A Hotelier’s Quick Guide to Hotel SEO Marketing
A Hotelier’s Quick Guide to Hotel SEO Marketing: What Is It and How Does It Work?
The first step in increasing direct bookings for your hotel is to drive more search traffic to the hotel’s website or Brand.com. Here we will explore how an effective e-commerce strategy should begin with positioning your hotel’s website on online search engines to win more visibility and maximize direct booking revenue.
Before we dive in, be sure to visit our ultimate guide to hotel marketing to access an all-encompassing rundown of hotel marketing trends, data points, and insights.
What is hotel SEO marketing?
Hotel search engine optimization (or hotel SEO) is the process of optimizing and improving a hotel’s website so that it ranks higher in search engines (such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing) and accordingly, gains more online exposure.
Hotel SEO is a vital tactic that can be leveraged to increase the online visibility of your direct channel or website while beating the competition to the top spot in search results.
Even though SEO works with organic search and is a free traffic source, there are certain costs associated with the work, effort, budget, and time put into SEO itself.
Why is hotel SEO marketing important to hoteliers?
By ranking higher and increasing visibility in search engines, hotels can in turn engage or inspire future guests, generate more inquiries, and boost their bookings and revenue!
SEO marketing can help you target travelers with high travel intentions. For example, if someone searches for a hotel with a particular feature in a specific location, it’s clear their interest and the likelihood they will make a booking is very high.
Also, the better your website and the important landing page rank on search engines, the easier it is to win business from your competitors. It is a guaranteed way for your hotel to stand out from the competition when it matters most: when target travelers are exploring their next accommodation options.
SEO should be part of any hotel marketing strategy because it is a free channel that can make your hotel website more visible, resulting in more traffic and more opportunities to convert prospects into customers.
How does hotel SEO marketing help hotels drive more bookings and revenue?
Not only does hotel SEO marketing help a hotel drive more revenue and bookings through higher web traffic, but it also enables the hotel to strengthen its online presence, branding and perception. This allows your hotel to become top of mind for travelers seeking future accommodation options and wishing to make future purchases.
Moreover, in today’s highly competitive market, a hotel’s website can inspire travel and instill confidence. It can serve as a gateway for open communication between brands and guests and drive a more efficient booking journey.
At which stage of the traveler’s journey is it recommended to use hotel SEO marketing?
Prior to their getaway, when the traveler is just beginning to think about his or her next trip, SEO-optimized content is a great way to engage your audience. Your guests are looking for educational information – such as upcoming events and things to do – as inspiration. You can leverage blog posts pertaining to the hotel, the area, activities, and local attractions to insert your property into the conversation.
Pro Tips: Keep a record of your guests’ common questions about the area and publish your answers in blog posts.
During the planning stage of a traveler’s journey, the potential guest has built a list of experiences they want, but they have not narrowed down when or where they want to experience them. This presents an ideal opportunity for your hotel to build a relationship with a future guest as he or she carries out these searches. A traveler will start making logistical queries as to how far your hotel is from a certain location, costs associated with the trip, and other activities that exist near your hotel. A potential guest is looking for the best return on their money as they begin comparing options that will deliver the best experience and the most value.
This is a critical time for your hotel SEO marketing strategy, as it allows your hotel to capture the attention of the traveler as they search online for their upcoming trip. This will not only allow you to build a relationship with your audience, but it also lets you control the narrative and showcase your hotel’s values.
It is recommended to work with your sales and marketing, reservations, and webmaster resources to take stock of your existing hotel eCommerce practices to help identify areas of improvement and opportunity. Why not use our Ultimate Hotel eCommerce Checklists to support your direct booking revenue goals?
How to get started with hotel SEO marketing?
SEO has come a long way from optimizing titles, content and URLs to requiring a complex, almost scientific approach.
Check out our SEO Best Practices for Hotels infographic for key steps we recommend in order to enhance your property’s presence in organic searches and drive potential guests to your website. The checklist can be used to identify areas of improvement for your property or chain’s SEO strategy.
At Amadeus, and as part of Amadeus Hospitality Media Solutions, we help hoteliers drive profitable demand with strategies that include increasing bookings. Our offering combines paid media, metasearch and SEO solutions so that clients can gain relevance and dominate the first pages of Google and other search engines.
To get started, contact us and we can guide you on how to successfully kick start your hotel SEO strategies!