Title: An SEO Analysis of 2 Airline Companies
Written by: Harveen Ghumaan
Subtitle: “WestJet vs. Cathay Pacific. Which Airline Company Optimizes
Better?”
Introduction
It is
important to look into and analyze the following Search Engine Optimization
(SEO) considerations/factors in order to make your SEO a hit. An SEO is an
important consideration for marketers as it will only help in gaining and
attracting traffic/viewers/clients. It will allow marketers to better
understand and fulfil their audience’s needs and wants. SEO’s are a great
way/source of getting to connect with your audience and keep them happy. They
also allow you in keeping up to date with today’s trends and human desires.
SEO Audit
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WestJet
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Cathay Pacific
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Screen Captures of both Brand’s home pages:
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1.
URL:
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https://www.westjet.com/en-ca/index
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https://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/en_CA.html
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2.
Page Title
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WestJet
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Cathay Pacific
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3.
Meta Description
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Find low fare flights, save with discount codes and seat sales,
discover travel and destination information, manage upcoming trips and more.
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Book flights to Hong
Kong, Manila, Bangkok, New York, Guangzhou and other destinations with Cathay
Pacific. You can also book your flights online, manage …
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4.
Meta Keywords :
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No keywords in the source code.
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Airline flight status, Cathayair, flight information, cheap airfares,
vacation package, MPO, Cathay Pacific, Marco Polo Club, Cathay Pacific, check
flight status, Cathay Pacific, travel deal, Cathay Pacific, airline flight
tracking, Asia Miles, Cathay Pacific, flight reservation, online check-in,
Cathay Pacific frequent flyer, phone number, Cathay pacific, online buy
ticket, CX, contact number, seating charts
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5. Quality of written content
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The quality of the written content is good.
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Limited written content. Mainly communicating and conveying through
the use of images.
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6.
Content shareable
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No, WestJet does not have a share link for people to easily share
content.
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Cathay Pacific allows you to share their page through Facebook,
Twitter, Mail, and LinkedIn.
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7.
Quality of visual content
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Good quality visuals are used on the homepage of the site.
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Great quality visuals are used on the homepage of the site.
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8.
site upload speed
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The site loaded pretty fast even though it has a lot of images and
content to upload. Fast uploading speed.
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The site came up pretty fast, but there was a slight delay in the
images uploading. Fast uploading speed, but slower than WestJet. This could
be due to Cathay Pacific having more images on their homepage than WestJet.
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9.
Call-to-action:
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“Book a flight”
“Get flights”
“Learn more”
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“Book a trip”
“Search flights”
“Learn more”
“Find out more”
“Discover more”
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10. Anchored Text (hyperlinks):
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“More details”
“Learn more”
“Learn more about baggage fees”
“Book using WestJet dollars”
“See terms and conditions”
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“Redeem flights”
“Multi-city / stopover”
“Learn more”
“Find out more”
“Discover more”
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11. Mobile Friendly:
Yes/No
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Yes, easily accessible through mobile phones. There is also an app.
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Yes, easily accessible through mobile phones. There is also an app.
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12. Social Media:
(List all SM icons on the home page.
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The following icons are listed on the social media homepage: Twitter,
YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, iOS App, Android App, and WestJet
Blog.
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The following icons are listed on the homepage: Facebook, Twitter,
LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube.
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Google Trends:
Google Trends Insights:
The 2
brands are the 2 airlines I have chosen; WestJet & Cathay Pacific. The
search term I chose is Airline since that is my group topic. From analyzing the
results I obtained from Google Trends I discovered that WestJet was
viewed/searched more than Cathay Pacific over the years 2012-2016. But, after
the year 2013 Cathay Pacific has pretty much been going head to head with
WestJet until after the year 2015. I can observe that WestJet was searched more
due to its great advertisement on its services offered and its generosity
towards its clients. On the other hand, Cathay Pacific has really stepped up
its game in the past year as it has almost been searched just as much as
WestJet. It was just in the early stage that WestJet was search more than
Cathay Pacific. Furthermore, searches on WestJet come mainly from Canada and
the United States. Searches on Cathay Pacific have come from Algeria, Iraq,
Vietnam, China, Japan, Cambodia, Australia, and some from Canada and the United
States. Lastly, Airlines is searched almost worldwide!
Latent Semantic Indexing Keywords:
WestJet: Flight Status, Check in, Flight Schedule
Cathay Pacific: Check in, Booking, Marco Polo Club
Summary:
WestJet’s
strengths are its fast uploading speed, it gets you to its site in seconds!
Then, the quality of its written work is good. Lastly, it can easily be
accessed by mobiles. This makes it convenient and easier for people on the go. In
addition, it has its own app!
Cathay
Pacific’s strengths are its extremely beautifully designed homepage with a good
amount of written content too. Cathay Pacific has included a lot of beautiful
images of its destinations and trips, which makes the viewers happy. It
attracts its audience more. Cathay Pacific’s site also allows people to easily
share the page through its social media links/icons directly from their site! Cathay
Pacific is also easily accessible from mobile devices and has its own app too.
Both
WestJet and Cathay Pacific have need of improvement when it comes to their
SEO’s. Areas that WestJet could improve in include; their visual content. They
could probably make it more appealing and colorful, which is pleasing to the
eye. WestJet could also make their content shareable directly through their
social media icons/links like Cathay Pacific has. Also, unfortunately WestJet
has no keywords in their source code which could be preventing possible
traffic/visits to their site. Now, area that Cathay Pacific could improve in
include; their written content. They don’t have enough information to read on
their homepage. Then, their site uploads a little slower in comparison to
WestJet.
The keyword
sentences found on the sites were “Book a flight”, “Get flights”, “Search
flights”, “Check in”, and “Book a vacation”.
Conclusion:
It is
crucial for SEO’s to keep in mind all the different factors that put together a
great and successful/popular SEO. In the end, it would be fair to say that
Cathay Pacific has the stronger SEO. The reason being, it has more of SEO
considerations included in their site/homepage in comparison to WestJet. It is
obvious that if you keep in mind all the considerations/factors towards your
SEO, it can maximize the amount of visits and/or traffic you get.
Unfortunately, WestJet lacks keywords in their source code which could be
stopping some traffic. So, in my opinion Cathay Pacific is the winner, even
though both Airlines have room for improvement. To end it off, I was a bit
surprised to see that Cathay Pacific has made their page shareable directly
through their site, whereas WestJet hasn’t. I was surprised to see this as
WestJet is very much involved with social media and spends a lot on its
advertisement and service. I was also surprised to see that WestJet had no
keywords in their source code.
APA
Citations
WestJet. (2017). Book Flights
and Vacation Packages. Retrieved February 6, 2017, from WestJet,
https://www.westjet.com/en-ca/index
Cathay Pacific. (2017). Cathay
Pacific. Retrieved February 6, 2017, from Cathay Pacific,
https://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/en_CA.html
