No matter where you’re located or who you’re trying to reach, a solid SEO strategy is a must for every hotel hoping to sell out rooms and venues. It might seem confusing at first. But these SEO marketing tips should answer most (if not all) of your questions for your hotel marketing plan. Follow these steps and you’ll be sure to increase your discoverability on Google sooner than later.
What is SEO marketing for hotels?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. When we discuss search engines, most of the time we’re directly referring to Google. According to Search Engine Market Share, it’s used by 92.92% of the entire world. So that’s what we’ll be focusing on throughout this article.
Optimizing your search engine results, in a nutshell, means editing your website and content details so that they make it easier for Google to find you. It also makes it easier for Google to tell whether or not you’re the authority on a subject.
Sometimes a lot of brands use the same key words, which means there is a lot of SEO competition for what they do. To differentiate yourself when it comes to marketing your venue, and still come out on top in the search results, you’ll need to perfect your SEO marketing. Which leads to our next question…
Why do hotels need SEO?
- Rank higher in Google search results. The competition for that first page of results for “hotel in [name of your city]” is really, really, tough. But you can aim for the first or second result on some more specific keywords or phrases.
- Save money in the long run. SEO marketing takes a lot of time but it is far less expensive than other marketing methods. It’s also more reliable. Thanks to help from some tools we’ve mentioned below, you control and track your progress every step of the way.
- Get better quality leads. The people who do find your hotel will be more likely to book a reservation since they are specifically searching for what your unique location has to offer. Once they are on your website, they’ll find more content and information that solidifies their confidence that your hotel is their best possible choice.
As you can see, hotels who prioritize SEO marketing are going to have a steep advantage when it comes to being found on the internet by prospective guests or event planners. Here’s how to dominate your search engine strategy.
20 SEO marketing tips for properties
1. Research and identify your primary, secondary, and long tail keywords.
Primary keywords are the one or two word phrases that immediately come to mind when you think of your hotel. It can even include the hotel’s name. This will be the keyword you use in most content and other key SEO placements.
Secondary keywords are, again, one or two words but they’re a little less obvious. These might feature a highlight of your property or include points of attractions nearby. Anything to help you get as specific as possible about your unique property.
Long tail keywords, as the name implies, are longer phrases. They’re usually around the three to five word mark, or longer. They include questions and How To’s. These are great fodder for your content marketing. You can create resources around that answer or provide solutions to these long tail keyword phrases.
2. Edit Meta Titles.
The Meta Title is the name of your web page. You can find it on the tab of any website page you have open in your browser. Google scans and reviews meta titles to find out what your site is all about. Use your primary keyword or words in the Meta Title to help Google understand what it is you do.
3. Put page headers and descriptions to work.
Similar to Meta Titles, Google also loves to review your page headers and descriptions. It the search engine them more depth of information. Rich, detailed descriptions and properly formatted headers that all contain one or more of your chosen keywords start to build a detailed picture of what your hotel website is and what people can expect to find there. The more Google knows about your website details, the better it can group you with other, similar results.
4. Emphasis the hotel’s location.
As we’ve written about before, smart hotels make sure to include local seo for their venue on their websites. Local SEO means emphasizing your location as a selling point for search engine results.
