Matt Cutts: Google Won't Devalue Links Anytime Soon – SEW.

Here it is from Matt Cutts himself: “I think backlinks still have many, many years left in them. But inevitably what we’re trying to do is figure out how an expert user would say this particular page matched their information needs. And sometimes backlinks matter for that.”

Cutts adds that links help Google gauge the reputation of pages, and that is what people care about. It boils down to the quality of the content on the pages they land on.

We know that authority of the site and author is also vital. That is why OTAs do better than hotel in ranking on search results. (see our video on Google dropping small Hotels in favour of authority sites. Google also is working to add more weight to pages written by experts in the field and this means authority will become even more crucial for websites.

Its time for hoteliers to take up the pen and become the experts in their field and share their passion.