A deal between the largest search engine company in China and a flight search company which is based in the UK is set to compete with Google. Baidu and Skyscanner have joined forces to provide the latest travel information to users of the internet.
Skyscanner has a database which contains details of over 750m air fares provided by over 900 airlines. Users of the Baidu search engine will be presented with this information when looking for international travel information. Recently, Google has focused on travel, providing flight information at the top of its search results. In 2010, Google purchased ITA Software to locate flight and price information. Online travel companies were concerned that Google would dominate the search market for flight information. The move by Google made it necessary for travel companies to make changes to their SEO campaigns in a bid to compete.
Demonstrating determination to remain in the online travel industry, Google has also purchased Frommer’s travel guides. The deal between Baidu and Skyscanner is the latest from other search engine companies which want to be involved in the travel industry. In 2011, Baidu acquired a majority share of Qunar, which is one of the largest online travel agents in China. The results from Qunar are used for results of searches for domestic flights.
Online travel companies from all over the world, from Chester to California may have to reconsider their search engine optimisation as search engines face a battle for a piece of the travel industry.
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