SEO for Hotels - Improve Your Hotel’s Visibility

Table of contents:

How Hotels Do SEO?
Why Is SEO Important for the Hotel Industry?
11 SEO Tips for Hotels - How Can You Improve Your Hotel SEO?
SEO for Hotels – The Takeaway

How Hotels Do SEO?

Before we move on to discussing hospitality & travel SEO services, let’s talk about the industry itself. Imagine that you want to book a hotel room in a specific city. What do you type into the search results? Probably a phrase that combines the city name and the word hotel. Queries concerning accommodation very often include local names and long tails: “hotel Antalya” or “hotel Antalya double room”, for example. The conclusion is clear: local SEO will be crucial for hotels. [caption id="attachment_56156" align="aligncenter" width="1288"]

Google Trends[/caption] As you can probably guess, everyone who runs a hotel wants to optimize their business for such keywords and phrases. However, it can be problematic, especially if you operate in a big city, and there are hundreds of hotels, all of them aiming to be displayed for the same keyword. Regardless of your location, SEO for the hotel industry is a must-have if you want to reach potential customers and sell rooms. There are numerous strategies and tips you can follow to increase your positions in the search results and gain a competitive edge over your market rivals.

Why Is SEO Important for the Hotel Industry?

SEO for hotels is important for a number of reasons. Performing activities properly will help your prospective event planners or guests find you. By following >SEO tips for hotels, you can:

Grow your business - boosting your exposure and being ranked in the top search results will definitely translate into increased brand recognition, greater revenues, and a competitive edge over other hotels in the area.
Achieve long-lasting results without spending a fortune - SEO for hotels is sustainable and cheap, compared with various marketing activities. Thanks to available tools, you can easily control the process. Although achieving the expected results takes longer in this case, the game is certainly worth the candle.
Get top-notch leads and increase your conversion rate - if your hotel is displayed high for particular long tail keywords, the chances are that users who come across it in the search results will choose your offer. Making sure that website visitors get specific information and quality content that convinces them your hotel provides the best amenities is the key to success.

11 SEO Tips for Hotels - How Can You Improve Your Hotel SEO?

1. Find Out Who Is Your Audience

If you want to reach potential customers and attract more visitors with the help of SEO for hotels, first you need to identify your target group. Analyze available data to learn about customer behavior, preferences, and habits. If you need something that will allow you to comprehend the information better, create user personas. Check everything that can help you communicate with your target audience. What age are your visitors? What devices do they use to make bookings? What factors are important to them? Try to put yourself in your visitors’ shoes and provide them with information that will facilitate their decision-making process.

2. Select the Best SEO Keywords for Hotels and Optimize the Content

While choosing keywords for SEO for hotels, you should definitely consider local search and long tail keywords. Local search is important as visitors usually look for hotels in specific locations. When choosing phrases you’ll optimize your website for, make sure that they include both location names and other details related to geolocation. Examples include:

Primary keywords - one or two-word phrases that best describe your website. These can be keywords like hotel Vegas or hotel in Vegas
Secondary keywords - these phrases are usually less obvious than primary keywords, however, you can use them to specify your offer. To create secondary keywords, you should think about the unique features of your hotel. These can be phrases like luxury hotel in Vegas or hotel in Vegas close to the airport
Long tail keywords - such phrases are usually longer and more specific. Although they generate less traffic, the conversion rate is usually higher in this case. Why? Because people who type in long queries into the search bar know what they’re looking for and are ready to finalize transactions. Such phrases include three, four, five, or even more words. Examples can be: hotel in Vegas with good connection to the airport, double room with bathroom in the center of Vegas, or cheap double room with single beds in Vegas.

For keyword research, you can use tools like Google Keyword Planner, Semrush, Google Search Console, and Ahrefs.

3. Work on the Page Title and Meta Description

It may not seem obvious, but a brand’s name isn’t the most important part of meta tags. As users typically find hotels mainly via geolocation suggestions and they don’t use brand names, it’s important to place specific long tail and secondary keywords at the beginning of the title and in the meta description. Therefore, it’s much better to create titles that look in the following way:

Hotel Vegas City Center - [brand name], not [brand name] hotel in Vegas.

Although meta descriptions don’t have a direct impact on SEO, catchy text with a CTA button can help you effectively catch the attention of potential customers. This way, you can encourage people to enter your website. Keep your meta description between 140 and 160 characters. Try to intrigue users and show them that it’s worth choosing your offer over the offers of your market rivals.

4. Make Your Website UX-Friendly and Mobile-Friendly

The process of booking a room has to be flawless. Why? It requires providing a lot of sensitive, personal data. Therefore, you need to make sure that your page inspires trust, is intuitive, and doesn’t discourage users from finalizing transactions.

When doing SEO for hotels, you have to make sure that your website is UX and mobile-friendly. An increasing number of bookings are made via mobile devices. If you want to keep your bounce rate low, you have to ensure that your page has a responsive web design, loads fast and can be browsed conveniently on smartphones and tablets.

Find out more about mobile SEO!

To catch the eye of your potential customers and keep them on the page for longer, diversify your content. Take unique photos of the hotel, its interior, or its surroundings. Apart from encouraging users to choose your venue, images (alt texts and names) are an extra space for keywords. Make sure that users can easily switch between room options (sizes or standards), click CTA buttons, view different subpages, and navigate the page. Check your loading time on various devices, and implement necessary changes such as compressing images to make your website more browsable.

5. Remember About International Users

One language version of your website isn’t enough, especially if you want to reach international visitors. Travelers come to your hotel from all around the world. To satisfy their needs, you have to adjust your content to their expectations. Invest in professional translation and localization services. Make sure that you implement hreflangs and let users choose a currency and payment method tailored to their needs. Also, keep in mind that Google isn’t the only available option! Although it dominates the market, there are countries and places where users prefer search engines such as Bing, Yahoo, Goo, Ask.com, AOL, Baidu or Yandex. As these are used internationally, they can drive additional traffic to your site, and attract tourists. Make sure you optimize your website for relevant search engines.

6. Set up Google Business Profile

When doing SEO for the hotel industry, you have to ensure that your website is displayed in all possible locations. To reach more potential customers, set up a Google Business profile. As emphasized by Google, this tool is designed for:

Businesses and organizations to manage their online presence across Google, including Search and Maps.

Thanks to it, your hotel will be displayed on Google Maps, and users will be able to easily spot it.

Google Business is particularly useful if you don’t rank in top positions for generic, primary, or even secondary keywords. With its use, your business will get more visible.

7. Take Care of External Linking

Acquiring quality external links is very important when doing SEO for hotels. It enhances DA (domain authority) and PA (page authority) parameters. They have a direct impact on Google rankins. Moreover, if your hotel is visible in many places, it increases the chances that people will come across it and choose it. That’s why it’s so important to ensure that backlinks to your page are placed on industry-related websites and forums such as TripAdvisor.

This way, the links will benefit both users and your SERP positions. How to make external linking for hotels right?

be active on social media platforms and post in English
set up a Google Business profile
set up accounts on industry websites and review sites – e.g TripAdvisor
monitor industry rankings and lists. Make sure that your hotel is mentioned there.

If you want to learn more about quality external link building, check out our entry: Link building strategies & trends & statistics.

8. Encourage Visitors to Leave Reviews

Social proof matters. Quality reviews can bring you more benefits than flowery website descriptions. If potential customers see that your former visitors speak positively about your hotel, they’re more likely to make a decision. [caption id="attachment_56169" align="aligncenter" width="1291"]

Source: airbnb[/caption] Use available comments and feedback to increase your brand recognition. Place a carousel with the best reviews on your website, reply to all the comments and build relationships with recipients to show that you care about their comfort. Apart from taking care of your website, ensure that your brand name is present on various industry-related pages. Set up your company’s accounts, publish photos of your hotel, encourage visitors to write reviews, and recommend your venue to their friends, or family. Consider cooperation with international, well-renowned hubs like Booking, Hotels, or Agoda. This will definitely help you reach more customers, and obtain valuable links to your page.

9. Create NAPs

One of the most important SEO tips for hotels is to create NAPs with links to your website. By listing your hotel’s name, address, and phone number (accompanied by a website link) on various industry-related pages, you can attract new visitors. Keep in mind that not everyone browses Google or Google Maps to find accommodation. Some people still prefer to go through directories. Creating NAPs isn’t time-consuming and it’s a one-time activity that can bring you valuable leads and traffic. The game is certainly worth the candle. We’ve mentioned numerous times that corporate blogs and social media are powerful tools for increasing brand recognition, attracting traffic to your website, and reaching new potential customers. When doing SEO for hotels, you should optimize your content and articles for various keywords that will help you reach visitors at various stages of the customer journey. It’s a great way to increase the number of phrases your page is displayed for and improve your brand recognition.

Thanks to a blog, you can attract both those searching for a hotel in Vegas close to the city center and those who are wondering whether it’s even worth visiting the location. On the other hand, social media platforms are great tools for interacting with customers, informing them about news, special offers, menu in your hotel restaurant, or events in the area.

With their use, you can both reach new visitors and convince those that have already visited your hotel in the future to come back to it again.

11. Focus on Local SEO for Your Hotel

Local SEO is important in various industries and the hospitality sector isn’t an exception here. When creating a list of SEO tips for hotels, we couldn’t forget about this point. Why? Because as we’ve already mentioned, many people looking for accommodation type in phrases consisting of a location name + the word hotel. By optimizing your website for local long tail keywords like luxury hotel in the city center in Vegas, you increase your chances of finding people actually interested in the offer. Local SEO is frequently the only way to reach top positions in the organic search results, especially if your industry is competitive. This is the case when talking about hotels.

So, what should you do?

Do thorough keyword research and select long tails that best describe your business profile,
Optimize the content with the phrases but remember to avoid keyword stuffing,
Create unique and appealing titles and meta descriptions that encourage users to take action,
Take care of your internal linking to ensure that potential customers (and robots) can easily navigate your page.

SEO for Hotels - The Takeaway

Doing SEO for the hotel industry isn’t a piece of cake. The sector is pretty competitive and there are many factors you should take into account if you want to succeed. Hopefully, following our tips and guidelines will help you reach better positions in the organic search results and attract people who are interested in your services. Ensure that users can easily and conveniently book rooms. List your business on various comparison sites to increase your brand recognition, and stay in touch with your former and potential visitors. If you still aren’t sure how to do SEO for hotels or you don’t know which keywords to choose for the process, consult our specialists. We’ll be more than happy to assist you!