When it comes to captivating your audience, driving organic traffic to your site and increasing sales, SEO for hotel industry searches is crucial.
An effective SEO strategy helps you drive your website to the top of search engine results pages (SERPs). Utilising the right keywords also brings premium traffic to your website – customers towards the end of the sales funnel who are ready to book a stay at your hotel.
So, how do you implement organic SEO elements to boost your digital presence and stand out in a crowded market?
Let’s have a look.
The value of organic traffic
Many companies take the paid search option to drive traffic – they’re the ones with ‘sponsored’ written next to their search entry at the top of the search results page. But the cost of these pay-per-click ads can add up and they are inefficient when it comes to competing with big companies that have big budgets. Finally, the minute you stop advertising, you’ll also see a drop in traffic to your website.
When it comes to effective SEO for hotel brands, organic traffic is like digital gold for up-and-coming companies. It’s free and driven by the themes and topics that your audience is searching for – they’re looking for a specific solution to solve a problem and, when your website ranks highly, it’s presented as the solution.
It’s a way to reach people who may not have even heard of your brand before and help you build credibility. Organic website traffic is also scalable, it has the potential to grow steadily with ever more SEO optimised content helping you reach a wider audience.
Keywords for the hotel industry: building a strategy
To build a keyword research strategy, you first need to identify your core audience. Are you targeting luxury travellers? Families? Or maybe solo adventurers, or young couples with lots of disposable income.
Keywords are terms that your audience frequently searches for and the main concepts that your hotel offers - they can be one or two words. Long-tail keywords are phrases that are more specific, and typically longer. They normally have a lower search volume, due to the fact that they are more niche. But this also means they tend to have a higher conversion rate, as they are targeted and you are answering a very specific customer query.
They also have lower competition, and because fewer companies are using them, you have more chance of ranking in search engine results for those phrases.
Consider using the ‘autocomplete’ and ‘people also ask’ features on Google Search as an initial way to find longer phrases and other ways people might search for your services. You could also consider using a keyword research tool to find niche keywords. The likes of Keyword Tool, Google Trends, Semrush, Moz and Answer the Public can all help you compile an effective keyword list and keep track of SEO trends in travel and tourism.
However, some of these programmes can be expensive, so sometimes it is better value to enlist the help of an SEO content agency that will help carry out the SEO strategy research and integrate the keywords in the content they produce.
Be sure you refine your keyword list, selecting specific keywords for the hotel industry. Ideally, you want to find a good balance between high search volume – 100 or more – and a reasonable keyword difficulty, which is an estimation of how hard it is to rank in search engines for that phrase. A score of 0-29 is easy. With a score of 30-49, you’ll need some help building your authority to help you rank for those keywords, while 50 and above becomes very difficult.
Keyword implementation
Well-written, properly implemented keyword-rich content is incredibly valuable for hotel websites, which are constantly battling against online travel agents (OTAs) to attract direct bookings. In order to implement a keyword strategy, you’ll first need to target each page. This involves assigning a primary keyword to each page, before optimising your content to align with your primary keyword.
Secondly, you’ll need some light keyword sprinkling. This requires a subtle touch and involves integrating keywords evenly throughout the content. Keyword stuffing, (using as many as possible in a short space), is easily picked up and subsequently rejected by search engines. Smoothly include your keywords in headings, subheadings, and your content.
Including your target keyword in title tags, meta descriptions and the URLs of each page also helps search engines to understand the essence of your content and helps improve your SERP, as does using alt tags for images and including relevant keywords in image descriptions. You’ll find these in the back end of your content management system (CMS) and these are scanned by search engine algorithms to index your pages.
When it comes to SEO for hotel brands, taking a strategic approach to your keyword research can help with your organic SEO. These keywords can help shape your content and also bring more targeted traffic to your site. If you’re not sure how to get started, reach out to Peregryn today and let our expert team drive organic and sustainable growth.
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