6 Hotel SEO Strategy Tips

Hotel SEO Strategy6 tips to develop a hotel SEO strategy for 2017 and beyond

If your efforts to get your hotel noticed online have fallen flat recently, it may be time to update your hotel SEO strategy to bring it in line with current standards. Google is constantly updating its algorithm to make sure searchers are presented with the most accurate answers to their queries. In the past year alone, several key updates have changed the importance of ranking signals that Google looks for when assigning positions in search results. We’ve incorporated the most critical of these ranking changes into six hotel SEO strategy tips for 2017 and beyond. Use them to start your hotel on the path to a higher place in search results today!

1. Optimize your website for mobile

Mobile devices now account for the majority of Internet usage, so mobile optimization should be the first step you take when updating your SEO hotel marketing strategy. If you already have a responsive website design that works on every mobile device, verify that your content is optimized for mobile. Go over your website page by page, making sure all your content (especially video) is constructed for mobile usage.

2. Check site structure for technical SEO

Make sure the structure of your hotel website is optimized correctly, with no technical errors. Be sure to correct broken links, orphan pages, and bad page directs. Check for robot.txt errors, and make sure keywords are placed in all the correct spots (in page titles, H tags, URL, and throughout content).

3. Include the correct NAP on each page

Search Engine Watch reports that 1 in 3 searches performed on Google now have local intent. Search engines incorporate the exact location of mobile devices when delivering results, and this pinpoint accuracy and instant information has led searches for local results for hotels (such as “hotels near me”) to become some of the most frequently sought terms. A critical part of a local SEO hotel marketing strategy is including the correct NAP (name, address, and phone number) information in text form on each page of your website. This ensures that Google can correctly identify your hotel’s location in relation to mobile searchers.

4. Get your site up to speed

Mobile page speed has become an essential part of SEO strategies for hotels. According to Google, 53 percent of people will leave a page if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load. Use Google’s Mobile Site Testing Tool to check your site speed, and consider upgrading to an AMP-enabled site. Support for Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) initiative continues to grow, and there are now over 2 billion total AMP pages. You don’t even have to know AMP code yourself – there is a handy WordPress AMP plug-in to get your site up to speed.

5. Use multiple language pages, with site tags that are correct

The world-wide reach of the Internet means even small boutique hotels have the opportunity to attract customers from overseas. In fact, many smaller hotels now rely on international travelers to account for a large portion of their clientele. To add international marketing to your boutique hotel marketing SEO strategy, create versions of your webpages in each language. Use hreflang tags to direct Google to the right version of your webpages so visitors see your hotel website in their language. Only use absolute URLs with hreflang tags, and don’t forget to verify that the hreflang tags use proper return tags.

6. Make sure you have links that drive traffic

Backlinks have been a part of hotel SEO strategies for years, but Google‘s algorithm has gotten better at identifying the quality of those links. In order for links to add to the SEO value of your hotel website, they need to be to reputable websites that have industry authority. Look for links to sites that provide something of value for your hotel guests, such as local directories, local attractions, historical information about your surroundings, and other links directly related to your guests’ experience.

If you would like some help updating your hotel SEO strategy for 2017 and beyond, Travel Tech Strategies is happy to help. As a full service hotel internet marketing agency, we can provide you with all the SEO support you need to make your hotel more visible in web searches. We can completely update your SEO strategy, then provide you with a monthly SEO maintenance package that includes keyword research, expert SEO content creation services, and much more to help your hotel gain a higher visibility in online searches.

Contact Travel Tech Strategies today at 954.635.5169 for more hotel SEO strategy tips and expert help updating your hotel SEO strategy to help you gain the highest possible visibility in searches!

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