In today’s digital age, the success of hotels relies heavily on their online presence. With travelers increasingly turning to search engines to find accommodation options, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has become a fundamental strategy for hotels to stand out in the competitive hospitality industry. SEO for hotels is not just about ranking higher on search engine results pages; it’s about crafting an online strategy that ensures your hotel is easily discoverable, appealing, and informative to potential guests. In this guide, we will delve into the essential elements of hotel SEO, from optimizing your website to managing local listings, to help you attract more visitors, boost bookings, and ultimately, achieve long-term success in the hospitality sector.
Define SEO for Hotels
Search Engine Optimization (SEO), particularly when conducted by an expert agency like SAGIPL SEO company for hotel website ranking, is a strategic process aimed at enhancing the visibility and ranking of a hotel’s website on popular search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing. This optimization process is instrumental in bolstering your hotel’s online presence, attracting a higher volume of web traffic, and ultimately, increasing bookings.
It’s important to emphasize that SEO constitutes an integral component of hotel digital marketing, offering a proven and essential strategy to outperform competitors in the highly competitive hospitality industry.
What is the Correct Way to Do SEO for Hotels?
Amidst the multitude of hotel SEO tips at your disposal, it’s crucial to discern the most impactful ones. That’s why, in order to guide you in the right direction for effective hotel SEO, I’ve distilled 15 actionable steps to ensure you start on the right foot.
- Understand Your Target Audience
Before you start optimizing your hotel website for SEO, you have to identify your target audience and understand their preferences, characteristics, and booking habits.
Mentioned below are some examples –
| Type of Accommodation | Most likely target audience |
| A hotel that offers adventurous activities | Millennials, Leisure travelers (Families and groups) |
| Resort | Leisure travelers (Families and groups) |
| Serviced apartment | Corporate or business travelers |
| Hostel | Budget, or solo travelers, backpackers |
Think about the search terms your audience will enter when they are searching for accommodation options, once you have a clear idea of who they are.
- Begin with Keyword Research
To create a strong SEO strategy for your hotel, you need to find out what words and phrases your potential customers are searching for online.
For example, some of the best keywords for hotels in the Maldives could be:
- Hotels in Male, Maldives
- Cheap hotels in Male
- Best hotels in Male
- Hotels near Meeru Island
- Hotels near Maldives airport
You need to discover the words and phrases that your target audience is using to find hotels like yours online. This is an essential part of building a solid SEO strategy for your hotel.
There are various tools that can help you with keyword research, such as Google Keyword Planner and Ubersuggest.
Using these tools is simple. Just enter a keyword (or a list of keywords) and search.
- Work on the page Title (Meta Title), Meta Description, and URL
Your hotel website’s SEO depends a lot on the title, meta description, and URL of your webpage.
These are the three key elements that show up on the search engine results page.
Let’s go through each one of them and write SEO-friendly content for your website.
Page title
The title of your webpage/website is what shows up on your browser tab and tells your users and search engines what your page is about.
The text that you see highlighted in the image below is the title of your home page.
Meta description
A meta description is a short summary of a page’s content that appears in HTML code. It is displayed right after the title on the search engine results page.
This is a crucial factor that can affect your ranking positively or negatively.
Web Page URL
A meta description is a short summary of a page’s content that appears in HTML code. It is displayed right after the title on the search engine results page.
This is a crucial factor that can affect your ranking positively or negatively.
- Optimize Your Website Content
The content of your home page is very important for your SEO strategy. You should use the keyword that you want to rank for in the h1 tag.
You should also include the same keyword in the first paragraph of your page, within the first 100 words.
Additionally, I recommend that you write at least 800 to 1000 words on your home page that contain the keyword and its synonyms.
You can create content that appeals to your audience in the form of blogs, articles, and newsletters. You can use different keywords in your content to reach more potential customers.
- Involve Alt Text to Images
Image alt text is a text that shows up when an image fails to load. It is important to write relevant alt-text for each image because:
- Search engines cannot interpret images. By adding alt text to the images, you can provide context to the search engines so that they can index your images properly.
- Alt text also helps screen-reading tools to describe images to people who have visual impairments.
- Another important aspect of hotel SEO is the image search engine, which allows users to find images related to their queries. You want to rank well on that too (as shown in the image).
- Arrange Headings and Subheadings
Headings help your website’s text content to be more readable and understandable for both users and search engines. They indicate the importance and relevance of different parts of your content.
Content that is well-structured is easier for users to follow, which improves your hotel’s SEO. Moreover, headings offer you a great opportunity to use your main keyword.
Where to look for heading tags?
Headings and subheadings are defined by H tags. The H tags range from H1 to H6, with H1 being the most important and H6 being the least.
Step – 1 You can access the source code of your website by using one of these methods: Press F12 or Ctrl + U on your keyboard, or right-click on your webpage and choose “View Source” or “Inspect Element.”
Step – 2 You should look for the tags that indicate the headings, such as H1, H2, and so on. They should be enclosed in brackets like this.
Step – 3 Add the focus keyword in the H1 tag.
Step – 4 Manage the correct hierarchy.
- Optimize the Loading Speed of Your Website
Loading speed is another aspect that matters a lot for your hotel website SEO. You have to realize that your audience is NOT WILLING TO WAIT.
I know it’s a bit technical however, this will assist you in understanding what you should ask your website designer or developer.
This is how you can check your website speed –
- Go to Google Page Speed Insight.
- Enter your website URL and hit analyze.
This website score measures how fast your website loads.
It gives you a score for both mobile and desktop devices. It also identifies the issues that affect your website performance and suggests how you can fix them.
You don’t have to worry about the technical details. Just pay attention to the insights as a hotelier. You can ask your website provider to optimize your website and increase the score.
- Craft your Website Mobile-Friendly
According to research, more than half of Google searches are done on mobile devices. Therefore, it is essential for you to make your hotel website adaptable to different screen sizes as part of your hotel SEO strategy.
How to find that your website is mobile-friendly?
- Go to the “Mobile-Friendly Test” page.
- Type your website URL and press the enter key or click on the “Test URL” button.
You will see if your page is compatible with mobile devices or not. If it’s not, it will show you the problems that need to be fixed on your website. You can follow the suggestions or ask your website designer to do it. Once it’s done, you can test it again.
- Create and Submit the Sitemap
A sitemap functions as a website map, providing a clear overview of all your web pages. It serves as a file that lists the pages on your site, helping search engines understand your site’s content structure. Search engines utilize this file to efficiently crawl and index your site. Thus, creating a sitemap is a crucial element of an effective hotel SEO strategy.
- Shape your Content
Schema or structured data, is a code that helps your website communicate specific information to the search engines.
Schema is a great way to improve your hotel website and a key part of your SEO tactics. It gives users more relevant information in a structured way.
You can add many things to your website’s schema markup.
- Street address
- Phone number
- Description
- Star rating
- Hotel’s surrounding temperature
- A photo of your hotel
- Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
- Typical room rates/price range
- Reception opening hours/check-in hours
- Map URL
- Features and services, such as a gym or pool
- A parent company, if you are part of a chain
- Languages that are spoken by your team
- Make the Most of Google My Business
Google’s advanced hotel search option is a great opportunity to attract more visitors to your hotel website.
It is a vital and powerful step for your hotel SEO. You should take advantage of this opportunity by getting listed on Google My Business (GMB).
- Before you do anything else, make sure you have access to your listing. If you don’t, then claim it. Once you have access, optimize it wisely.
- Include your hotel’s name, address, and phone number (also known as NAP).
- Make sure your Google Maps marker is in the right location (so people can find your hotel easily).
- Provide extra details that are relevant to travelers who are looking for you. For example, Wi-Fi, disabled access, smoking areas, and so on.
- If you are a hotel chain or a hospitality group, then have a verified Google My Business listing for each one – managed through a single account.
- Make the Most of Google Hotel Search
Google launched a new hotel search engine in 2015, which offers a user-friendly interface and more traffic for hotel websites. This search engine is dedicated to finding the best hotels for users.
The two key ways people find hotels are as mentioned below –
- Hotels in ‘(name of town, city, or vicinity)’
- Hotel ‘Palm Beach in Maldives’
The featured properties stand out in Google Hotel Search, with bigger images and fonts that highlight the hotel names, descriptions, and prices. Hotels aim to get a spot on the first page of the search results, with a clear and attractive brand image and description that can drive more traffic and conversions
- Build Links
Link building is the practice of getting other websites to link to your website. A link is a way for users to move from one web page to another.
For hotels, link building means getting links from external sites that are relevant to your hotel business, such as hotel associations, OTAs, and more.
The Bottom Line
Mastering SEO for hotels in 2023 is essential for staying competitive in the digital landscape. By implementing the strategies and tactics outlined in this comprehensive guide, you can enhance your online presence, attract more guests, and ultimately, boost your hotel’s success. Keep up with the latest SEO trends and continue optimizing your website to ensure long-term growth and profitability in the hospitality industry.
If you seek an SEO-focused partner to manage your hotel’s online presence, look no further than SAG IPL. As a leading and prominent company, SAG IPL’s team brings a wealth of experience spanning both traditional and cutting-edge marketing. Firms prioritize timely task delivery and affordability to provide exceptional value for your digital needs. SAG IPL is your ideal choice for effective hotel SEO strategies and keyword targeting to reach your desired audience.