What makes TripAdvisor rank so highly in organic Google search results?
In my opinion, a few key elements have made TripAdvisor dominant in the search rankings. These include: • First-mover advantage: TripAdvisor was one of the earliest large players in the travel market that offered both user reviews AND an extremely scalable platform. This meant their reach extended far and wide at a time when there were few other sites where travelers could share their experiences. Simply by being first, they were a point of natural reference. • The Rich Get Richer: Years ago, a prominent SEO named Mike Grehan coined this phrase for the principle that those who perform well in search results earn traffic that results in more links and citations, meaning that displacement of high-ranking sites/pages becomes increasingly difficult. There’s a “built-in” link attraction value that comes from top rankings, and TripAdvisor’s early mover advantage is almost certainly bolstered by this. • User-Generated Reviews: When users contribute content to the web, they have a natural desi
You’re right, TripAdvisor has done an great job optimizing their site, with anywhere between 45 and 58 million pages in the index. That number shows how well they’ve implemented a long-tail strategy. First, they encourage and leverage UGC which is a fantastic source of unique content. They use this never-ending asset to power laser focused ‘keyword modifier’ pages based around locations. Looking for ‘Oahu photos’ – they’ve got a page optimized for it. Looking for Rimini Restaurants – they’ve got a page optimized for it. Cheap Vacations to Brooklyn – they’ve got a page optimized for it. The modifiers in this instance are photos, restaurants and cheap vacations. TripAdvisor has these and other modifiers (based on how people search) and push them out across thousands of locations. Optimization includes (but is not limited to) keyword frequency, keyword rich anchor text, focused browser titles, powerful cross linking strategies and a huge amount of backlinks (20 million).
