Hotel SEO 101 for DIYers

We speak with many hotel owners and managers, and not all are a good fit for our agency, nor are we for them. This is usually because the hotel operates in a market with low average daily rates (ADR) or has a limited number of rooms. In both cases, the total possible revenue your hotel can support is limited, creating a gap between the cost of hiring an agency and the potential returns any SEO and digital marketing actions can bring.

So, what should a smaller, independent hotel, motel, or guesthouse owner do? We are good people; we want to help out, so we have a quick look at their market and their website and we try to give some tips on what we would do in their place based on our experience.

Which brings us to the subject of this page. We see variations of the same questions over and over again, and we write similar answers to these questions over and over again. So, let’s try to save everyone some typing time by putting it down in writing for all to read and reference.

The suggestions below are our recommended actions for the independent hotelier to enable on their own website to maximise their chances of gaining additional visibility and more guests to their hotel.

This is not ‘the ultimate SEO guide for hotels’. These are the key areas of focus for hotel owners who have numerous responsibilities beyond SEO. These are the steps you should take when you are tired of reading yet another ‘how to do SEO for hotels’ guide which you don’t understand the half of.

If you only do these steps, your website will be in a better place and you can go back to managing your hotel safe in the knowledge that your website is following best practices and you have set yourself up for the best chances of success. Stop driving yourself crazy reading more complicated guides on how to rank better, make sure you have covered the steps below and then go back to more important things.

So here it is, our official Hotel SEO 101 DIY Guide: What to do when you cannot afford an agency.

Setting the stage: Google Analytics and Google Search Console

In 2024, we still encounter numerous hotel websites lacking analytics code. We are not going to go into the details of why you would want data on who is visiting your website and where they are from – it doesn’t need a lot of explanation right? The simple fact is that every hotel website should have Google Analytics installed. If you have built your own website on WordPress or a hosted solution like Wix or Squarespace, then there are ready modules to set it up in 1 minute. So head over to Google Analytics and sign up. It is free. It’s a no-brainer.

Here comes an additional bonus. Once you have Google Analytics set up, you can use the connection to verify Google Search Console (GSC) for your website. GSC is where you can see what searches are being used that YOUR WEBSITE is already appearing for.

Now remember, this is Hotel SEO 101 so we are not going to go down the whole ‘choosing keywords for your hotel SEO strategy’ route. It is a big conversation and there are a lot of opinions around. You can read our thoughts on the process we use here. But as a busy hotel manager, in the first instance, let’s just make sure we have our tools in place for future reference, so head over to Google Search Console and verify your website. It is free. It’s a no-brainer.

Hotel SEO 101: The Technicals

There are two common issues we see over and over again which need to be checked by all hotel owners.

Is your website secure?

First, ensure your website is served securely. It is easy enough to check. When you go to your website, does the address start with http:// or https://, do you see a little locked padlock next to the address, or is that padlock open and unsecured?

If your address starts with https (the ‘s’ stands for secure) and you see a padlock, you can check this step off your list. If you do not see the ‘s’ and the locked padlock, talk to your developer or your hosting company to enable SSL (the service needed to secure your site and get that padlock). Most reputable hosting companies offer this for free, some may charge a nominal fee.

In 2024 there is absolutely no excuse for not having a secure connection to your website, it is mandatory.

Can your website be indexed?

How many times have we heard “I just cannot get my website onto Google”? A lot. And how many times have we seen that the website in question has specifically asked Google to NOT include it in results? More than we should.

It is a given that to get any value out of SEO, the first thing you need to do is make sure you are actually in the game. If your website has specifically told Google not to include it in search results, then your website and your hotel are on the sidelines. This is what indexing is all about – for your website to be able to show up in Google search results, it needs to be indexed first.

There are a number of reasons why your website may not be indexed. Some of them are more technical than others. The number one cause we see (other than having no content AT ALL) is the dev team forgetting to turn off the ‘Discourage search engines from indexing this site’ which is in the WordPress -> Settings -> Reading section (the checkbox down at the bottom).

To know if this is an issue for you and if you should spend any more time worrying about it, you need to verify if your website can be indexed by Google. Remember the Google Search Console verification we did above? We are going to use this to see if your website can be indexed. Simply put your website address in the box at the top of the GSC page and click enter. If the results say things like ‘URL is not on Google’ and ‘this page is not indexed’, then you may have a problem. Head over to those WordPress settings or talk to your developer!

For a more in-depth description of what other useful information GSC can help with, have a look at this official documentation page.

Anything else to keep in mind?

Well yes, but we are only going to make passing reference to them because this is hotel SEO 101 and we want to focus on things that do not require a lot of technical knowledge or additional costs. If however, you want to have an insight into Hotel SEO 102, consider:

You should make sure your website works well on mobiles. It is 2024, well over half of all website traffic is on mobiles. For most hotel websites we monitor, the number is closer to 75-80%. Let’s hope your website already works well on mobile because otherwise, you need to talk to your developers.

You should make sure your website loads fast. Usually, a slightly less cheap hosting solution is a good place to start. If your hosting costs less than 50 bucks a year – don’t expect great service.

You should also optimize images on your website. What this means in practice is don’t upload images directly from your mobile phone to the website; they need to be compressed first. There are a lot of free ways to do this – Google it here or ask a designer or developer friend.

Hotel SEO 101: Content

Content and keywords – the two subjects that occupy 90% of hoteliers’ time when it comes to SEO. We can condense most questions we see into the following:

• What keywords should I target?
• What kind of content should I create / do I need a blog?
• How often do I need to create content / blog posts?

So what about keywords?

First and foremost, let’s get this keyword question out of the way. We are an SEO agency, and we do quite a lot of keyword research, but when we are talking to small hotel owners, our advice is usually: Do Not Think About Keywords!

Are we crazy? No, we are practical, and most small hotel owners do not have the experience or the time to be assessing which keyword strategies are best for their website. You can spend a lot of time reading about long-tail keywords and why your keyword strategy should follow such and such process.

You manage your hotel right? You speak to your guests right? You know what they like to do and where they like to visit around your hotel right? We suggest that you probably already know all you need to when it comes to what content is relevant for guests that are likely to stay at YOUR hotel.

Do not chase keywords, follow your audience. You can check our keyword article linked above if you like, but really we suggest for hotel owners to NOT think about keywords in the first instance. Keywords are a never ending discussion, it needs experience, make your life easy and take it from us, focus on creating content.

What content should you be creating?

It is not rocket science. Detail why your hotel is a good choice for visitors to your area. How do you do that? By detailing what your visitors can do in your area. What exactly you will write about will depend on where you are.

City hotels may focus on nearby museums, places to eat, local markets, and local landmarks.

Non-city hotels may focus on nearby beaches, archaeological sites and other points of interest and local events or customs.

Now let us be clear. Top 10 lists of things to do in popular tourist locations have been done to death. The further away from very well-known locations your hotel is, the more value you are likely to get by simply detailing things to do around your hotel. If your hotel is in a popular city, then you may need to be a bit more creative.

Regardless of where your hotel is, the critical thing to keep in mind is showing your local knowledge and pride. Tourists absolutely LOVE thinking they have found a truly unique spot known ‘only to the locals’. So showcasing your local knowledge and recommending things to do and places to visit that you yourself like and are unique to your area will inspire people to visit your area and ideally, they will stay at your hotel while they do it.

You do not need to build out a complete ‘tourist guide’ to your area. But if you want to and have the time, do it! Don’t overthink the keywords, just put your knowledge and passion about your area into words and inspire your future guests.

Speaking of inspiration, we should make a quick mention of photographs. Using your own photographs to show the places and events you are describing is more or less mandatory. Stock photos are not going to do it. It does not need to be difficult. Most mobile phones take decent photographs (don’t forget our image optimization note above). You can use filters if you like for even more ‘wow factor’. Don’t have a clue what a filter is? Ask your kids or your friends’ kids – they will show you all the tricks.

How often should I be creating content?

How often you post new content is up to you and the resources you have available. You have a hotel website, Google is not expecting you to be posting new content once every day/week/month.

Rather than thinking that you need to create new content continuously, focus on making the content that you already have awesome with local insight and flavor.

Does that mean you only post a new page once your friend has sent you some photos of the beach you want to mention and that took 3 weeks? Let it take three weeks. Does that mean you do not post anything new for 6 months because the hotel has been super busy and you didn’t have the time? Great, the hotel is busy – let it be 6 months.

For 90% of the small hotel owners out there, they will create new content once or twice a year during the off-season when they have a bit of time to relax and focus. This is perfectly ok.

Hotel SEO 101: Links and Networking

Uh oh. The links discussion. Nothing worries us more as an agency than to hear: “I have heard that I need to build 20 links a month to rank on Google” or even worse “I tried a link building service a few months ago”.

Just don’t do it. Building links needs some experience that hotel owners simply do not have and the amount of shady operators out there are endless. How many emails have you received in the last month offering ‘links on great DA sites for 30 bucks’? Yes, we get them too. Is this how a serious business operates? No it is not. So don’t do it.

What you can do is the basics, and for hotels, this boils down to the following go-to strategies for getting a few links from nice, safe, and topically relevant websites. This is what Google wants to see and while not guaranteeing you will be number one for ‘hotel in my area”, you will set your website and the content you create up for greater long-term success.

Focus on your local area

Only consider links on websites that are local to your area or your industry. Things like local business listings and local chamber of commerce or hotel associations. In some cases, depending on your location and country, similar associations at a state or national level may be relevant. Some of these listings and associations may need payment to list or become a member. If it makes sense for your hotel to be listed on them because they are relevant to your locale and industry then consider it.

Leverage existing partnerships

Lots of hotels overlook the obvious links they can ask for from existing relationships and partnerships.

If you have worked with an architect or designer, a web development agency, or have used a local business to furnish your hotel then ask if they have a portfolio page on their website and if they do – ask them to put you on it too (with a link). The most underrated rule of getting links is simply asking for them. If you don’t ask you definitely will not get.

If you work with a local tour provider or frequently send your clients to a nearby restaurant or bar then ask them if they have a website and can link to you. You can link back to them also, perhaps in one of your awesome blog posts detailing the best things to do in your area. Nothing wrong with linking back to other local businesses.

That’s it. No more link building advice. Leverage your local knowledge and connections and do the basics. Link building takes time, so take it easy and don’t stress about it. And remember: if you don’t ask, you won’t get, so ask.

Closing thoughts

So, there you have it: our official Hotel SEO 101 guide. Are there more aspects of SEO than we have described above? Of course there are. Is it worth your time and the grey hairs it will bring reading countless more articles on how to do keyword research, how to optimize image alt tags, and how to leverage the latest AI trends to win the hotel SEO game?

That is up to you, but if you ask us… probably not. Keep things simple. Set up your technical base. Be proud of your hotel and your location and show this pride in your content. Interlink with partners and other local businesses, and then focus your efforts on making your hotel and services a great experience for your guests. If you do that the good reviews will come. Your reputation will grow and your hotel will be busy!