Tips for Establishing Authorship in the Travel Industry

SEO professionals often recommend creating content that follows Google's E-A-T guidelines, but there is limited guidance on how to actually do this.

In September 2023, numerous travel websites were affected by the Helpful Content Update.

I conducted a study on over 100 travel websites and discovered that most websites in the travel industry saw positive results from updates. However, those that experienced decreases in traffic had significant drops in their numbers.

Upon analyzing the data, I found that many of the travel websites that saw declines were consistently creating content and checking off items on content checklists. However, they were lacking credibility and expertise in the topics they were writing about.

Why Authorship Matters in Travel Content

When customers discover your travel brand online, whether through your website or other content, they are more inclined to make a purchase or consider purchasing if they trust that your brand is authentic and that knowledgeable experts are responsible for the advice and services you offer.

Having a strong brand image is crucial for gaining the trust of potential customers as they navigate through their research and purchasing process. By establishing credibility and trustworthiness, your brand becomes more appealing to consumers.

Positioning yourself as an expert in your field and showcasing the individuals behind your content can enhance your brand's reputation and boost the likelihood of customers choosing to purchase from you. Additionally, this practice can positively impact your search engine rankings and overall visibility online.

Your expertise plays a significant role in influencing the travel user journey.

The process of planning and booking a vacation is not a straightforward one. It involves different stages and can be influenced by factors like personal preferences, recommendations, advertisements, and budget considerations.

Potential travelers often begin by fantasizing about places they see on social media. From there, they may progress to browsing reviews and comparing prices on different websites.

During this process of gathering information, their initial plans could evolve as they come across new discoveries or gain fresh insights. This may result in multiple rounds of consideration before they eventually proceed to make their bookings.

Image made by author, March 2024

Creating valuable content and demonstrating your expertise can help build trust with your audience. Trust is a key factor in influencing people's decision to make a purchase. Customers want to feel confident that the information and service you offer align with their expectations.

Your brand and content play a role in setting expectations, as do your competitors.

Having an author who is seen as an expert in the topic they are writing about can help build trust in your brand.

How Google Determines Authorship

Google uses a process called reconciliation to establish if various pieces of content on the web were authored by the same individual.

Google encounters challenges in determining authors and authorship due to the possibility of multiple authors sharing the same name. This can be particularly tricky for individuals with common names like myself, as the lack of clear defining markers or consistent linking to a centralized location can lead to confusion.

The reconciliation process entails analyzing a range of signals and data points, including author bylines, dedicated author pages, and structured data.

To help Google with author verification, websites should link to personal websites and social media profiles in author bios and pages. This consistency can help Google avoid errors during verification.

However, this process can be tricky for some businesses. Linking to personal social profiles or professional personal profiles can pose a risk if the individual posts content that the business does not support, leading to potential conflicts.

Authorship Through Structured Data

If you want to understand how Google deals with author identification, check out this 2021 article that simplifies John Mueller's insights on the topic.

Google no longer uses rel="author" to identify authors. Instead, Google now identifies the main entity behind content through on-page signals, such as clearly marked content origin, and structured data/schema markup.

You have the option to use different Schema types and attributions to accurately identify and label authors.

Using structured data on your website can positively impact your ranking and search performance. Although Google officially supports only a few schemas for SERP decoration and features, incorporating all relevant structured data has been linked to better results.

Another way to potentially boost your performance is by visually mapping entities through the Knowledge Graph API. This can also result in improvements that are correlated with better outcomes.

Person Schema (Schema.org/Person)

This schema is used to describe a person. Attributes you might use include:

name: The name of the person.

jobTitle: The job title of the person (e.g., executive director, writer, journalist).

worksFor: An organization the person works for (can be used to tie the author to a brand or website).

url: URL of the person’s official website or social profile.

image: URL of an image of the person.

sameAs: An array of URLs that you can use to link the person to their social media profiles, Wikipedia page, etc.

CreativeWork Schema (Schema.org/CreativeWork)

This category covers a wide range of content like articles, blog posts, and videos. It helps establish the connection between an author and their creations. Key attributes to consider are:

author: The author of the content, which can be linked to the Person schema.

publisher: The organization responsible for publishing the work, which can be linked to the Organization schema.

datePublished: The date on which the content was published.

headline: A headline or title of the content.

Article Schema (schema.org/Article)

A more specific type of CreativeWork focused on articles. Attributes similar to CreativeWork can be used here, with additional emphasis on:

articleSection: High-level section name(s) that the article belongs to (e.g., Technology, Lifestyle).

A relatively standard example schema for authors on your travel website would be:

{

"@context": "http://schema.org",

"@type": "Person",

"name": "Bob Bobbins",

"jobTitle": "Travel Writer",

"worksFor": {

"@type": "Organization",

"name": "Curacao.com",

"url": "https://www.curacao.com"

},

"url": "https://www.curacao.com/authors/bob-bobbins",

"image": "https://www.curacao.com/authors/bobbobbins.jpg",

"sameAs": [

"https://www.grenada.com/authors/bob-bobbins",

"https://www.turkscaicos.com/authors/bob-bobbins",

"https://www.travelamericas.com/authors/bob-bobbins"

]

}

Establishing Credibility in the Travel Industry

Having a well-respected author profile and providing valuable content can significantly influence how travelers make purchasing decisions. By positioning your brand as a trusted source of information, you can actively guide customers through their travel planning and booking experiences.

The recent helpful content updates have shown that being an expert in your field is crucial in today's digital landscape.

Google's Hidden Gems initiative has created new opportunities for smaller travel brands to compete for search queries throughout the customer booking process, challenging the dominance of larger travel companies.

More resources:

10 Dos And Don’ts For Building A Successful Travel Website

Developing Value Proposition For Travel Websites Through Content

The Complete Guide to On-Page SEO

Featured Image: Luis Molinero/Shutterstock

Editor's P/S:

The article emphasizes the growing importance of authorship in travel content, highlighting the need for brands to establish credibility and expertise in their field. By showcasing the individuals behind their content, travel websites can build trust with potential customers and influence their decision-making process. The study conducted by the author revealed that many travel websites experienced significant traffic declines after the Helpful Content Update, due to a lack of credibility and expertise in the topics they were writing about.

To address this, Google uses a process called reconciliation to determine authorship, relying on signals such as author bylines, dedicated author pages, and structured data. By linking to personal websites and social media profiles in author bios and pages, businesses can help Google verify authorship and avoid errors. Additionally, using Schema markup to identify authors and their contributions can enhance search performance and visibility. By embracing these strategies, travel brands can position themselves as trusted sources of information and increase their chances of success in the competitive digital landscape.