According to www.travelmole.com, the second global travel survey, 85 percent of travel companies are due to increase or maintain the same online marketing budgets for 2010, which promises to be a highly competitive year in the travel industry for internet marketing.

27 percent of the participated 227 companies including hoteliers, travel agents, tour operators and airlines expect online budgets to increase by up to 50 percent, as securing online bookings pushes for more advertising.The Travel Mole study revealed that overall 54 percent of the travel companies will be increasing their budgets to promote themselves online for 2010, while only 15 percent will be investing less. 84 percent believe that the role of SEO will be more than ever, the number one priority for 2010, in order to maintain or declare company presence on the ever increasing online community.

Social media marketing, as well as the use of original content translated into different languages to capture a wider market, is a top priority for more than half of the companies involved in the survey.

Since last summer, Google has changed its algorithm so that search results now automatically include relevant local results. For many businesses this is an important feature that can increase the amount of visitors to their web site and also the overall awareness of their website without paying for it.

If your services or products are listed on Google Map, your businesses offers, that are relevant to a special area of searched keyword, will be listed on page one above the first regular result. People will also see the exact address of you businesses and users’ reviews about your products and services.To get listed on Google Maps you need to submit your website to Google Maps through Google’s Local Business Centre. You can do this by logging into your Google account and going to “Add New Listing” and entering your company information on “Add New Listing”.

To be listed at the top of the list, you have to optimize your entry but there are several things you can add do to make your listing “stand out” on Google Maps.

The more information you provide about your company the better listing you get, don’t exaggerate to avoid spam Google.

-         Essential keywords in your description.

-         Opening hours, payment types, etc.

-         Select the best possible category for your website

-         If possible include images and videos to help your listing stand out.

The more local directories list your website, the better.

-      Submit your website to other local directories, you can get higher on the list with good position in online yellow pages.

Optimize your site for local content.

-         Add your city and state name in your web page title.

-         Use local meta tags to tell search engines the location of your website.

Encourage your website visitors to write positive reviews about your company on Google Maps.

-         More stars can place your site higher

Follow above tips to get a good listing in Google Maps and increase the number of visitors to your website. Do not spam Google and describe your business without exaggeration. Include keywords in your company description but don’t overdo it.

Unfortunately, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firms cannot directly control how search engines rank pages. Therefore, many people will tell you that there is no certainty of achieving a top 10 ranking on Google or any other local search engine.

 However, a guarantee of up to 98 percent can be achieved if the following key stages are met and well performed.

 1. Carefully decide on the keywords you wish to get a top 10 position in the search engine, and then on exactly, which search engines you wish to attain a top 10 ranking.

2. Analyze all the relevant ranking elements on your webpage as well as sites that link to your webpage, and then estimate a ranking score based on that information – the higher the score, the more chance of being listed on the first page. 

 3. However, unless you have the necessary expertise in webpage optimization, you may require SEO experts and professionals to further analyze just exactly what you have to promote and improve on your webpage, including all relevant links directed towards your webpage.

 4. Finally, DO MAKE the recommended required changes to your webpage until you accomplish a top 10 ranking.