In the travel sector, there are unique considerations that work to determine whether a campaign will successfully target the right kind of traffic. Most of these considerations center on using specific phrases to connect with motivated customers within a company’s local market. Here is your guide to leveraging geo-specific keyword research with SEO travel strategies.
Driving Traffic vs. Bringing in the Right Traffic
It makes sense for a travel brand to cast a wide net by using broad keywords in meta descriptions, title tags, web content and social media. On the other hand, this isn’t necessarily the most effective strategy for hotels, travel transportation providers, tour companies and other organizations that are more focused on conversions – and less focused on spreading brand awareness. For these types of enterprises, it’s not about bringing in massive amounts of traffic; it’s about bringing in the right kind of traffic. Ultimately, they want visitors to reserve rooms, purchase seats or book tours. To get this kind of targeted traffic, your SEO plan must leverage ultra-targeted keywords that will engage local people who are ready to make a purchase.
Local keyword research is a great way to connect with audiences that are already in the later stages of the customer journey. Instead of merely thinking about taking a trip, these people are ready to book. This makes them much more valuable than visitors who are merely “travel curious.” In turn, they tend to stimulate much better conversion ratios.
Using Geo-targeted Keyword Research for Travel SEO
While local keywords can drastically improve conversions rates, it’s not always easy to establish a geo-specific SEO campaign that provides consistent results. Part of this is because local search results tend to change rapidly. This forces business owners to closely monitor which keyword phrases are trending in specific areas. Local search results also depend heavily on a business’s ability to keep its name, address and phone number consistent listed throughout directories, websites and review platforms.
Local SEO campaigns require specialized planning, since one-size-fits-all approaches rarely pay dividends. Google’s standard keyword research tool isn’t going to yield timely and trendy local keywords for your particular hotel, transportation company or tour business. To plan and deploy an effective local keyword search strategy, you will need to access information from a wide variety of sources to get insight into what travelers are searching for right now as opposed to three months ago. Unlike a broad SEO campaign, a targeted local strategy requires consistent research, anticipatory insights and the agility to make quick changes that will allow you to take advantage of timely opportunities before your competitors even know they exist.
Keyword Research Travel SEO – which tools should you use?
Google AdWords Keyword Planner is a good place for travel companies to start looking for geo-specific keywords that will help them connect with the right types of customers. Using this tool, marketers can type in broad keywords and narrow down their potentials by choosing a unique location to get more specific ideas. They can also enter specific areas that surround their cities to get even more local keyword help.
Google Trends is another nice tool that can help marketers target keywords by regional interest. With this tool, it’s possible to gauge the interest level of assorted keywords over specified periods of time in specific locations.
Marketers can also use Google Suggest and SERPs to get recommendations for long-tail keywords that relate to unique geographic locations and primary keywords. For instance, if you were to type “steak restaurant in San Diego” into Google’s search box and then scroll to the bottom of the page, you would see a list of related keyword phrases, including “steakhouse San Diego downtown” and “best affordable steakhouse in San Diego.” By using this method with a variety of keyword phrases, you can come up with several phrases that you can incorporate into your blog posts, social media pages and website.
Other Considerations
While the right SEO tools can help you cultivate a better local SEO strategy, sometimes the work has already been done for you. It’s generally a good idea to thoroughly analyze your competitors’ websites, social media accounts and blogs to see which local keyword phrases they are targeting in their content. This means reviewing their meta content, titles and subheads. You should also read their blog posts, paying special attention to the way they infuse geo-specific keywords into each paragraph.
Since most travel company managers prefer to devote their talents and time to serving travelers, Galileo Tech Media is here to conduct meticulous local keyword research to ensure more effective SEO campaigns. We offer a comprehensive suite of SEO services that help travel companies engage customers, draw them to their specific regions and make more sales.
