Today, travelers turn to search engines to research their dream vacations, including to sites like TripAdvisor. They’ll also use an online travel agency to book a flight and reserve a room.
It’s important for local travel-related businesses to remember that 93% of all traffic to their websites is through search engines. That makes travel search engine optimization very important as you build your travel website. A website optimized for search engines brings more travelers to your business buy backlinks.
Understanding the interests of the travelers coming to your region is vital before you start optimizing your travel website. Once you understand their interests, you’ll have the keywords that search engines need to deliver results.
The journey to an SEO-optimized travel website begins here. We’ve focused on the things you must focus on to make your travel website fly to the top.
Travel Businesses Need Optimized Websites
Without an SEO strategy, it’s a challenge for any business to gain exposure online. You might have a beautiful, user-friendly, responsive website, but it can easily get lost online. Optimizing your travel website brings it to the right audience.
Around 95% of traffic comes from the first page of Google. That means that SEO for travel websites can significantly increase bookings.
As you methodically optimize your travel website, you can expect the following:
- Increased website traffic
- Improved brand visibility
- Better ROI
- Improved website rankings for your keywords
- Connecting with travelers interested in exactly what you have to offer
Adventure Tours Can Benefit From Travel SEO, Including Aviation Companies and Private Flights
Any type of business that caters to travelers benefits from an SEO-optimized website. Hotels and resorts are obvious, but adventure travel companies need optimization, too. That includes jeep, kayak, helicopter, and local aviation tours.
For example, the only way to get to many places in Alaska is by small, private plane. In addition to their normal duties, bush pilots can take advantage of the summer tourists. Tourists to the far north want to see icebergs, bears, and the fantastic scenery the 49th state has to offer. Likewise, helicopter and light plane tours of the Hawaiian Islands and the Grand Canyon can benefit from travel SEO.
In addition to air tours, kayak and rafting adventure websites can benefit from travel SEO. If your company caters to adventure-seeking tourists, knowing your specific keywords is vital, as Marina Turea from Digital Authority Partners points out in her piece “9 Ways Aviation Companies Should Optimize for Local SEO” (which you can read here).
Important Elements of Travel SEO
When implementing SEO for a travel-related website, consider that you want to meet the demands of both travelers and search engines. We’ve listed some of the critical areas you need to attend to for improved search engine rankings.
Page Load Time
Gorgeous travel photos are key to any travel website; however, posting your big, beautiful photos can seriously slow your page load time. The same is true of video. While you want to show off your best work, it’s important to optimize your photos and video to load quickly.
Google recommends a load time of three seconds or less. This is important because 40% of your potential visitors will leave if your page takes more than three seconds to load.
In addition to photos and video, JavaScript, messy code, and third-party ads can slow your website down. You can speed things up by reducing the pixels in your photos and also by reconsidering whether third-party ads are worth it. If you can’t figure out how to increase your load time, a professional web developer can help.
Your Specific Tourism-related Keywords
You need to have an idea of what keywords your potential customers will use. You can use keyword tools to find the keywords that travelers to your area are using.
In addition to using keyword research tools, think like a tourist coming to your area. For example, a tourist looking for a local aviation company to see grizzly bears might search, “Alaska bush pilot tour grizzly bears.”
Once you choose the right keywords for your particular business and region, you’re halfway there.
Text, Titles, and Meta Tags
In addition to writing engaging copy that includes your keywords, it’s important to include those keywords in your page titles, section headlines, and meta tags.
Some SEO experts think the page title is the most important thing. Also, page titles that are 6-13 words long seem to generate the most traffic.
Keep these guidelines in mind
- Give every page a unique title
- Avoid duplicate content in your titles
- Don’t stuff keywords into your titles
Remember: many people click on a search result based on the content of the meta description. Google recommends a maximum of 275 characters for a meta description. Make it read like a mini ad.
Constructing your meta descriptions
- Use your keywords
- Entice the reader to click
- Ensure your meta-tags are relevant to the page
- Do not use the same meta description on every page
Your audience’s first impression depends on great page titles and meta descriptions. You want to capture their attention and inspire them to explore your travel site.
E-A-T Content
No, this does not have anything to do with restaurants. Years ago, Google introduced Quality Guidelines in which Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-A-T) became part of the way Google ranks.
However, this does not rank your keywords. Rather, it ranks your pages for duplicate content. So, if you’ve copied text from another website, Google will down-rank your page. The search engine wants to see unique content that could interest users.
If you can’t write, you can always hire content writers skilled in not only original writing but also SEO techniques.
Building Links
Another way that Google judges E-A-T is through links. Each page should have internal links pointing to articles that can clarify a subject. For example, an Alaskan bush pilot could link “grizzly bear” to another page describing the appearance and habits of these magnificent creatures.
Outbound links are also important. These take your visitors to other websites for reference. For example, a bush pilot could link to a state museum site outlining the history of bush pilots.
Inbound links are also important, and the hardest to get; these are links on other websites that drive traffic to your site. These links need to be from highly ranked, reputable websites. You can pay for backlinks, but Google can discern paid backlinks and will downrank your site for this.
Schema Markup for Local SEO
Schema markups also called rich snippets, are essential for local SEO. While rich snippets won’t help with organic search results, they’ll display your website nicely, improving click-throughs.
Schema markups go hand-in-hand with Google My Business. This is where you can create a profile for your business, helping it to show up on local searches. As a small travel-related business, it’s important to maintain an accurate profile here, as well as on social media and review sites like Yelp.
You want to attract a highly targeted audience to your local, travel-related website. This not only means understanding what visitors to your region are looking for but also the basics of SEO.
