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Originally Posted On: https://bippermedia.com/the-basics-of-seo-for-hotels/

When searching for the best hotels, studies have shown that 85 percent of consumers will use a search engine at some point in their pursuit of the right place to stay. Using SEO for hotels is statistically proven to drive up your occupancy.

It stands to reason then that having a prominent showing on search engines will help your hotel be successful. When you’re out in a new town looking for some quality barbecue, short of asking a local, what’s the first thing you’re going to do? You’re going to Google it, right?

When someone searches for “hotels near me” or “best affordable hotels in ” and your hotel is one of the first to pop up on their screen, chances are that you’re going to have a big advantage on the competition because you’ve got the customers’ eyes first! Let’s explore further how to get your hotel to pop up on search engines.

Near Me: SEO for Hotels

Hotel marketing is based on a multi-faceted approach. Hotel advertising runs the gamut. From billboards to rewards and from discount sites to buy-one-get-one-free nights.

All of that aside, the strategy that drives the most business toward hotels is search engine success. This truly is not rocket science – when you’re in an area that you’re not familiar with, the easiest thing to do is to go to the search engines.

It also extends to other similar searches. Hypothetically, let’s say that you own or operate a hotel in Tucson, Arizona, for this little exercise.

Folks who are traveling to the area will spend some time looking at discount travel sites (we know the names, so we won’t advertise them in this space). Once they find a rate that they like and pictures that look appealing, they are pretty likely to take the next step of searching for the best hotels in the area – i.e. “Best Hotels in Tucson, Arizona.”

Next up – put yourself in their shoes – “Tucson, Arizona hotels fitness center,” because we all need to at least act like we care about our fitness, y’know.

If your hotel doesn’t end up at or near the top of that list, your business is dead in the water. You absolutely must pop near the top of the “near me” and “best of” lists in a search engine result.

Taking It a Step Further

Now that we’ve drilled down on the necessity of SEO for hotels let’s take it another step further and expand upon the other phrases and keywords that you can use to organically populate other hotel ads and search engine results.

Since we’ve already covered “near me” and “best of,” there are some other keywords and phrases that can be used or requested from an SEO marketing company to help drive up the number of clicks your hotel receives in a given amount of time.

Let’s stick with our hypothetical hotel in Tucson. Using phrases such as “Tucson’s best” or “overnight stays in Tucson” can grab attention. Heck, start adding blogs that include phrases about all of your amenities!

“Tucson hotel pools” and “Tucson hotels with a pool” are a great start. “Continental breakfast in Tucson, Arizona,” boom. Everyone who wants a hotel in Tucson where they can grab a bagel in the morning knows about your business thanks to the power of search engine optimization.

Use Your Surroundings

When you are working on hotel marketing and travel SEO, it bears repeating that you should brag about the nearby attractions, destinations, and amenities. Just so we’re not loving on Tucson too much, let’s pick another hypothetical hotel location. Let’s pick a less visited region in the Midwest just to make a point – let’s go with Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Grand Forks, North Dakota, has the distinguished title of the coldest metropolitan area in the contiguous 48 states on an average annual basis. Using solid SEO principles, you can still drive massive business to your hotel there is that frozen version of Hell, and here’s how.

Along with the above keywords and phrases, hotel owners and/or managers can promote their amenities and the features that set them apart by being smart about their hotel advertising.

Grand Forks, North Dakota, happens to have an indoor water park resort with hotel rooms, restaurants, an arcade, and all kinds of other cool stuff for kids and parents alike.

There you go – “Grand Forks hotels kid-friendly,” “North Dakota Indoor Water Parks,” and “Grand Forks hotels near restaurants” are only three phrases that immediately come to mind for the marketing manager of that hotel/resort. That will spike that frozen tundra’s water park attendance through the artificial skylit roof above the corkscrew polar bear waterslide.

If that person reads this, you’re welcome for the free advice, friend.

So, Where Am I Supposed to Put This?

Does your business have a website? If not, go get one, and we’ll talk later – but since it probably does, get a “blog” page. Use that blog page to write about key trends in the industry, upcoming and ongoing deals, and any other pertinent news that your hotel’s customers may want to see.

Then you need to blast that page full of search-engine-optimized content and phrases that get clicks focused on your desired keywords dozens of times daily and land your business at the top of the relevancy rankings on Google. Easy peezy, lemon squeezy.

Use a Professional to Grow Your Online Presence

Look, we can help you out. We can be as aggressive or as stand-offish as you’d like and use as many or as few keywords and phrases as you feel comfortable with. In the end, it’s about the phrases that you want to be associated with your hotel if you want to make the most of SEO for hotels.

Our goal is to help your business succeed and to help you do it on your terms and with your voice. Take a look around our site, do your research with other companies, and learn the terminology. Please contact us if you have questions about building your hotel’s online presence.