You know better than anyone that the travel and leisure industry is highly competitive. That’s why you need a solid digital marketing strategy behind your brand.
Part of that is how you use search engine optimisation (SEO) in your content and marketing. This is crucial to help your travel brand stand out in search engine results, drive traffic to your website and ultimately increase bookings.
In our experience of working with travel businesses to create effective digital marketing strategies, here are 10 tactics to help improve your SEO:
1. Undertake strategic keyword research
It sounds basic, but this is the most important part of any SEO strategy. This is the process of identifying the keywords and phrases that your target audience uses when they’re searching for a company like yours.
There are several tools available to do this research including Google Keyword Planner, Semrush or AHRefs. These platforms help identify high-traffic, low-competition keywords. Once that’s done, you can incorporate these keywords into your website and marketing content.
For a travel brand, you can go one step further and identify your audiences’ behaviour patterns. Then, you can do your keyword research accordingly. For example, a person looking for a travel destination will go through several phases to their research before they book:
- The dream
- The budget
- The plan
- The booking
Your keyword research can create touchpoints at each of these phases.
2. Optimise your content
Whether you are building a brand from scratch or improving an existing one, optimising your travel brand’s content is vital to building traffic.
Using the keyword research from step one, you can identify the type of content you need to create. This will likely include:
- Website landing pages: These are specific pages on your website that are designed to capture leads or drive conversions. For example, you could create a landing page for each destination you offer or each tour you do.
- Blogs: Blogs can be a great way to share your expertise, attract new customers, and improve your search engine rankings. Consider writing about popular travel destinations, tips for travellers, or behind-the-scenes glimpses of your business.
- Email marketing: Email marketing can be a powerful tool for nurturing leads and driving sales. Create email campaigns that offer exclusive deals, personalised recommendations, or travel inspiration.
- Social media: Social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok can be used to connect with your audience, share your brand's story, and drive traffic to your website.
When creating your content, keep the following tips in mind:
- Use relevant keywords: Incorporate the keywords you identified in your keyword research into your content.
- Write high-quality content: Your content should be informative, engaging, and easy to read.
- Optimise for mobile: Ensure your content is optimised for mobile devices, as more and more people are using their smartphones to search for travel information.
- Use visuals: Images and videos can help to break up your text and make your content more visually appealing.
- Promote your content: Share your content on social media, in your email newsletter, and on other relevant platforms.
3. Plan for seasonality
Keyword research and optimisation are crucial for travel brands to attract potential customers throughout the year. This means you need to be searching for keywords and creating content that considers both evergreen and seasonal trends.
First, identify high-traffic, travel-specific keywords, and incorporate them into your content. Then, focus on seasonal keywords that align with peak travel periods, like "best summer vacation spots" or "winter holiday deals".
Creating seasonal content is also crucial. Develop blog posts, guides, and promotions that cater to seasonal travel needs, such as "top ski resorts for winter" or "luxury resorts for summer". By optimising for both year-round and seasonal keywords and creating relevant content, you can capture a broader audience, stay relevant throughout the year, and maximise your site's search engine visibility.
4. Build local SEO
Local SEO is vital for travel brands, especially those with physical locations like a travel agency or that offer services in specific geographic areas like a tour operator.
First, you should set up your Google My Business profile. This is a free tool that allows businesses to manage their online presence on Google.
This includes providing accurate information about the business, such as name, address, phone number, website, and hours of operation. Additionally, adding high-quality photos and encouraging customers to leave reviews can enhance the listing's visibility and credibility.
Next, you can implement geo-targeting. This involves tailoring SEO efforts to specific geographic locations. For travel brands, this is particularly important as you want to attract customers from their target markets. By optimising content and targeting keywords related to specific regions or cities, travel brands can improve visibility in local search results and reach a more relevant audience.
5. Spy on your competitors
Regularly monitoring your competitors can give you valuable insight into what’s working for them.
Using the tools mentioned earlier, you can track and analyse the keywords used by your competitors. This can show you where they’re getting the most traffic, where they rank but you don’t, and what keywords they’re targeting versus yours.
But, even without a tool, you can keep track of their digital marketing efforts. Regularly visit their website, paying attention to new content and their design. Follow them on social media to see how they’re engaging with their audience and what kind of content they’re using. Pay attention to your competitors' marketing campaigns, including their email marketing, social media ads, and content marketing.
6. Improve your technical SEO
Technical SEO refers to the behind-the-scenes aspects of your website that affect how search engines understand and index your content. Here are some key technical SEO factors to consider:
Mobile-friendliness
With more users booking travel on mobile devices, having a mobile-friendly site is non-negotiable. Ensure your website is fully responsive and optimised for mobile devices. Google prioritises mobile-friendly websites in their search results.
Site speed
A slow-loading website can lead to higher bounce rates, where visitors leave before the page fully loads. This is particularly detrimental in the travel industry, where users often browse multiple pages, comparing options and gathering information.
Optimise your website's loading speed to improve user experience and search engine rankings. Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to identify areas for improvement.
Site structure
Create a clear and logical site structure with well-organised navigation to help search engines crawl and index your pages. For example, if you offer various types of travel services like tours, accommodation, and flight bookings, each should have its dedicated section with relevant pages underneath. Implement a clean and straightforward URL structure that reflects the page’s content and includes relevant keywords, such as “/tours/european-adventures” rather than “/page123.
7. Create links to and from your website
Backlinks and internal links are essential tools used in SEO work.
Backlinks
- What are backlinks? Backlinks are links that point to your website from other websites.
- Why are backlinks important? Backlinks signal to search engines that your website is valuable and relevant. They can help improve your search engine rankings.
- How to get backlinks: Build relationships with other websites in your industry and offer to guest post or collaborate on projects. You can also participate in online forums and communities to share your expertise and earn backlinks. Or, with a digital agency like Boost, we can broker links for you through our SEO strategy.
Internal links
- What are internal links? Internal links are links that point to other pages within your website.
- Why are internal links important? Internal links help search engines crawl and index your website's pages. They also improve user navigation and help to guide visitors to relevant content.
- How to use internal links: Link to related pages within your content, such as blog posts, product pages, or destination guides. Use anchor text that is relevant to the linked page.
8. Audit your existing content
Auditing your existing content is essential for maintaining a high-performing travel website. This process involves reviewing all current content to ensure it aligns with your SEO goals and provides value to your audience. Identify underperforming pages that need updates, content that can be repurposed, and opportunities to improve keyword optimisation.
Remove or consolidate outdated content, ensuring that your site remains relevant and engaging. Regular content audits help maintain site quality, improve search engine rankings, and ensure that your travel brand consistently delivers accurate, useful information to potential customers.
9. Optimise your images
Images are a very important part of travel marketing but if not used correctly they can create problems for your SEO. Optimising images is crucial for improving your travel website's load times and overall SEO performance.
Start by compressing images to reduce file sizes without sacrificing quality, ensuring faster loading pages. Use descriptive, keyword-rich file names and alt text to help search engines understand the content of your images, which can improve rankings and drive more traffic from image searches.
Additionally, choose the right image format (JPEG for photos, PNG for graphics with transparency) and implement responsive images that adjust to different screen sizes. Properly optimised images enhance user experience and boost your site's visibility in search results.
10. Track and analyse your results
Once you've implemented these SEO tactics, it's crucial to track and analyse your results to measure the effectiveness of your efforts. Use analytics tools like Google Analytics to monitor your website traffic, user behaviour, and conversions. This data will help you identify areas for improvement and make data-driven decisions to further optimise your SEO strategy.
By tracking your results, you can gain valuable insights into the performance of your SEO initiatives and make adjustments as needed to achieve your desired goals.
Plan your seo strategy today
At Boost, we work with travel and leisure businesses to create and improve your online presence. Our SEO strategy is comprehensive and consistent. Get in touch with us today to plan your travel brand’s SEO.
