Search Engines and River Cruising
Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert
Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist
Anyone in business always faces the same problems—how can they get more people to know about their products and services?
Most of us today when faced with a question about anything, just search for it on the web. Apparently, the holy grail is to be on page 1 of Google—according to one source I read that the number 1 ranking gets 32% of all the clicks for the search. Another source stated that approximately 75% of users never scroll past page one in a web search.
SEO (search engine optimization) experts call this authority—it means that the source is trustworthy, high quality, relevant and has something to offer. Although very complex and often changing, search engines use a collection of formulas to determine the quality and relevance of a web page and blog posts called algorithms . It is not so important for us to understand how these formulas are developed; it is just important for us to understand if the results will help us answer our questions correctly.
So, the blog today is about our authority and what it means for you in your river cruise search for a high-quality, luxury vacation. It is also a good way for you to determine how valuable the source is to you during your search for answers about river cruising .
We also want to emphasize that search engines are not 100% perfect, so please use your critical thinking skills when reading about river cruising and evaluate the material you find during your search for answers.. We think this blog will help you to evaluate the sources you find during your search.
Some of our Current Rankings and Awareness Philosophy
Ok, a little bragging but more importantly, do we deserve some of our high rankings? We are # 1 for Best River Cruise Routes Guide; we bounce between #1 to # 3 in Europe River Cruise Comparisons and #1 for Best River Cruise Blogs.
While we are very proud of our rankings and website, we also try to emphasize our blog quality and content on the website. Our goal is to educate and provide great content. We have been asked why we don’t use some other methods of social media, and here are some fascinating facts about the lifespan of social media:
According to Levitate Media here are the statistics (called lifespan or average length of time people engage with a post by social media experts) of social media compared to blogs—TikTok 0 to 2 minutes; X (formerly Twitter) 15 to 18 minutes; Facebook 5 to 6 hours; LinkedIn 24 hours; Instagram 48 hours; YouTube 20 days; Pinterest 4 months and blogs 2 years! I guess after reading this, it is no wonder that blogs and website content are our central focus to communicate with our loyal readers.
The key here is the blog posts must be trustworthy, high-quality, and relevant.
Trustworthy
Are our blogs trustworthy? I think so. We clearly differentiate between our opinion and facts and try to cite sources when appropriate. And perhaps, most importantly, we back it up with our pictures (most are taken by Anne) --hard to fake a picture, especially if you look for other examples of the site, ship or experience from other sources. Here are 6 examples of the quality photos Anne takes:
Schönburg Castle on the rock massif above Oberwesel, Germany
Schonbuhl Castle
A typical bouchon. These are small bistros often identified by their red and white checker-squared tablecloths Lyon, France
Melk Abbey, Melk Austria
Pfalzgrafenstein Castle (foreground) & Gutenfels Castle on the Hill Germany’s Rhine River
Budapest Pariament at night
Most of our blogs are 2,000 words or more—long enough to adequately cover the topic. It does take a lot of work to make it comprehensive and accurate.
After taking over 24 European River cruises on most of Europe’s rivers, we have the experience and knowledge to provide you with reliable information. We hope it helps us provide you with more trustworthy blogs.
While it might be tempting for us to use vendor content alone or social media prepared services or even blog help to post as a quick way to create content for our website, it just defeats the objective of building our trust and the knowledge base needed to succeed effectively informing you about river cruises. Taking shortcuts like this won’t allow us to impress potential clients during conversations, since we wouldn’t know the material.
With luxury vacations, most of our potential clients already have researched extensively about river cruising, and want advice and real answers from us, not someone else’s opinion. This is why we write all our blogs, and only use actual guest comments of clients we have booked or industry experts we might interview. Our material is unique, and we are solely responsible for the content.
High Quality
For us, a high-quality blog has great content. From a personal perspective, we believe that the blog should be free of ads and pop-ups—not only is it annoying, but we also believe it degrades our message. A lot of bloggers try to make money from their blogs—not us. Our only goal is to educate and inform.
Are we factual? Can you see yourself traveling on a river cruise? What is the day-by-day experience? (we do have 122 day-by-day routes for 7 different river cruise lines we follow on our website with our personal pictures). What are the facilities and staterooms like on the various river cruise company lines?
Here are some of the topics we write about—1) Our River Cruise Services, 2) River Cruise Lines Comparisons, 3) River Cruise Routes, 4) River Cruise Advice, 5) River Cruise Ports, and 6) River Cruise Reviews.
Relevant
A search query has to have information that is up-to-date and provides useful information to be relevant. We try to write blogs that resonate with you—what will you get to see and do on the river cruise, for example. Do we help you understand the advantages and disadvantages of river cruising? Do we fully explain the benefits of river cruise? Do we keep you informed about current river cruise trends? What is the vibe of the river cruise line?
Perhaps the key question is after reading our blog, did you learn something worthwhile that helps you decide if a river cruise vacation is right for you?
Our Final Thoughts
Search engines rankings, with the sources they cite, are the starting point in your quest to solve the question if a river cruise is the right vacation for you. I think we have a lot to offer in that search and if our excellent content makes you want to contact us and help you get that vacation, then that is even better. We are quite grateful that so many have reached out to us for help after visiting our website or reading the blogs and we promise to keep the high value content coming!
We are travel experts, ocean and river cruise specialists, and Europe destination experts. We have first-hand knowledge of almost anywhere you want to visit in Europe. We know our products and the vendors who sell them to you. We have designed special tours for dozens of clients, led several and will continue to find just the right vacation that will exceed your expectations.
When you are spending your hard-earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip. You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience. And, you want someone who can help you with the decision making process. We think we have all these qualities.
Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you! We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel. Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@visitdd.com . We want to help you: Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations! Your journey begins here!
ANNE has earned a degree from the University of Houston in Hotel and Restaurant Management. Serving as the President of Visit Dream Destinations, LLC, since 2016, she is uniquely experienced professional travel advisor with over 29 years’ experience in the travel industry. Among her numerous certifications, she is a Certified Travel Counselor (CTC) by the Travel Institute, considered the gold standard in travel agent certification and she is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC) by the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), as well Luxury Cruise Specialist also from CLIA. Having traveled often to Europe since 1989, she has expanded on her certification as a Destination Specialist in Western Europe (DS) with extensive first-hand experience in luxury vacations. She holds numerous other specialty designations from individual vendors. An expert photographer, she delights in capturing the true essence of destinations to share with all.
HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 53 years. He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA). This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years. He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees. His other Certifications:
AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent
