Hotels are the most searched places after the online retail giants. People search for hotels online practically on a daily basis. Hence, it is important to have a strong SEO strategy working for you. Secondly, customers residing in Dallas will not search for hotels in Houston, unless they plan to visit Houston in the near future. Studies have shown that more than 50% of hotel searches end up with people visiting the hotel the same day. Secondly, 97% of people look for local businesses online. This industry has the maximum competition with hotels being present at every nook and corner of the city. This places more emphasis on having an effective SEO campaign for hotels.

You have just seen the reasons why hotels require local SEO. We shall now see how you can go on with this task of developing the right kind of campaign. This campaign involves various aspects to follow. We classify these aspects into off-page SEO and on-page SEO. Following the tips laid down in this article can help your hotel business rank high on the SERP.

This is what you observe on the first page of your search engine results when you type in the keyword, ‘hotels in Dallas’.

What does this image signify? This image is nothing but an extract of the Google My Business (GMB) listing page. Every business worth its salt, especially the hotels should invariably have a GMB listing. It is not very difficult to claim your listing. Access the principal website of Google My Business and complete the one-page application form. It will not take you longer than the time you take to sip your tea. You get a verification code. On confirming the code, your listing is over.

What do you get on the search engine results page when you type out your keywords, ‘hotels in Dallas’? You had seen one aspect of the results in the previous paragraph. We shall deal with the second aspect in this paragraph. You get a list of other hotels in Dallas. You can narrow down your search by including more details in your keyword. A long tailed keyword such as ‘best hotels in Crowne Plaza Dallas Market center” will help you to narrow down your search to hotels in that particular area alone.

This graphic will give you a better understanding.

Your objective is to ace this page as well. Remember, people do not like to search beyond the first page on the Google search engine.

Understand what a citation is. It is nothing but your personal details, also known as NAP in SEO circles. Maintain consistency of these details in all the listings you have in various directories. You should have your listing in all local directories as well as industry specific directories. Check out the paid citations as well. Usually, you will find all directories allowing you free access.

Effective backlinks are essential to propel your ranking to the top. In the bargain, you should avoid employing Black hat SEO tactics like soliciting backlinks from cheap and unrelated websites. Google is very strict about such practices and does not hesitate to blacklist such websites forthwith.

Try to get backlinks from authority websites like .gov and .edu domains. Such links are any day better than a hundred cheap links from nondescript websites.

The hotel industry is a very delicate industry. It takes a lot of time to earn a good reputation. Losing it takes a couple of seconds. One bad experience with a customer can generate a round of negative reviews. This entails you to inculcate good manners in your hotel staff. They are the ones that deal directly with customers. One altercation is enough to send your reputation to the bin.

Google places great emphasis on reviews. Therefore, try to accumulate as many positive reviews as you can. There are websites that help you to list out the positive reviews first followed by the negative reviews irrespective of the chronological order. Invest some money in such sites. This endeavor can pay handsome returns in the form of a top rank on the local SEO.

Invest in a strong website presence. Hire a professional to design the best website that includes all the requisite information. An attractive home page can entice customers to browse further. The ease of navigation is another important factor. The user should have a seamless experience as he wafts in from one page to another.

Present up to date information including prices, discounts, taxes, and so on. Be transparent with your pricing. Make the terms and conditions customer friendly. Of course they should protect your interests, but there is no need to harm customer interests either.

Ensure you have a responsive website that could fit into all screen sizes. People use their mobiles and tablets more than they use the computers. In fact, having a completely different website exclusively for mobiles is a great idea. Investing in a mobile application is mandatory nowadays. It allows your website to be flexible.

Ensure that you have a comprehensive services page. It would be great to have separate pages for each of the services you offer. Fill up your services page with excellent content. Remember, content still rules SEO. Many things have changed on the SEO front, but the importance of quality content has never dwindled. It is as effective today as it was a couple of decades ago.

Make optimum use of the keywords. Use long-tailed keywords wherever necessary, because some people like to search for details. Do your keyword research properly before deciding on the keywords to use. Ensure that your services pages have adequate keyword representation.

Your title and Meta descriptions are equally important. They are the ones that entice a customer to browse your website. You do not have many words to play with while drafting your Meta descriptions. Be short, crisp, and concise in your information. Make use of the primary keyword and ensure to arouse an eager interest in the minds of the customer to visit the website.

Have a dedicated page where your customers can express their opinions online. Make it an interactive page where others can comment on it. You will also be able to take action if necessary to improve your website.

An interactive blog page can help you to make the necessary announcements about impending changes to your website. Your customers will be in the loop. They have a right to know about the changes that affect your hotel at any time.

Have an active social media page exclusively for promotional purposes. Link up with others using this page. It is a great idea to be able to share important as well as casual information with your customers on social media. You can always upload pictures of the various services you offer, such as wedding reception halls, catering activities to entire events, and providing space to corporates to hold executive level meetings, and so on. This is the best place to announce promotional offers, rebates, and attractive deals online.

Today, you find the entire world active on social media. Move with the tide and establish your presence in this medium as well.

• Improve off-page SEO by having an effective GMB listing
•  Improve your organic search SEO
• Build effective backlinks
• Solicit positive customer reviews by providing excellent customer service.
• Have a strong website.
• Invest in an exclusive mobile website or mobile application.
• Post compelling content
• Invest in a solid social media campaign

Follow the steps listed out in this article and build up your local SEO for hotels. You do not get immediate results in such matters, but you can definitely build up your SEO campaign. Remember, there is nothing better than providing great customer service. Your customers are your brand ambassadors. They are the ones that play a great role in making your hotel popular. Do everything in your capacity to stay ahead of the competition. These tips can help you top the local SEO search rankings.