Doing Hotel SEO Right From The Get-Go
Chad Faith
Director of Content
Due to upward trends in consumer confidence and the economy, more individuals and families are planning personal vacations and business travel. In addition to today’s increasing competition, hoteliers require strong search engine marketing solutions. If you work in the hotel industry, it is pertinent that you use techniques that are geared specifically for hotel SEO.
Create and Publish Attractive Content
You need to help your target consumers visualize their dream holiday from the beginning. You should not just allow them to book their holiday. This practice applies to both casual and business travelers. It is recommended that you let them know what’s unique, fun, and special about your location, and ultimately how you can help them enjoy their stay here.
The types of content you create for your blog can include Top 10 lists. These articles are not only helpful but popular as well. You could write “Top 10 Things To Do In Hawaii” or “Top 10 Belongings To Pack For Your Holiday.” When writing about your area and offerings, do so with consistency in mind. You should post images, podcasts, videos, and your written content on a fixed schedule. In fact, you need to have the practice of creating content ahead of time. This way, you will never be late on fresh content.
Launch an Optimized Website
Without an SEO-optimized website, it will be difficult to engage visitors and keep them on your site longer. Your website needs to load fast or visitors will most likely leave after staring at a blank page for three seconds. If possible, you may wish to ditch media that auto-play, heavy Flash elements, and then minimize (minification) your JavaScript, CSS, or HTML. When your pages load faster, you will be able to reduce bounce rates. These tasks can be pretty technical for some hotel owners to handle. Hence, it is advisable that you enlist the assistance of a hotel SEO specialist. It often provides a stellar ROI for your business.
Tighten Internal Link Structure
In the world of SEO, building high-quality links is an important task you can’t afford to ignore. These links can increase your site’s visibility in the search engine results pages, increase page authority, and generate qualified leads to your site. While the aforementioned is important, never ever neglect your internal link structure. A messy or broken internal link structure makes your site difficult to navigate. If your visitors encounter fewer impediments while gathering the information they require, they are more likely to continue browsing and even convert. So, start interlinking blog content and key landing pages to relevant pages.
Rank for Carefully Targeted Keywords
These days, single-word keywords are insufficient to make the cut when it comes to being ranked. Today, you stand a better chance of standing out if you use long tail keywords. For example, your hotel’s name is Lovely Bridgett Hotel. Next, you are based in Michigan. Hence, your keyword should be written as Lovely Bridgett Hotel Michigan. Writing keywords such as Hotels in Michigan is too generic. What’s more, related terms will be fiercely competitive. If you are still unsure on what keywords to use, check out Google Adwords’ keyword planning tool.
Try organizing your content and keywords via a keyword map as well. Keyword mapping is basically the process of assigning relevant keywords to various pages throughout your site. At least you have a rough visual representation of the potential searches you will rank for.