SEO for Hotels
What is Search Engine Optimization and do you really need it for your hotel?
Many times you hear the term ‘Hotel SEO’ but what does this really mean and why do you need it? How can SEO help your hotel business grow?
Keeping in mind that some of our readers may not be well versed with SEO for hotels, we will avoid technical terms and simplify it for you.
Q: What is a Search Engine Friendly Website?
A SEO friendly website is one which has certain features and configurations which make it easy for search engines to read (crawl) and understand what the particular website is all about. This increases the chances of achieving better rankings in the SERPS.
Q. Why do I need a SEO friendly website?
Well, the advantages are a many but those which are important for you to know are:
#1 – It will get you more targeted traffic from search engines
A SEO friendly website is likely to run higher in the search engine results pages (SERPS). You can understand the importance of SEO considering the fact that the majority of people who use the search engines tend to select one of the first 5 results.
#2 – Good SEO will make your website friendly not only for search engines but for users as well making it easier to use and enhance the user experience.
#3 – It gives credibility to your hotel brand since Users are more likely to trust businesses (websites) that are found in the first pages of search engines like Google, Bing or Yahoo. This is beneficial for increasing brand awareness and improving brand credibility.
#4 – It has bigger, long term benefits and is cost effective
Good SEO will drive targeted traffic 24×7 365 days a year to your website at a cost much lesser than other form of advertising.
#5 – It provides you with valuable customer insights.
SEO drives quality traffic and by analysing the behaviour of those users (how they enter your website, what they click, how they leave, what they like etc). It helps you understand what your most important customers want and create products to match their needs.
#6 – SEO is even more important for mobile
With more and more users using their mobiles to search for information or hotel offers while on the go, it is important to be on top of the search results otherwise you are at a risk losing customers to competition, especially those searching for last minute deals. A mobile friendly website that has good rankings on mobile search can get more customers and traffic than websites that are not mobile SEO friendly.
Why is SEO crucial for Independent Hotels
Today’s tech-savvy travelers demand efficient, interactive websites that are both beautiful and intuitive. You may have an extraordinary website with effective design combinations, full mobile integration, unlimited photo galleries, and much more. However if no one ever sees it, even the best website can’t connect you with potential guests with all this in place. For hotels, effective SEO becomes especially important due to the changing booking patterns of today’s travelers.
Your hotel’s website is critical to attracting guests. Today more than 85% of travelers go online to plan their trips. Almost 95% of these travellers, use search engines such as Google as the first step to find and book accommodations.
If this doesn’t demonstrating the value of strong search rankings, there are countless other studies which clearly reveal the importance of search engine optimization. A few years ago, experts at a leading university profiled a study which showed that users are far less likely to click a website link on Google if it appears after the first page.
In spite of all the new revenue opportunities available to hoteliers today, search engines still rule direct distribution with over 50% of traffic to hotel websites . What does all this mean? Well, in simple terms, if your site doesn’t show up on one of Google’s first few pages, statistics clearly show you will receive sparse traffic which means lesser customers. At the same time however, by moving from the second page of search engine results to the first page, you could get higher number of clicks which increase the chance of better online sales.
Independent Hoteliers often underestimate this when it comes to their SEO budgets. Google constantly updates its algorithms to deliver an improved search experience to users, which is why It’s important to continuously optimize Hotel SEO strategies To ensure that your property is maximizing revenues from the search engines traffic.
That’s where Divine Hospitality Consulting’s search engine optimization (SEO) for hotels and additional digital Marketing services help your independent hotel’s website site to rank well in Google and other search engines With the right SEO strategies. an impactful online presence that gets results.
Our SEO Services for Hotels
Divine Hospitality Consulting’s SEO services for independent hotels include two main components:
- Optimizing your website for search engine ranking and comply with Google’s best practices.
- Google makes changes to its algorithm frequently to provide users with better experience. Hence developing an SEO strategy that is on – going and which analyzes your traffic and keyword rankings and makes actionable recommendations is necessary to help you to improve continually.
You can be assured that your gains are attained safely and honestly as we provide Hotel SEO services that strictly adhere to each and every one of Google’s stringent guidelines and best practices. Not only does this approach boost higher SERP rankings; it also protects your hotel website from penalties related to future algorithmic changes.
Our SEO Sevices for hotels are developed ethically for a long term growth
When it came to SEO, there were times, where you could “stuff” keywords and phrases into your site copy. The more a keyword appeared on your site, the higher it would rank on Google. To place heavy emphasis on content relevance of as opposed to keywords stuffing, Google has since made smarter changes to its algorithm which mean that practices like keyword stuffing can actually make things worse and you can be penalised if your website is over optimized. Now, the more informative and useful the content is to the user, quality of the content and the other sites linking to it, the better the ranking for a website.
Independent hotels need to constantly keep reminding themselves, how important search engine optimization (SEO) is, and invest in proven techniques and processes and the right resources to compete, because If they don’t, then there will always be more competitors who are invest right and get the best results from the search engines.
Choosing the best digital marketing agency can be difficult especially when you receive numerous phone calls and emails every day from so-called Hotel SEO “experts” who make big promises.
However, Make no mistake! Please remember Google’s search results cannot be gamed, since Google’s algorithms change so frequently. No one can guarantee your hotel the top spot in the search rankings whoever tells you otherwise is just trying to get inside your wallet.
Fortunately, every independent hotel’s website has the potential to rank well in Google and other search engines by following Divine Hospitality Consulting’s ethical SEO practices which are in line with Google’s published recommendations.
Contact us today to know more about our SEO for Hotels and how we can optimize your hotel’s website and create a competitive advantage for your hotel.