What's the secret to climbing the Tripadvisor rankings? How can you stay ahead of your competitors and increase your customer base?
We dissected the Tripadvisor algorithm to better understand how it works and revealed it all in an incredible infographic.
Did you find it interesting? Then download the infographic: The Surprising Truth About How to Rank Higher on Tripadvisor or check out the image below .
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You'll also like: How to use Tripadvisor to your business's advantage and increase your revenue .
Check out the full text of the infographic and other supporting content below.
What is the Tripadvisor ranking or popularity index?
This is how well your establishment ranks compared to its competitors within the same region. To determine your ranking, Tripadvisor uses reviews left by your competitors.
Difference between Ranking and Score
Rating is the rating your establishment receives on the website, which can range from 1 to 5. This rating is given by your customers when they rate the establishment.
Ranking is the position your business occupies in relation to other competing establishments in the same area. Your score influences your ranking position. The higher the score, the better the ranking.
It works like this:
- Based on their experience at your establishment, customers give ratings from 1 to 5. The average of these ratings corresponds to your establishment's score, from 1 to 5.
- Your score is used to calculate your establishment's overall ranking compared to other establishments in your area.
- The higher your ratings and the more recent your reviews, the better your ranking.
- The ranking is calculated daily, based on all published opinions, including new reviews received that day.
Main factors that influence ranking, according to Tripadvisor
These are: quality, quantity and timeliness of reviews received from customers.
Quality (evaluation score)
Tripadvisor uses your guest's rating to rate the quality of the experience at each establishment. The site prioritizes showing users those establishments with the most 4- or 5-bubble reviews.
Current Affairs
Recent reviews are more valuable than older ones because they more accurately represent the current experience at a property. Older reviews are still valid, but the more time passes, the less they impact rankings.
Amount
This refers to the number of recent reviews for the establishment. It only requires enough feedback to provide statistical significance and allow for a solid comparison with competitors.
Check it out: Want to appear in Google's local search? Discover the 3 main ranking factors that will help you do it.
Learning the rules of the game
This study , while not entirely conclusive, gives us an idea of how much each of these factors impacts rankings. They identified the following:
- An extra point in the average review score will increase the ranking by 321 positions on average.
- An extra review will increase the ranking by 1.5 positions.
This means that:
When calculating ranking position, TripAdvisor considers a property's average review score 20,000 times more than its total number of reviews.
So, if your average review score stays the same and you just increase the volume of reviews, it would take 2,144 new reviews to increase your rating by the same amount as one average review score point.
From this, we can assume that if you want to improve your TripAdvisor ranking, the “ Quantity ” factor is not as important as the “ Quality ” factor.
You just need to get enough reviews for the algorithm to have a statistically relevant data set, but you don't need to obsess over having more reviews than your competitors.
Other factors that impact the Tripadvisor Popularity Index
Quality of experience delivered
The experience you offer directly impacts the rating your establishment receives in reviews. Providing the best possible experience is the best way to achieve the highest ratings.
Performance relative to competitors
When a business moves up in the rankings, nearby establishments are directly affected. Your position may drop if a competitor in the same region is receiving better reviews than you. The opposite also applies.
Establishment response rate
Another study found that hotels that responded to reviews performed better than those that didn't. The study also found that these hotels received 12% more reviews, and their ratings increased by an average of 0.12 stars. In this post, we show you how to respond to reviews professionally.
Consistency in the establishment's performance
A business that frequently receives positive reviews will have a higher rating than a business with a similar number of good and bad reviews.
How to improve your property's position in Tripadvisor's popularity ranking
There is no shortcut or secret formula, it's just hard work!
The most effective strategy, in our opinion, is to focus on the customer experience to get the highest-scoring reviews. Your focus should be on gaining more circles, not more reviews.
However, having recent reviews is crucial, as Tripadvisor believes they reflect the current experience of each establishment. Therefore, invest in a strategy to receive more reviews, but only enough to compare yourself to the competition. How much is "necessary"? Tripadvisor doesn't reveal.
Checklist for a successful strategy to climb the Tripadvisor rankings
- Provide the best possible customer experience.
- Receive high-quality reviews.
- Maintain a relevant volume of recent reviews.
- Listen to your customers and read their reviews.
- Reply to as many reviews as you can.
- Improve what you already have.
- Use the tools Tripadvisor offers for free to encourage your customers to review you with Review Express , reminder tools , partnerships , and widgets .
Tripadvisor is an important part of your business's online reputation strategy. But a strong online reputation isn't built with just a Tripadvisor profile.
