Month: May 2021

With nearly 30% of Americans fully vaccinated, a surplus of unused PTO, and restrictions lifting in many destinations, even some of the most hesitant travelers are about ready to pack their bags. Soon, the days of empty airports will be a distant memory, but our summer vacations may still look different than what we were accustomed to pre-pandemic, and rightfully so. 

Expedia Group surveyed 2,200 Americans in partnership with Morning Consult in May 2021 to gauge how many people are prepared to take a well-deserved break from work, explore, and reconnect with loved ones — and whether recent industry news has impacted their plans. Here’s what we found.  

1. Summer travel is hot. 

• In the next six months, 64% of people plan to travel for fun.  
• Fifty-seven percent of plan to take a trip on Memorial Day, or at some point over the summer.  

2. For the first time in nearly a year, Seniors are traveling more than younger generations. 

• Among all generations, Millennials (69%) are traveling the most, but Boomers (66%) are a close second — higher than both Gen X (64%) and Gen Z (51%). This is a significant shift; likely emboldened by the vaccine rollout, Seniors are ready to get back out there. 
• Sixty percent of Seniors will take a vacation during the summer months.  

3. Business travel is starting to make a comeback. 

• While corporate travel is nowhere near pre-COVID levels, 25% of those surveyed plan to travel for work in the next six months. Of those corporate travelers, 10% will make their trip “bleisure” style, blending work and pleasure.  
• On average, business travelers will embark on roughly four work trips by November 2021. 

4. Americans are now considering a trip overseas.  

• This month, the EU announced that vaccinated Americans will soon be able to head to Europe, and a quarter of people booked or started planning an international getaway after hearing the news. Gen Z (31%) and Millennials (30%) are equally comfortable with the idea. 
• Despite news of new COVID-19 variants, Gen Z (46%) and Millennials (43%) remain most confident about international travel compared to Gen X (24%) and Boomers (16%). 

5. Travelers are uncertain about vaccine passports at this stage.  

• Nearly half (46%) are in favor of vaccine passports — but the greater majority feel differently. Twenty-nine percent are opposed to vaccine passports, while 24% are undecided. 
• Interestingly, Americans who have traveled since the pandemic (35%) are more likely to be opposed to vaccine passports compared to those that have not traveled since the pandemic (25%). 

For daily updates about the state of travel, follow us on Twitter @ExpediaGroup, and on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/expedia/. 

Google Page Experience update is the newest SEO ranking signal that the search engine is all set to launch in June 2021. This will be a major update from Google and all website owners and SEO reseller will experience its impact once it’s rolled out. Like all the other updates, many websites will see a surge in traffic and rankings. On the other side, many may see a drop.

To take full advantage of this update, it’s a smart move to start preparing it from today so that the website is up and running as the update releases. There are majorly five new Google SEO signals that form this newest update. Dive into all these five signals and tips to be in the fit category.

What is Google Page Experience Update in 2021?

TheGoogle Page Experience update is the latest update that will focus on prioritizing websites that offer excellent user experiences to their visitors. This update is not primarily focused on content, but it’s more about the overall experience across multiple devices. Content is still the key, but Google is also stressing more about the website browsing experience.

If visitors click on the website, then the pages should solve the purpose effortlessly and in a seamless manner. The mobile responsiveness, overall security, loading speed, and all such factors will be part of this update.

Five Rankings Signals of this Newest Update

Before getting into the tips to optimize the website, it’s important to understand what are these core signals that will form this newest update.

❏     Core Web Vitals

❏     Mobile-friendliness

❏     HTTPS usage

❏     Safe Browsing

❏     No Intrusive Interstitials on Mobile Devices

Core Web Vitals

In Core Web Vitals, websites need to focus on the latest performance metrics for improving the user experience. The three metrics are First Input Delay (FID), Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), and Largest Contentful Paint (LCP).

Mobile-friendliness

Regardless of website size, industry, or end-users, mobile-friendliness is the most important aspect and it’s here to stay with us. You can make your website mobile friendly by opting for effective SEO packages.

HTTPS usage

It’s important to have an HTTPS certificate on your website as it ensures visitors’ safety and privacy.

Safe Browsing

This metric goes beyond only using an HTTPS certificate on the website. It’s about ensuring there is nothing harmful on the site that can disturb the users. Deceptive content, hazardous downloads, malware issues are some of the common aspects that webmasters need to remove.

No Intrusive Interstitials on Mobile Devices

In this metric, webmasters need to ensure there are no intrusive interstitials that can hamper the user experience. The browsing experience should be clean and non-spammy.

How to Prepare your Website?

All Google updates are simple at their core and this update is no different from the others. Ensure the below things on the website to prepare for the upcoming release:

❏     Mobile optimization

❏     Privacy first

❏     Managing intrusive interstitials

❏     Focus on site’s speed

Mobile optimization

The first thing webmasters need to do is optimize the websites for all mobile devices to deliver the best browsing experience. Better experience leads to higher ratings with this newest update.

Privacy first

Safe browsing is a major highlight of this update that will gauge how safe the website is for all visitors. Along with HTTPS certificates, website owners need to ensure there is no malicious script, or downloads present on the website that can hamper privacy.

Managing Intrusive Interstitials

Webmasters need to ensure that they are not showing intrusive interstitials/popups to mobile audiences who click through to the website from Google’s search results. This kind of popup makes the content less convenient and users face difficulty in reading that content as they cover the majority of the screen. So, Google wants website owners to avoid such popups and distractions.

Focus on Site’s Speed

It will always remain on the list when it comes to website optimization. Website owners need to focus on making their websites faster, accessible, and seamless. As the majority of the audience uses their smartphones to perform searches, it’s inevitable to optimize the website for better speed and experience. When the website loads faster, the bounce rate decreases, and it helps in improving the ranking.

By following these updates and tips, website owners can prepare for the upcoming Google Page Experience Update. It’s a major update from Google rolling out from June ‘2021 and everyone should align their website according to the important key highlights to stay relevant in the online domain.