After SEO for lawyers (my last post) I am back with another interesting topic which almost everyone loves to talk “travelling”. Hence we will be discussing SEO strategy for Travel agency.  Let’s quickly begin!

There was a time when only a few companies were driving the Travel Industry. But with the spread of the internet the travel industry has become crowded. However, it has benefited the travel industry enormously, but the competition has also intensified.

Close to 85% people are accessing internet to get the best deals for their trip. But despite having great packages, discounts and services you can’t reach to your audience if your website is not optimized. And let’s get this straight, optimizing website is not a onetime task which you can tick off from your bucket list. Rather, it’s an ongoing process.

Wondering why?

Well, because SEO is not only about reaching on top but, staying on top. But with Google’s changing algorithm and continuously emerging competition, your rank is subject to change.

That’s why optimizing website is an ongoing process(I repeat)! With latest SEO tactics you can straight improve your present rank and move upwards. I will unfold such SEO on-site and off-site strategy:

Keywords

They are very prominent part of SEO strategy. I have discussed in my previous blogs the relevancy of “targeted keywords”. But another smart strategy is opting for “non-competitive keywords” over popular keywords. There are two benefits of such keywords: firstly, they are competition free and secondly Travelers are often searching their query differently depending on their requirements. Say instead of using “Kerala tour packages” you can use “Kerala backwater tour packages”.  Big travel websites consider it as a waste of time as these are less traffic generated keywords. But what’s considered as a waste for them could be a benefit for you. Moreover, being a newbie it’s foolishness to dive straight into a large pool where already domain experts are ruling. Instead, its way more beneficial to cater to a smaller audience with zero competition than the other way round.

However, after keywords allocation you next step is to ensure that the keywords are incorporated into the URL, page title, ALT tag and page body. Say if a keyword is “Fair & festival tours in Rajasthan” (again a non-competitive keyword) it should look like this:

URL: www.yourdomian.com/rajasthan-festival-fair-tour-packages/

Page Title: “your agency name- Rajasthan Fair Festival Tour Packages”

Description: “Rajasthan fairs and festivals are organized every year. Enjoy the exclusive tour packages…..”

Just remember you don’t have to stuff the keywords rather allocate them appropriately.

Not every content is a king!

Yes, it’s important to remember this while carving content for your website. Many travel websites are simply putting content on their site in the hope of getting traffic. However, it doesn’t work like this, that’s why I have said not every content is king. As a travel website you should ask one simple question:

“Does my website content make readers visualize the destinations?”

your answer should be a clear “YES”. Moreover, remember your website is surrounded by millions of competitor’s website. Hence, it’s imperative for you to understand the game of marketing.  Don’t just create content, vaguely, rather try to create content which serves a purpose and drive real leads.  This could be done through creating sections for content like maps and guides, public transport info, Language and local dialect, high quality photos and so on.

Blogging

Travelling stories are always interesting and make readers stick to your page. Having an engaging blog is thus no more a matter of choice rather a necessity. However, while picking topics you can be choosy and you should. Don’t simply follow others, rather try to think topics which readers might want to read.  Try to dive into your customers’ mind. For example, you can write blogs on few crazy festivals in Goa, rare seen fruits of Assam, hidden places and interesting facts of 1000 year old temples and so on.

Mobile friendly Web site

Does your travel website align with Google’s latest standard?

One such standard is to have responsive website. Having a responsive website is no more an option but an essential part of marketing for a travel website. However, it not only appeals to crawlers, but also to your potential customers. Whether it’s business travelers or leisure travelers, both are looking for mobile friendly websites to make their decisions. Your website architecture should be designed to fit for mobiles to tablets to laptops screens.

ALT tags

Technically speaking Alt Tags are called “alternative tags” and used to describe a particular image on a website. ALT tags are extremely important as Google fails to understand non text images. Without alt tags Google robots will immediately grade your site as irrelevant.
Thus, considering travel website where images are crucial part, one shouldn’t underestimate its relevancy. Moreover, ALT tags are also relevant for text browser users.  It should be short (5-15 keywords), specific, meaningful and use SEO keywords.

Earn good links from good sites

Earning an impactful link is vital in SEO as Google closely acknowledges them.  Google uses “popularity” as a second parameter in defining your rank. Thus, as a travel website you should try to get new powerful links. One such source in the travel industry is via blogs.

But if you straight ask for a backlink you will straight get a “No”. Because that’s not how we acquire a backlink. For example, if you want a link from a very popular blog a smart way is to invite the blogger and customize a trip for him in free. In return, you can persuade him to give you a link along with a post. Now that’s how we earn a link. Moreover, if you are a newbie, don’t expect link from big travel blogs. Start developing contacts with smaller blogs at first and then gradually expand your horizon. A good way to locate potential links is by joining travel groups on Facebook.

Join forums community

We have seen how competition is intensifying in the travel industry, thus one should try to use each and every platform. One such platform is Forums to get traffic. There are various forums for travel sector which are categorized by destinations, travel advice, transportation, and itinerary and so on. Millions are using forums to get all latest and updated information. Also, it’s a great way to add links and increase visibility of your travel website in search engines. But to get desired results you need to continuously participate in discussions and post engaging content.

Social media

Social media has become a hub for marketing, businesses’ regardless of their size are using varied platform to improve their ranking. And travel industry is no different in this regard. Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, YouTube are all active zones for travel audience. Google considers the level of engagement with your post as a metric to rank. For example, you have uploaded an engaging post on “top 5 water sports in Goa” and the post has registered a good no. of likes, shares and comment then Google will closely acknowledge this engagement while ranking. This means if someone will search any query regarding water sports in Goa your brand will rank well in the search engines.

Let’s conclude:

These were the few latest SEO strategies you can apply to your travel website. But it’s important to remain in tune with latest algorithm. Optimizing your website helps you rank you at the top of the search engines naturally. Customers understand this and trust more the organic listings over paid listings. Thus, a higher position on the search engines reflects a high credibility of your travel agency.

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