly how TripAdvisor works can help you organically improve your rating.
Apart from customer reviews, TripAdvisor also breaks down your business relevancy through their Popularity Index. This index is based on traveler feedback and reflects how a property ranks compared to competitors within a geographic area. The algorithm used to measure your business’ relevancy is based on three main categories: Quantity, Quality and Recency.
Quantity
Both consumers and TripAdvsior’s Popularity Index give added recognition to businesses that have collected a large amount of reviews. It works like a badge of trust.
Use the TripAdvisor logo: Add the TripAdvisor logo to any material your customer might interact with before, during and after their experience with your business. Use the logo as a subtle tool to constantly remind your customers that you’d like to see their opinion on your performance. Add the TripAdvisor widget to your website, or place their stickers on your shuttle van. Remind your customers that their reviews are welcome every step of the way.
Quality
It’s no surprise that the best reviews come from happy customers. While the easiest way to ensure your customers are leaving positive reviews is by offering an incredible service and experience, there are a few ways you can continue to boost customer satisfaction even after they’ve left.
Focus on customer experience: Never underestimate the power of going above and beyond. Find new and exciting ways to cater to your customers needs, always taking the extra step to provide unparalleled customer service. Cater to each guests’ individual needs, making every experience personalized, authentic and memorable.
Respond to customer feedback: Customer service doesn’t end when your guests go home. Keep a pulse on every review that comes through your TripAdvisor account. Respond to five-star reviews with the same diligence as one-star reviews, showing the customer that you genuinely care about their opinion and want to improve your level of service. When writing a response, remember that your commentary is searchable, so including a few relevant terms such as “family-friendly” or “complimentary” can be beneficial.
Recency
The older the review, the less impact it has on your overall popularity ranking. This is just another reason to constantly encourage users to review your business, and to use their feedback to make exciting improvements to your business.
Always keep learning: TripAdvisor knows what makes a great review, and they want to empower you to grow your business. Their Insights page is a valuable and free resource that you should constantly reference for fresh ideas on how to optimize your presence.
The bottom line: When customers have a truly remarkable experience with your company, they’re more inclined to share their excitement. Pay attention to detail, value their feedback, constantly look for ways to improve, and your customers will be logging into TripAdvisor before they’ve even left your property.
