9 years
I think that UGC is good on hostels' own sites if it's HTML content and not generated with JavaScript or duplicated on other domains.
Feedback - User content generation for Hostels is it a good idea?
Site Feedback and News
Hi there,
I'm looking to get your feedback.
What are your thoughts about a Guestbook app that allows hostels to improve their online presence?
You can learn more here: GuestBook
Just reply me back your thoughts.
Thanks,
Luis
- Comments
9 years
I would like to see a widget for hostel websites that would allow us to solicit and display comments directly from our guests rather than using any technology/reviews provided by an online travel agency or 3rd party review website. Is that what GuestBook does?
9 years
Hi Brian,
Thanks for your comment.
Yes, it does what you mentioned and much more. I'd be happy to make you a live demo if you wish.
Please fill out the form in this page http://guestbook.buzz/ and talk to you soon.
9 years
Hi guys,
To be clear regarding if our web app uses HTML or Javascript I just would like to point out the following:
The argument about HTML is out of date, Google is now able to parse JS. For external source of information we provide a restFULL api to querry the data and integrate them directly on the hostel website.
The only thing we are keeping on our side is image hosting.
Please let me know if you have any other questions.
9 years
The argument about HTML is out of date, Google is now able to parse JS. For external source of information we provide a restFULL api to querry the data and integrate them directly on the hostel website.
Google can index some JavaScript, but indexing is different from ranking, and I wouldn't rely on it for SEO purposes. I've seen some SPAs that were indexed by Google, but badly. Also, Google is not the only search engine. Example: Yahoo Search is bigger in some Asian countries.
If the API can be used to pull the data in on the server side, it seems like that would be better. Since most hostel websites are on servers with PHP, maybe you could offer a PHP file that would pull the data in and then another snippet that could be embedded on the pages to display the reviews?
9 years
Thanks for keeping this conversation going on.
Let me just bringing in some more details about this subject.
Yahoo uses the ms Bing engine which crawls javascript as well. And we also provide a restful API with as php file to fetch data's as example however the display of those data relies on javascript as most of website even under WordPress are nowadays.
In addition to the SEO benefits, and as the content is created and shared by the users, the app will increase hostels' visibility, traffic and therefore reservations.
Give it try and you'll see the true benefits that you will get ;)
9 years
Yahoo uses the ms Bing engine which crawls javascript as well.
I'm only referring to the SEO aspect here:
There are also other engines like Naver, Yandex, etc., depending on the countries a hostel caters to.
Even if the engine can index the JavaScript, indexing is different from ranking.
Wix is an example. They use an AngularJS SPA on the front end and they've implemented Google's escaped_fragment trick. The pages do get indexed, but I think that the resulting SEO is not good.
I do think that it's a good idea to put reviews (testimonials) on a hostel's own website. There may be other benefits from adding the reviews, but it may not provide much SEO benefit. You could give it a try on some sites and see what happens and whether search engines read in the schema.org data (if it's in the reviews). The screenshots on your homepage definitely look nice. I think that there would be added benefit from rendering the content on the hostel's server, but I'm not saying that putting these reviews on a site would be a bad idea. It looks like it's worth trying. :)
9 years
Thanks again for your precious feedback ;)
In fact it's not easy to rank on Google first pages as Google algorithm is complex and involves many variables, like content quality, linking, social media, etc.
However we still think our app can provide a good indexing. Moreover it's possible to call the api from php, for example, and get server side rendered pages full of contents.
For the ranking part, we could also provide SEO friendly/ perfectly semantic mark up, with all the schema.org micro-data (not sure they will boost the ranking).
9 years
Moreover it's possible to call the api from php, for example, and get server side rendered pages full of contents.
Sounds good. :)
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