Travel agents used to be in person. It may seem like a thing of the past, but people were still using it for vacation planning not so long ago. They had to plan their route and consult maps to navigate. Calling different airlines was required to compare prices and layovers. They were forced to ask their friends for advice and recommendations or purchase overpriced guides.
All of these errands are now easily accomplished with just a single visit to the Internet. Many travel websites on the web make it easy to plan a trip. This is both good news and negative news for anyone who runs or wants to start a travel site.
The market is both ripe for business and always growing. Traveling is always popular and people always need assistance in planning their trips.
The market is extremely competitive. You can be sure that someone is out there, trying to do the same thing as you, regardless of what type of travel website or content you run, and no matter which destinations you choose.
To stay ahead of the competition, you need to do more than just good work. This means that you have to get your work in front of people. If you create the most beautiful and informative travel website, no one will ever know about it.
SEO is important for travel websites. Good search engine optimization separates the must-see destinations from the tourist traps that line the highway of information.
Travel Websites in Different Types: How Do You Fit?
As many travel websites as there are destinations around the world, the Internet is awash with them. They can be divided into three categories: Travel Booking Sites (also known as Travel Blog Sites), Travel Review Sites, and Travel Blog Sites.
Understanding which category your site belongs to is essential for building an enterprise SEO strategy. It’s important to note that the most successful travel websites combine elements from all three categories, at least in part.
As an example, all travel websites, regardless of their primary purpose, need to include blog content in their travel SEO strategy. They are a great way to cover a variety of topics, content types, and keywords. Blogs can also be a major driver of traffic at the top of the funnel.
Booking Sites for Travel
Travel Booking Sites are the most direct and utilitarian of all travel websites. This category includes travel websites that are designed to help travelers compare and find rates for hotels and vacation rentals as well as airfares, rental cars, and other travel expenses.
Travel Booking Sites are often the modern equivalent of in-person travel agencies. Travel websites that are primarily focused on bookings can be difficult to manage SEO since this is a highly visible and competitive sector of the travel industry. Booking sites that are enterprise-level companies with established brands benefit.
Travel Blog Sites
SYNOPSIS: As we’ve already mentioned, all travel websites should include blog content to help with SEO. Blogging is not just a part of SEO strategies for many websites; it’s the meat and potatoes.
Travel Blog Sites are the most diverse of the three major styles. They include everything from online travel journals to how-to guides and product recommendations. The SEO of travel blogs is therefore often the most effective, as it offers a wide range of options for users.
Travel Review Sites
Summary: Travel Review Sites are primarily designed to help travelers decide if an experience is for them. The reviews are either written by a team of designated writers, or users can post, share, and browse other reviews.
A Travel Review Site focuses on specific experiences such as restaurants, rental cabins, or transportation services. Some sites, however, feature reviews from a variety of different businesses. These sites have an advantage when it comes time to optimize for travel SEO because online reviews are easily shared.
Related: The 6 best Ontario SEO Services on impact Business
Travel Search Engine Optimization: 5 Tips and Tricks That Every Webmaster Should Use
The principles of SEO for travel sites remain the same, regardless of the specifics of your strategy.
You want to improve your search ranking. This will attract more visitors and improve your search ranking.
There are some useful tips and tricks to guide you. Here are five tips that we at LSEO found to be indispensable.
Focus on Long-Tail keywords to drive conversions
The keywords should form the spine of any SEO strategy for a travel website. Travel sites often make the mistake of using keywords that are too generic and obvious. Their content is aimed at keywords that are already very competitive.
Travel keywords that are most effective for SEO are those that are aimed at visitors who have already entered the sales funnel and are searching for specific information. The search terms are not “Pennsylvania Attractions” but “cheap Pennsylvania Attractions for the Whole Family” or “pet-friendly outdoor Pennsylvania attractions.”
Long-tail keywords have lower search competition and higher conversion rates. This makes it easier for you to rank, and it also helps reduce your bounce rate.
Travel Site Users Are Mobile, So Be Mobile-Friendly
It’s true, it’s lame… but the truth is that this lame pun was built on a kernel. Travel site users are increasingly using mobile devices to search for information on the internet. If you want your users to return to your website while on the go, making it mobile-friendly is essential.
This means designing a responsive layout that adapts to the device dimensions your visitors use. This means prioritizing the user experience, simplifying navigation, and reducing interstitials. It also involves compressing images to reduce page load times and making sure your text is easily readable.
Landing pages for destinations provide a point of entry
No matter how large or small a geographical area is, it can be divided into subcategories. For example, the US can be broken down into 50 states. A single state can also be split into counties and large cities. The location of parts of a town can also be used to separate them: the downtown, north end, historic district, etc.
Why am I telling you all this? This is to encourage you to think about all the ways you can give visitors a way into more specialized content. You can create a landing page that links to all your content, such as dozens of articles on the American East Coast.
Users at the top of the funnel can use location-based landing pages to explore their options. They also allow you to focus on more keywords, while strengthening your internal linking structure.
The best travel content is accompanied by strong visuals
A picture is indeed worth 1,000 words. This is especially true for the travel industry, where scenic beauty and unique attractions are the main draws of many destinations. This is hard to convey in words, and without photos, it’s difficult to draw web users.
Unique visuals that are strong and compelling push visitors further into the funnel while increasing dwell time. You can also increase your search engine ranking by properly titling and adding descriptive alt text to your images. This increases your chances of having your content appear in Google Images results.
Referral links are a win-win for everyone
Search engines take into account the number of inbound links a page receives, especially from high-quality and trusted sites. link-building is therefore a crucial part of optimizing your travel website’s SEO.
Link building is best done by interacting with members of your community and developing mutually beneficial relationships. Referral links are one way to achieve this. Referral links are URLs that can be tracked so that the linked site knows exactly how many visitors come from a particular source.
Booking or product websites provide referral links to travel blogs in the world of SEO. The latter receives payment for improving traffic on the blog. Both parties benefit from this transaction. Bloggers receive more traffic from deal-hunters and the booking and product sites increase their conversions as well as their ranking.
LSEO is a destination for travel website SEO expertise
Travel website SEO is important. You can travel the world for 80 days or in 80 different ways. But if you’re looking to succeed online, it all comes back to SEO. This information and the in our other blogs is a surefire method to improve your search engine ranking over time.
Mastering SEO for travel sites is a full-time occupation. We at LSEO know that running a travel website takes a lot of time, research, and effort. As digital marketing specialists, we put in the same time, effort, and research as our clients. Let us help you realize your vision for the Future.
LSEO’s dedicated and knowledgeable staff can provide you with professional travel SEO services. Call us to set up an appointment today and find out more about our services!
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