If you own, run or manage a hotel, you don’t need me to tell you business is tough. There is probably no other industry sector that fights it out on the online battle field more than hotels and hospitality providers. For the hotel, the Internet is the marketplace and the industry has been revolutionised by the average consumers approach to choosing accommodation. But if SEO is so vital to your business, are you doing everything possible to ensure you stay well up the rankings?
7 SEO tips especially for the hospitality sector
- Competition is fierce – your meta descriptions must really sell your establishment. If you think of the meta description on a page as the same as a classified ad, you have just two lines to get your message across. Make sure you stand out and don’t forget to include a USP and benefit
- Meta Titles - extremely important for on page SEO, choose your target phrases wisely for your page and include them in your meta title tags. Remember that this is the first line of your Google listing so make it count
- Choosing your target search phrases- don’t forget to look at the amount of competition you have before choosing your target search terms, if there is massive competition then consider targeting longer search terms e.g. instead of targeting hotel cork maybe you should be targeting hotel cork county Ireland or hotel with restaurant cork city. A more accurate, longer search phrase will get you up near the top of page one for that specific term and right in front of your target audience. Your hotel may already be doing something specialist, like trips, themed events and more. Incorporate them into your online strategy and into your long tailed search terms.
- Online footprint - the key to your organic position is your online footprint. How big is it? Is it gradually growing over time? Is it relevant? This includes your inbound links, drive to web activity on the web, social media sharing and endorsements. Include this into your online marketing strategy. Google wants the most relevant website listed in the top positions and they now include websites that people are engaging with, linking to and endorsing.
- Blogs - they have real value in the hospitality sector. Blogs allows you to provide extra value content to your user that set you up as the experts that you are, in your specific field. Blog articles will help feed your online engagement and social sharing and endorsements. Be sure to create a strategy before launching into blogging. Know what you are trying to achieve and who are you writing for?
- Social Share Buttons – make it easy for your website visitors to endorse your web content, include the Facebook Share button, Facebook Like button, Tweet and Google+1 button on all key web content (including each blog post). Social signals and endorsements are now being recognised by Google. But also consider the effect this sharing and endorsements will have on your social strategy.
- Google Places (Now Google Local) – is your Google Local Places listing in check? Be sure to complete it 100%, Google prefers listings that are fully completed. Did you know that people can review your establishment on Google Local? Drive people to Google Local to review your services, this will enhance your listing in Google search results and will help users make a quick decision on which listing to click on, I don’t know about you but I would be more likely to click on the listing with the most details and reviews.
There it is. SEO for hotels in a nutshell. The Internet is your marketplace. The right techniques will deliver real results, both short and long term.
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