In recent years, travel and tourism have been extremely competitive, with chains and hotels competing against online travel agencies (OTAs) and later booking the sites in the rich search results that are then increasing. Whereas, in the recent drawbacks of COVID-19, this industry has also been significantly impacted and still is undergoing the aftereffects. Now that the pandemic is abating in some countries and states, there are people who again are looking forward to traveling again.
It is to be seen that there hasn’t been any change recorded in the user behavior, hence hotel brands are expected to cater a shifting in their SEO strategies so that there could be an increment seen in the bookings, revenue, and traffic if they are there hoping for acquiring the travelers in the near future as well as now. This blog suggests some of the tools, tactics, and strategies that could be used for accomplishing that goal with the best SEO practices for hospitality in the year 2022 and later.
Use Data to Prioritize Destinations
In order to prioritize locations and make sure that the hotel lies in the top positions, one should only look in Destination Insights with Google. The very main thing that is important in the travel industry is where people are going. And this can be further achieved by using data and later comparing the trends and focusing on having clear visibility for all those destinations.
The second best tool that could be used for providing insights for the SEO strategy is the Hotel Insights by Google. It thereby provides the data regarding the people who are looking forward to staying in the area, moreover for tools and tips for making sure that your business stands out from the competition.
Satisfying the Needs of a Traveler with a Brand Concierge Strategy
One should always possess the content which could be there meeting the traveler’s intent and satisfying one’s own wishes to have a clear demonstration of Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-A-T).
At times, travelers conduct the related research way before in advance. 90% of the travelers direct their ways to the search engines when they are there looking for a place to stay and 81% of them make Google their preference as their travel inspiration’s source.
This is the very reason hotels are required to have an SEO brand concierge strategy that can actually make them to connect with travels throughout the user journey. This then is inclusive of a holistic content strategy and a great understanding regarding guest profiles which then should be included in the generational segments i.e. Boomers and Millennials and also interest-based segments such as Foodies and Adventures. There is a requirement of content that caters the individual travelers and this is the content that must be prioritized above the specific hotel destination and also within.
There is a requirement of concierge strategy by the hotel that will rethink the hotel brand websites and the role played by them for developing a connection with the travelers through the different elements. This further requires an understanding of search, the connection developed between the topics, and the queries raised by the travelers throughout their journey.
Optimization of Local and GMB Listings
Through the optimization of the Google Business Profile, the hotel listing then can be seen in the Map Pack edition to being listed in the organic listings that are regular on the page specifically for the geo-modified keywords.
This then can result in driving incremental revenue, organic traffic, and bookings. Fully optimized listings can further assist in prioritizing a business in order to have an assurance that the hotel listings could be shown up at the top of one’s searches and later provides a consistent customer experience to drive retention and bookings.
Collaborating with the Social Media Team
By sharing content regarding the most popular destinations, hotel offerings, travel tips, events, and nearby attractions, there could be help provided for maximizing the visibility, building more brand exposure, and later generating more links and buzz regarding the hotel, which then can have a positive effect on the visibility, traffic, and revenue of the hotel.
Optimization In Regard to Core Web Vitals with Uptime Web Solution
In the competitive industry such as travel and tourism, there lies a need and necessity for optimizing one’s site for Core Web Vitals.
These are the three combined metrics that further are used for measuring a website across key performance indicators’ series that then became a ranking signal back in May 2021. These include:
- When loading, how much the webpage layout moves around (CLS)
- How much time is required by the webpage to become interactive (FID)
- How much time main part of a webpage requires to load (LCP)
For improvising on CWV, hotel sites are required to have a clean code, for heavy images use a CDN, externalize CSS and JN, and be mobile secure, and friendly, etc.
Leveraging FAQs and Being Ready for Voice
In order to help current and future clients find the information they need, the placement of FAQs on the site is highly preferred and this then can also help in minimizing the calls made to the hotel. Furthermore, FAQs should also be marked up with the structured data so that further they can show up in maximum results and then maximize the organic search results.
Monitoring the Visibility and Performance of the Competitors
There has been a change noted in the way consumers perform searches for hotels. This is the reason why it is important to monitor the rankings of the competitors and look forward to these factors: content built by them, the market share owned by them, the new SEO strategies they are there trying, how do they get links, and how fast their pages load. Later by this, it is important for figuring out the strategies and strategies one can glean that might be worthy of testing out.
Conclusion
On the whole, there is a need for the hotel brands to be flexible and try out the new content ideas as well as SEO strategies, as well as monitor the competitors and have a better understanding of their guests. By having an in-depth understanding regarding the nature and expectations of the travelers and later engaging them with the content that then satisfies all that they need. This then can help the travel brands drive incremental traffic, bookings, and revenue.
