As you know, the first Inbound stage is to attract traffic, especially if they are qualified users. That’s why knowing and researching your potential customers is so important. Because you need visitors, but not just any visitors, but those that you have the best chance of converting into customers.
With this in mind, you should start applying
SEO best practices
best practices to get the attention of these users. They will make inquiries about their travel plans on search engines. And if you know them well, you will be able to answer their questions. This will increase your chances of reaching the first page of results (SERPs or Search Engine Results Pages) of search engines such as Google, Yahoo or Bing.
If you have already worked the SEO of your hotel website, you need to do this test. Depending on the result, you will know if you have weak points to solve.
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1. Have you defined the profiles of your buyer personas or potential customers?
A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal guest, based on real data and demographic information, behavioral patterns, motivations, preferences, needs, objectives…
On the one hand, by using tools such as Google Analytics you will be able to better understand their behavior on the network. On the other hand, through customer interviews and surveys, you will also obtain relevant sociodemographic information. The more data you get, the better to build profiles and tailor all your hotel’s web content to their real preferences and not to assumptions.
Have you researched the keywords that your buyer personas would search for?
Keywords are the words that your buyer personas (potential customers) would type in search engines. That is, the information related to the travel industry they might be looking for.
Since nowadays everyone accesses the Internet for information, it is essential that you research the search preferences of your buyer personas. If you have done the right job in creating their profiles, you will find that your hotel has always been responsive to their needs. It is a matter of analyzing how they would seek that type of information.
3. Have you listed and searched for alternatives to the above keywords?
Consider making a list of keywords based on their relevance to your hotel’s website. Think that search engines are smart, and that nowadays search intent is what counts. So include alternatives and synonyms in your keyword list to improve your hotel’s SEO.
Don’t forget to research the trends in your industry and environment. Each well-positioned hotel has a different offer, and each buyer persona has different needs. Don’t forget to analyze the search behaviors and trends of your potential guests on social networks.
4. Are you using the right keywords to rank your website in the first search pages?
Keep in mind that there are two types of keywords with which you have a better chance of ranking higher:
With short tails only the best known hotel chains and the strongest OTAs are on the first search page.
With long tails a website has easier access to the first page. Use keywords that have a high search volume with lower competition.
Have you classified the keywords based on the needs of your buyer personas?
To attract visitors, research their needs in the travel industry and categorize keywords based on the stages of the Traveler’s Journey, i.e. how close they are to booking:
Dreaming
(exploration stage): keywords based on consumer preferences in the travel sector in your area.
Planning
(consideration stage): based on the different solutions and offers of experiences and activities that exist in your locality.
Booking
(decision stage): based on the purchase decision and therefore on the options that your hotel brand can offer.
Have you created valuable content around the keywords?
One of the most economical ways to drive traffic to your hotel’s website is with a blog. Nowadays there are tools that make it easier to manage this section of your site.
Try to write quality content around the keywords you established for each stage of theTraveler’s Journey. In general, you will find that they relate to interesting local festivals or events at your hotel; what to do in the surrounding area; local culture and the best gourmet restaurants; frequently asked questions and tips for traveling to the area, etc.
Have you optimized the content of your web pages around a keyword?
The keywords must be a summary of the content of each of the pages that make up your website. And each page includes a meta-tag that refers to the keyword for which SEO can be optimized. Remember to include them, so that search engines can find your pages more easily.
8. Have you included that keyword in the URL, the page title and its meta-description?
You also have to include this same keyword in the URL, the page title and its meta-description. These are the features that will appear in the SERP listings for each of your web pages.
9. Have you included that keyword in the body of the page and the alt-text of the images?
Also, use the same keyword in the body of the page and the alt-text of the images, so that search engines can navigate through the content more easily and categorize it.
10. Have you included relevant internal and external links in the content?
Include internal links (from your own website) and external links (from other reputable websites) in the content, which help to generate credibility in your hotel’s website.
11. Have you promoted a good user experience?
Make sure your website is UX-friendly, intuitive and easy to navigate for the user who enters as a visitor. That way you will simplify the conversion process to the next inbound stage.
12. Have you optimized your hotel website for mobile devices?
Now travelers, when planning their vacations, move across different devices to complete searches and tasks. 80% of Internet users use a Smartphone and the mobile conversion rate grew by 88% in the travel industry. Therefore, your website should be easily navigable on any screen size. Make sure to use responsive design and smooth navigation.
13. Do you know the keywords that users use to find your hotel?
Your hotel’s website can be found in two ways. Through the content of your blog pages, or by a direct search for hotels in your region. In this second case you must determine the keywords that people use to find your website.
Google “rewards” hotels that work on their local SEO, for this reason, sign up for Google My Business. Also set up your website in the best online directories such as Yelp, Yellow Pages and others in your sector to increase the number of links and references to your website.
14. Have you promoted your content in the right social networks?
The right distribution platform puts the right content to the right person at the right time, so you get more traffic, and more potential guests. Think of social media as a way to create a dialogue with your potential customers. You need to keep up to date with your followers on these platforms and keep checking the different channels to see which one works best for sharing your content and building your popularity.
15. Have you obtained relevant links to your content?
Search engines follow the links between pages to see how they are related to each other and it helps them to analyze the level of authority of the website. The links that lead to your site are called
inbound links
(quality is better than quantity) and are part of external SEO.
Build relationships and connections with websites and thought leaders in the travel industry who can engage with content. Sharing it will generate new visits and links.
