Most hotel marketers are aware by now that producing high quality content on a regular basis plays an integral role in getting noticed by the right people online.
NB: This is an article from eTourism
But without the right research to inform and shape that content, creating blog posts can feel like taking a shot in the dark.
So, how can you fine tune your content marketing and ensure it resonates with the intended audience and drives more tangible results?
The key is data, and more specifically SEO related data. Every marketer has a wealth of this search data at their fingertips, but knowing where to find it and how to use it to improve your content creation efforts isn’t always obvious.
In today’s blog, we’ll look at 3 ways you can use data to maximise your content marketing and results.
1. Maximise The Value Of Older Content
Your content needs long term value to maximise organic results. Not to mention that thanks to Google’s frequent algorithm updates, a blog post which may have performed poorly in the past could turn out to be your best performing piece of content at some point in the future.
Analyse the performance of your existing content with the help of Google Analytics or Search Console, taking a close look at keyword rankings, impressions, and clicks data.
- Do any of your posts rank on page one multiple times?
- What does each page rank for?
- Which posts generate the highest click through rate or impressions count?
Answering these questions will help you pinpoint the top performing posts that have the most value from an SEO perspective. Once you know them, you can link to these posts in future content to enhance the organic performance of your content.
2. Analyse The Behaviour Of Your Organic Traffic
Once a travel consumer lands on your website after finding you through search, what do they do? Join your contact list? Browse? Bounce? By finding out the actions your website users take for each keyword group, you can get a better idea of where they are in the holiday shopping process and come up with additional content that guides them further along the booking funnel.
To get started, take a look at the Behaviour Flow report in Google Analytics and filter your audience segment to organic traffic. This will help you identify which pages are pulling in the most guests from the SERPs and the next steps they take after landing on your hotel’s website. If you notice a high bounce rate, it’s time to get serious about conversion rate optimization (CRO).
Using a tool like Google Optimize, run A/B tests on key elements like CTA placement, headings, content length and images to see which combinations generate the most conversions. Once you’ve identified the specific changes that boost performance, you’ll know which tactics to continue with, and which to drop in your future content.
3. Examine Inbound Links
Although its importance has been debated over the years, linking remains an integral component to any SEO strategy because it signals to Google that your website is a valuable and relevant source of information to its users.
But what content strategy insights can inbound links provide? By examining which of your hotel’s posts are the most linked to from quality websites, you have a good idea of the content that other people find the most interesting or helpful, offering a valuable guide for your future posts. You might also decide to run a series of blog posts relating to the most linked to content. To analyse your inbound link data, use a tool like Moz’s Open Site Explorer.
