Categories
SEO

How Not to Optimize Your Search Results Page Title – Priceline.com Should Know Better

William Shatner != SEO

A comparison in travel sites search results page titles

Wow, Priceline…who did you hire for SEO?

I was shopping around for a good price on a hotel in Aspen when William Shatner’s “Falcoln of Truth” showed me how not to write page titles.

Check out Priceline‘s horrific search results page title:
Priceline.com - hotel, hotel reservation, cheap hotel, las vegas hotel, boston hotel, hotel deal, new york city hotel, hotel rooms, motel, lodging, accommodations, casino hotel, priceline

That is a terrible example of keyword stuffing, and is…well…awful. Even search results pages should be optimized. Priceline should know that!

What are the competition’s search results page titles like?

The Hotwire.com search page isn’t optimized, but not spammy:
Discount hotel rooms and hotel reservations - Hotwire.com

The best page titles for the search “Aspen hotels”

Travelocity.com is optimizing for the whole region quite well, but not specifically targeting my search:
Aspen and Snowmass and Carbondale Hotels - Find discount hotel rates!

Expedia.com‘s results are optimized, but minimal. As a personal preference, I’m not wild about keyword-only page titles, though they do tend to rank well:
Aspen hotels

The Hotels.com search results page gets it right with a mix of simplicity, mixing & matching keywords, and having the most valuable keyword first (“Aspen Hotels”):
Aspen Hotels - Hotel Deals in Aspen, CO - Hotels.com

What are some other examples of good and bad search result page titles?

Have you come across any whoppers or thrillers? Share them below!

By Zack Katz

Zack Katz is the founder of GravityKit and TrustedLogin. He lives in Leverett, Massachusetts with his wife Juniper.