“Have you seen Ivy’s post?” I got this question recently in a client meeting. I hadn’t seen her post, so I was intrigued to learn more. First, who was Ivy? And why was her social media post important?
The client let me know that Ivy is a customer who visited his business, a restaurant in Nakuru. She then wrote her mother a letter, took a photo, shared it on social media and tagged my client.
Here’s the love letter:
Dear mother,
I’m writing to you from a cosy rocking chair overlooking Lake Nakuru. The flamingo spectacle is magnificent. The food here is to die for yet very affordable and the service top notch.
And did I mention the resort is hidden in such a beautiful spot in the forest?
I found this gem on Google but was skeptical at first because of the prices. But the photos and reviews softened my stone cold heart and I decided to give it the benefit of doubt. Am I glad I did!
I’ll tell you all about it when I get home. I’m off to take a dip in the crystal clear swimming pool. Meanwhile, start packing a bag. I’m definitely bringing you back here.
With love,
Ivy.
Ivy’s post had generated so many inquiries that my client couldn’t keep up.
But I wasn’t surprised. We had in place a solid content marketing strategy that included SEO.
What I couldn’t have seen coming is Ivy’s reaction.
Dive deeper to understand how SEO can do the same for your business.
Why is SEO Important for Hotels?
If you want your business to feature in Ivy’s love letter and more importantly to appear in search results, then hospitality SEO is for you.
Search engine optimization will help your business appear when a user searches online using certain keywords. For instance, Ivy may have searched for ‘hotels with a swimming pool near me’ or ‘camping grounds around Lake Nakuru’.
If your restaurant offers these services and is near the user, then it should appear in their results. But you must know what your potential customers are searching for and position your business as the solution.
After all, search engines aim to help users solve problems and answer questions.
SEO is a free marketing strategy that will help your business:
- Increase visibility
- Generate inquiries
- Increase website traffic
- Increase bookings and revenue
- Rank higher in search engine result pages
SEO will help your hotel or restaurant stand out amongst your competitors when it matters most. When a potential client is likely to book their stay with you.
Your Ivy is online looking for the best place to give them a worthwhile experience. If you want that to be your restaurant, then get to work.
How?
- Analyze Search Intent
Identify the intent behind user queries. Does the user want more information about a certain topic? Or maybe they want to book a vacation? Or they could be searching for directions to a specific place.
When you understand the why behind the search, then you’ll be able to create something that meets their needs.
2. What are People Searching For?
Find out the phrases users use when searching and the questions they ask. The Google results page is perfect for this. Look at the autocomplete suggestions when you’re typing, look at the people also ask section, and the related searches tab.
3. Google Business Profile
Optimize and add relevant keywords to your Google Business Profile. Your Google Business listing will come up when a user searches for businesses like yours. That’s if you’ve created one. Wondering how to create one, find out here.
Use complete and relevant business descriptions. Add your operating hours, location, delivery options and so on.
4. Website
Your business needs a website. If you don’t have one, you’re giving a lot of potential customers to your competition.
We can help you set one up in no time. Get in touch and we’ll be happy to help.
Once you have a website, it’s time to impress your next customer.
Think of your website as your virtual restaurant. You want your customer to come in, get served, enjoy their meal, pay, and give wonderful feedback. All this while making the experience as seamless as possible for them. This increases the likelihood of the customer coming back and telling their circle of this wonderful spot they discovered.
Action points:
- Create valuable personalized content they can’t find anywhere else. Make their life better. Provide solutions to problems they have.
- Use keywords naturally in your content to improve SEO
- And ensure you update your content regularly
5. Link Building
This is an SEO technique that covers the inbound and outbound link strategy for your website. It’s one of the primary considerations Google uses to determine how relevant a website is.
The more high quality links your website has, the higher its authority score. But don’t just look for any spammy links. They should be links from good sources that are in line with your content. If a hotel review site links back to you, search engines will pay more attention.
Find out how to build a good link strategy.
Other technical and off page SEO considerations:
- Optimize the images, meta descriptions, and title tags
- Ensure your website loads quickly and all pages are visible
- Optimize for mobile devices
6. Social Media
Optimize your social media accounts with keywords, create and maintain active social media presence. Think of social media as your community of loyal fans. Engage and be part of conversations.
Encourage users to tag you when they visit and share posts about your business.
Social proof helps a user trust your business. If another user enjoyed your restaurant, then chances are that they will too.
Make hotel SEO marketing part of your marketing strategy today. When you target travelers with high buying intent, the likelihood of getting bookings is 98%