TripAdvisor to fire 200 staff as Google search algorithms change: Report

TripAdvisor is firing around 200 people as a part of cost-cutting measures after having faced increasing competition from Google, Bloomberg reported.

Google, owned by Alphabet, recently changed its search algorithms to compete with the online travel information portal.

As at the end of September, TripAdvisor had around 3,800 employees, according to Bloomberg data.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the story.

A TripAdvisor spokesperson declined to comment when approached by Bloomberg. The spokesperson did highlight that, in a recent earnings conference call, the company said it was “prudently reducing and re-allocating expenses in certain parts of our business to preserve strong profitability.”

Google’s changed search algorithms has hurt travel information websites such as TripAdvisor, Expedia and Booking.com by pushing them lower on the search results.

This has forced the websites to rely on paid advertisements to show up higher on the search results.

In its previous earnings statement, TripAdvisor said its main challenge was “Google pushing its own hotel products in search results and siphoning off quality traffic that would otherwise find TripAdvisor via free links and generate high margin revenue in our hotel click-based auction.”

“Google has got more aggressive,” TripAdvisor CEO Stephen Kaufer said in November.