How to boost your hotel website's SEO with Blogging

Blogging can be a successful marketing tool; more so when executed well. Quality blog content that holds value to the reader is a useful tactic to communicate and build brand awareness with current and prospective customers, industry professionals and more.

Quality content is the number one driver of your search engine ranking, and there is no substitute for it. Regularly updated content is viewed as one of the best indicators of a site’s relevancy, so be sure to include it in your marketing calendar.

There are many key considerations when compiling a blog article for example, the overall quality and value of the content, search engine ranking and quality of blog titles; because you have to convince your reader to give you their attention.

In this article, we're going to share some guidance on blogging with SEO in mind.

Define Your Topic

Putting a bit of thought and brainstorming behind your blog topic can go a long way. Start by asking some key questions:

• What do you want to achieve with this article?
• What audience do you want to target?
• Do you want to draw attention to a specific unique selling point of your establishment?

Defining your topic will give you clarity on the content you will incorporate into the blog article; this will give you further clarity on specific keywords to incorporate of which you would like to rank better for. Brainstorming is an important part of the process, more so when thinking about keywords and how they impact your search engine ranking.

Example: Pet-friendly accommodation in <Your Destination>

For some inspiration you can read through our blog ideas for Hotels, Guesthouses and B&B’s (The Power of Advice).

Blog Title

Titles give the prospective reader a snapshot of the content; the aim is to at first glance draw their attention and give them a reason to read more instead of scrolling away.

Titles also represent your articles in search engines and social media; so being descriptive, incorporating a keyword that makes sense contextually and avoiding overuse of punctuation marks is a good approach.

Example: 3 Reasons why <Name of your business> is he ideal pet friendly choice for staying in <Your Destination>

A useful resource is our tips for writing effective titles for your blog articles .

Blog Content

Keep in mind that while you want search engines to rank your content highly, you'll need to ensure that the content is a compelling and valuable for the reader too.

Within your blog content incorporating your set keywords as they make sense within context, and including related high-resolution image content with alt-tags can push your content in the direction of SEO effectiveness.

The structure of your content is also a key aspect - here you have options and you should select an option based on how well it will work regarding your topic.

For example, the topic is Pet-friendly accommodation in Umhlanga. There are 3 key features of pet-friendly establishments that appeal to travelling pet owners - So a recommended structure would be:

• Introduction (which states the 3 key features; this ensures that anyone skim reading can get a good idea of what is to come).
• 3 concise paragraphs (each paragraph explains each feature - spacious lawns, tiled interiors, fenced property) .
• Conclusion (tie all the features together ensuring that you’ve given the reader a clear understanding and a reason to book).
• Call to action (Springnest Articles feature allows you to add a catchy call to action at the end of the article.

The structure of your blog content will always differ based on your topic, there are various options to consider; you can structure content in the form of distinct paragraphs, lists, using subheadings, a question and answer format. The key is to make the content as informative and valuable as possible to the reader while incorporating keywords as they make sense within context.

Alt tags

Adding images that are specific to the topic are vital, they give the reader a clear idea on what to expect, supplemented by the facts which you have already explained. The benefit of adding images is you have an opportunity to further sell your property, and substantiate your blog topic.

When adding images it’s important to add descriptive keyword-filled alt tags so that search engines are able to index these images contributing positively to your SEO effectiveness.

Example: Spacious lawns at <Name of Establishment> make for an ideal pet-friendly accommodation spot in <Your Destination>