No hotel should be without a website in this modern era of marketing, but many owners forget that it should act as a tool to help would-be guests find the property as much as a shop window to lure them in once they have.
So many hotels are competing for travellers’ business nowadays that hotel websites should be designed in a way that they actively help with organic search and reach as many new visitors as possible – and that means making the most of search engine optimisation (SEO).If you’re able to get as high as you can in the search rankings, then you should receive plenty of enquiries and hopefully more bookings. And the more you tailor your pages to cater for specific niches, the better your likelihood of climbing those rankings.The long tail keyword effect One way of doing this is through the use of long tail keywords. These allow you to customise your content to fit people who are performing very specific Google searches, whose subsequent visits to your website are likely to be more qualified and therefore more likely to convert into a booking.For example, if you have a hotel in London you want to market, there may be a million people looking for ‘London hotel’ on Google. However, there might only be a few thousand seeking ‘London hotel near Euston’ or ‘London hotel near Buckingham Palace’.
It is these travellers you want to target, since the more specific you are, the more likely it is you’ll get visits from people actually wanting to make a booking rather than just browsing.How to build pages with long tail keywords The best way to start adding long tail keywords to your website is to create plenty of new content that not only talks about the benefits of your hotel, but also incorporates other demand generators nearby. For example, are you within easy reach of a national park where hikers could enjoy walks? If yes, you could write a landing page about the history of this park, the best walking routes for different seasons and points of interest within it.You should also aim to write about attractions that holidaymakers will want to visit and perform Google searches for, such as interesting museums, theme parks and upcoming exhibitions. Speaking of the latter, it is also important to create content based on short-term events like concerts or craft shows that will have people looking for accommodation after they have attended.
And finally, don’t forget that travellers may be visiting your hotel for reasons other than leisure. If you are near a convention centre, make a point of saying so for the benefit of business people. The same goes for things like churches in case people need to stay a night after a funeral or christening.Things to remember Although long tail keywords are important, it’s essential to remember that you shouldn’t be using more than three or four per article if you want to avoid the appearance of cramming and making your copy seem awkward.They should also be slotted in naturally as opposed to forced in where they don’t fit, or it will be painfully obvious that they are there purely for SEO, which is frowned upon by both readers and Google.
It may take a little effort on your part to come up with and publish new content complete with long tail keywords, but the benefits in terms of improved organic search results and increased bookings should certainly pay off in the long run.
