4 SEO STRATEGIESTO GET MOREDIRECT BOOKINGSFROM GOOGLETHE INDEPENDENT HOTELIER'S GUIDE

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KEY TAKEAWAYS:

Take advantage of VideoSEO-friendly URLsThe WASP method for contentOptimise for mobile or suffer

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WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT SEO.

It's an area that can seem prettymurky next to running a summer offeror taking great pictures of your hotel,but it's a key part of your hotel's onlinepresence.

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DESPITE ITS CHANGING NATURE,SEO CAN STILL GET YOUR HOTELMORE BOOKINGS.

Search engine optimisation isnecessary to a healthy website.Without it, guests are going to have areally, really hard time finding yourhotel online.

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READY FOR 4 STRATEGIES TO USEFOR YOUR HOTEL?

Let's go.

TAKEADVANTAGEOF THE

POWER OFVIDEO

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1

64% of travellers on YouTube watch travel videos when they'rethinking about holidays.

37% watch when actively choosing a site to book on.

Video searches are 62% of all Google searches, so Google pays moreattention to your web pages that have videos on them.

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HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHAT TO MAKE VIDEOS OF?

Think of things that would appeal to your guest personas. Aim tocreate content that helps your guests - not just shameless

promotion!

Here are 4 ideas:

A tour of nearby attractionsQuirky challenges for guests and staffEntertaining interviews with guestsQuick recordins of activities guests canget involved in during their stay

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IT DOESN'T NEED TO BECOMPLICATED.

All you really need are an iPhone, acamera stabilizer and a few hours.

USESEO-FRIENDLY

URLS

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2

USELOWERCASELETTERS

USE DASHES,NOT

UNDERSCORES

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these - , not these _

USE YOURKEYWORDS INYOUR URL

What does an SEO-friendly URL mean?Just a few things:

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HAVING THE RIGHT URLS IS ANEASY WAY TO BECOMEGOOGLE-FRIENDLY.

You're optimising your hotel's webpages at a basic level.

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WHAT KIND OF KEYWORDS GIVEYOU TRAFFIC BOOSTS?

Try to be specific.

Instead of "hotels in Ireland", try"honeymoon hotel packages Killarney":

“http:// hotelname.com/hotel-honeymoon-packages-killarney”

WASPMETHOD FORCONTENT

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3

Hotel photography with

sparkling copy

Customer testimonials

An FAQ for guests

Describing the local scene

Promotions or events at your

hotel

Travel tips

Local guides and resources

Useful language phrases, if you

get a lot of non-native speakers

Behind the scenes

Interesting facts about your hotel

or the local area

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This SEO tactic requires you to publishcontent. If you're stuck for ideas, try:

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HERE ARE THE STEPS OFTHE WASP METHOD

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RITE CONTENTWStrive for content that will appeal to localjournalists and travel writers - they can

instantly boost your website's exposure andtraffic.

Quality is key! Be better than your competitors.

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DD SOCIAL SHARINGOPTIONS

ASharing buttons will allow people to easilylink to your content. Add buttons, embedtweetable quotes - make it as easy aspossible to spread the word about your

content.

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ET UP ON-PAGE SEOSThis means:

Your target keyword should be in theURL. Keep it short! Google prefers shorter

URLs.Drop the target keywords into the first100 words of content -the sooner, the

better.

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ROMOTEPEmail those people who might be inclinedto share your content. You've (presumably)created a piece of content that's better

than what those travel writers have alreadylinked to, and you should tell them about it!There's a good chance of them wanting to

feature it.

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As you might have guessed, thismethod is a job for your marketing

team.

Getting it set up can take a little time - don'twaste more of that time training people who areunfamiliar with what needs to be done when

you've already got a team to do it.

Once your content is up and running, you'll havethose SEO-friendly links pouring in.

OPTIMISE FORTHE SHIFT

TOMOBILE

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4

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The rise of mobile is well known, andit's just as important as everyone says

it is.

Net Affinity's own data shows that 1 in 5 bookingswere made on mobile last year, and 37% of allbookings were on mobile and tablet combined.

That's huge.

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Because of this, user experience for those onmobile weighs heavily on SEO. This means your

website needs to be mobile-friendly!

Make sure people can not only book on yourmobile website, they can actually find your

website when they Google it!

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TO OPTIMISE YOUR SEOFOR MOBILE:

Use a responsive designEnsure navigation for mobile issmooth as possibleHave a device-agnostic approach

THAT'S IT!

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The rules of SEO are simple andfinite - even though ther's oftenchanges in which rules are mostimportant.

These best practices are up todate, simple, and will help boostyour hotel's visibility on Googlefor the traffic you really want torank for.

If that doesn't sound like arecipe for direct bookings, wedon't know what does!

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Focused exclusively on the hotel sector, Net Affinity is atechnology, digital marketing and web design firm. We have

collated the brightest, most commercially focused, experiencedand passionate team of online marketers, account managers,designers and developers whose combined skill set ensures our

clients' online success.