DIY Hotel SEO Checklist

The most actionable Hotel SEO guide in 2024.

Improve your hotel’s online visibility, drive more bookings, and increase revenue without having to hire an SEO agency.

Steal our Hotel SEO Checklist and implement it in 7 simple steps, covering 54 actionable touch-points. Learn how to optimize your website, content, and local presence.

Step 1: Introduction & Setup

Understanding the Basics of SEO

Get familiar with basic SEO concepts. Read and learn from Upscale Blog to expand your Hotel SEO knowledge. Having a fundamental understanding before utilising anything from this checklist is recommended.

Create Google Business profile

A Google Business profile provides essential information about your hotel to Google Search and Maps, making it easier for potential guests to find you. Go to google.com/intl/en_us/business to get started.

Set up a Google Analytics account

Google Analytics tracks website traffic, user behaviour, and conversion rates, providing valuable data for optimising your SEO strategy. Go to marketingplatform.google.com/about/analytics to get started.

Implement Google Search Console

Google Search Console allows you to monitor your website’s performance in Google Search, identify issues, and submit your sitemap. Go to search.google.com/search-console/about to get started.

Step 2: Technical SEO Improvement

Conduct a website audit

A website audit identifies technical issues such as broken links, slow page load times, and mobile-friendliness that can hinder SEO performance. Go to Google’s PageSpeed Insight to do a simple and free site audit.

Optimize website speed

Slow page load times can negatively impact user experience and search engine rankings. Optimizing website speed involves compressing images, minifying CSS and JavaScript files, and leveraging browser caching.

Ensure mobile-friendliness

Google prioritizes mobile-friendly websites in search results. A mobile-friendly website is responsive and easy to navigate on various screen sizes.

Fix broken links

Broken links can confuse search engines and frustrate users. Regularly check for and fix broken links to maintain a positive user experience.

Implement HTTPS

HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) encrypts data transmitted between your website and users, providing a more secure browsing experience and improving search engine rankings. Consider migrating your hosting to Hostinger and get a free HTTPS certificate each time you buy a domain (not just once).

Optimize image file sizes and alt text

Large image files can slow down page load times. Compressing images and using descriptive alt text can improve SEO and accessibility. Convert all your PNG and JPG images into WebP format. For videos, use WebM format. Use at least one image, and insert the targeted keyword into the alt text.

Create an XML sitemap

An XML sitemap provides a structured list of your website’s pages, helping search engines crawl and index your content more efficiently. Read Google Search Central documentation about how to build and submit XML sitemap.

Submit your sitemap to search engines

Submitting your XML sitemap to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools helps search engines discover and index your website’s pages.

Create a robots.txt file

A robots.txt file instructs search engines which pages to crawl and which to avoid, allowing you to control how your website is indexed.

Step 3: Keywords & Competitor Research

Identify target keywords

Target keywords are the phrases that potential guests search for when looking for hotels. Researching relevant keywords helps you optimize your content and attract more organic traffic.

Analyse competitor websites

Analysing your competitors’ websites can reveal their top-performing keywords, content strategies, and backlink profiles.

Utilise keyword research tools

Popular keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, and diib provide data on keyword volume, difficulty, and related terms.

Create a keyword mapping strategy

A keyword mapping strategy assigns relevant keywords to specific pages on your website, ensuring that your content is optimized for search engines.

Step 4: Content Audit & Creation

Conduct a content audit

A content audit assesses the quality, relevance, and performance of your existing content, identifying areas for improvement.

Update outdated content

Outdated content can harm your website’s credibility and search engine rankings. Regularly update your content to ensure accuracy and relevance.

Create high-quality content

High-quality content that is informative, engaging, and valuable to your target audience is more likely to rank well in search results.

Optimize content for target keywords

Incorporating your target keywords naturally throughout your content helps search engines understand the topic and improve your rankings.

Target long-tail keywords

Long-tail keywords are more specific and often have lower competition, making them easier to rank for.

Create location-specific content

Targeting local guests with location-specific content can improve your visibility in local search results.

Develop a content calendar

A content calendar helps you plan and schedule your content creation efforts, ensuring consistency and efficiency.

Step 5: On-page SEO

Optimize title tags and meta descriptions

Title tags and meta descriptions appear in search results and can influence click-through rates. Optimize them to include relevant keywords and a compelling description.

Use header tags (H1, H2, etc)

Header tags help structure your content and improve readability. They also signal the importance of different sections to search engines.

Optimize image alt text

Alt text provides a textual description of images, making your website more accessible to visually impaired users and helping search engines understand the content of your images. Incorporate targeted keywords into alt text.

Internal linking

Linking to relevant pages within your website helps search engines understand the structure and relationships between your pages, improving your site’s authority.

Optimize URL structure

Clear and keyword-rich URLs can improve your website’s SEO and user experience. Remember to keep it short and simple.

Add schema markup

Schema markup provides search engines with structured data about your content, allowing them to display rich snippets in search results. This specific step is especially essential for hotels. Read Google documentation about schema markup.

Step 6: Link Building Strategy

Build high-quality backlinks

Backlinks are links from other websites to your website. High-quality backlinks from authoritative websites can significantly improve your search engine rankings.

Guest posting

Consider doing guest posting. Guest posting on other relevant websites allows you to reach a new audience and build backlinks, especially if those websites have high domain authority. For example: HotelTech Report.

Broken link building

Broken link building involves finding broken links on other websites and offering to replace them with links to your relevant content.

Directory submissions

Submitting your hotel to relevant online directories like TripAdvisor and Yelp can help increase your online visibility and generate backlinks. Be in as many booking platforms as possible for exposure.

Social media engagement

Sharing your content on social media platforms can help drive traffic to your website and generate backlinks. Engage with your followers.

Encourage customer reviews

Positive reviews can improve your local SEO and attract more customers, and ultimately boosting your bookings and revenue.

Partner with complementary businesses

Partnering with complementary businesses can create opportunities for cross-promotion and link building.

Step 7: Local SEO Management

Claim and optimize local listings

Claiming and optimising your local listings on platforms like Google Business Profile, Yelp, and TripAdvisor ensures that your business information is accurate and consistent across the web.

Encourage local reviews

Positive reviews on Google Business Profile from local customers can improve your local search rankings and attract more business.

Optimise Google Business Profile

A well-optimised Google Business Profile includes high-quality images, accurate address information, phone number, website, and hours of operation.

Create location-specific landing pages

Targeting visitors from different areas with location-specific landing pages can improve your local search rankings and conversion rates.

Use local citations

Local citations are mentions of your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) across the web. Consistent local citations help search engines understand your business’s location.

Participate in local events and communities

Building relationships with local businesses and residents can improve your brand awareness and local SEO.

Offer local deals and promotions

Attracting local customers with targeted deals and promotions can improve your local search rankings and drive business.

Optimise for voice search

Voice search is becoming increasingly popular, so optimizing your content for voice search queries can help you reach a wider audience.

Track local SEO performance

Monitoring your local search rankings and visibility can help you identify areas for improvement and measure the effectiveness of your local SEO efforts.

Respond to reviews promptly

Responding to reviews, both positive and negative, shows customers that you value their feedback and are committed to providing excellent service.

Monitor local search trends

Staying up-to-date on local SEO best practices and algorithm changes is essential for maintaining your competitive edge.

By implementing this DIY Hotel SEO Checklist, your hotel’s website will perform better than 80% of your competitors. Learn more industry jargon in our Hotel SEO Glossary.