We recently talked about the complicated relationship that hotels and resorts have with OTAs. But if your hotel’s website is lacking, OTAs might not be the only reason you aren’t seeing many direct bookings.
Improving your hotel or motel marketing starts with implementing SEO strategies. While this isn’t an overnight process, improving your site’s SEO can help you boost your site ranking and web traffic over time. A Utah hotel marketing management company like Vibrant Management can help you tackle the many different aspects that go into improving your website’s ranking and traffic. This includes ensuring your site loads quickly, that it’s optimized for local searches, and more.
Still on the fence about whether to invest in professional hotel or motel marketing? Keep reading to learn the basics of SEO, how to implement a few simple strategies on your own, and how the pros at Vibrant Management can help.
What is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. This term refers to the process of optimizing a website’s content to help it rank higher on search engines. The ultimate goal is for your hotel or motel website to show up in the search results on Google or other search engines when guests search for relevant terms.
The process of implementing SEO strategies isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. To start, search engines, and Google in particular, don’t share the exact criteria that they use to rank websites—also called an “algorithm.” However, there are some factors that we know Google uses, like how relevant the content of a website is for certain searches, the quality of the content, or how usable the pages are.
Additionally, every website is unique in its layout, content, and purpose. This means that different strategies might be more effective in improving your ranking than others.
The Basics of SEO
Implementing SEO strategies on your website can feel like a guessing game at first. Partnering with a Utah hotel marketing management expert, like Vibrant Management, is the best way to implement SEO strategies from the ground up. With the help of a professional hotel motel marketing team, you’ll see steady, reliable improvement in your website’s ranking. You’ll also get immediate help clearing any roadblocks that could be hurting your site’s ranking, like a slow-loading homepage.
But even without professional help, there are a few simple SEO strategies that you can implement on your own. Let’s take a look at a few SEO basics you need to know if you want to improve your hotel or motel marketing strategy.
Choose Better Keywords
One of the simplest things that any website owner can learn to help improve their search engine ranking is how to choose the right keywords to focus on. Keywords are words or phrases that web surfers are putting into the search bar in search engines like Google. Put simply, this is what you type in when you want to find something on the web.
For example, if you’re hungry, you might go to Google and type in “pizza delivery near me.” Google will then produce results based on those keywords or key phrases. In this case, you’ll likely get a list of local pizza companies.
When it comes to hotel and motel marketing, it’s important to choose the keywords that your prospective guests are using when searching for a place to stay in your area. Avoid keywords that are too general, as these are overused on websites and will be impossible to rank for. Keywords like “hotel” or “motel” are far too general, and won’t help you boost your ranking. Instead, you need to get more specific.
Say that you run a boutique hotel in Springdale, Utah. Some keywords that you might aim to rank for include:
- Springdale hotels
- Zion hotels
- Zion lodging
- where to stay in Springdale Utah
- hotels in Springdale Utah
- boutique hotels Springdale
Optimize Your Content
The next thing that you can do is optimize your website’s content. This includes any copy on your site’s web pages, as well as any blog or news content that you post.
Optimizing your content means doing a few things. First, you’ll want to add some keywords to each page or piece of content. Avoid oversaturating your content with those keywords that you researched; this can actually hurt your site’s ranking. Choose a single target keyword for each piece of content. Include this target keyword multiple times within that piece of content. Then, sprinkle in other supporting keywords throughout. Aim to use keywords in a way that fits naturally. Poor-quality content can cause your site’s bounce rate to increase, as web surfers find your content lacking and navigate elsewhere rather than sticking around.
Next, focus on your page title and meta description. The title of your webpage or blog/article should reflect the subject of that content and include your target keyword. Every page you post should also have a meta description that’s between 150 and 165 characters and includes your chosen target keyword.
Add an Image and Alt Text
Images serve an important role on your motel or hotel website. They showcase your beautiful property and give potential guests a better idea of what to expect. But when you post images to your website, make sure that you’re adding alt text to each. This will ensure that search engines are properly indexing those images when they scan your website.
Give Your Content Some Structure
One super simple change that you can make on your website is to make sure that the content that you’re posting is well structured. While this alone might not boost your site’s ranking, it can help remove a potential roadblock to a better ranking, and ensure that your web visitors can easily scroll your site to find the information that they need.
Make sure that you’re using headings and subheadings to break up any content on your site. Aim to keep your sections to 250 or fewer words to make them easier to scroll. Choose headings and subheadings that describe the content held in each section. This will allow your guests to find what they’re looking for more easily.
Investing in Professional Hotel and Motel Marketing
Implementing a few simple SEO strategies on your own can help you set the stage for a better search engine ranking. But if you want to take your ranking and traffic to the next level, investing in professional hotel and motel marketing is a great choice.
At Vibrant Management, we specialize in helping our clients find customized solutions that work for them. Whether you want to start with a brand new website, implement SEO strategies on an existing one, add a blog to increase your keyword usage, or optimize your web content, we can help. Book a consultation today to learn more about how we can help your website shine.
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