A look at keywords and how they impact your search engine ranking

Search engines are scanning your content for words that your potential guests are searching for, so the goal is to ensure that your website contains these specific words and phrases; relative to your business. This is where the concept of keywords comes in.

Keywords are a set of words present on your website that are used to describe your business and what you have to offer.

An alternate perspective is that keywords can also represent how your guests describe exactly what they are looking for and their needs, for example, a price conscious or budget traveller would search for “affordable apartment accommodation in Johannesburg” or a traveller looking for location specific accommodation with activities would search for “accommodation at the Vaal with outdoor activities”.

With this in mind, creating quality content that appeals to your guests needs can positively improve your organic search engine ranking for these keywords.

Putting pen to paper

A bit of brainstorming will go a long way and answering key questions will help you identify relevant keywords. Here’s some questions to get you going:

1. How do you describe your business?
2. What do you have to offer?
3. What is unique about your business, that appeals to potential guests?

When answering these questions you can list single words (short tail keywords) or slightly longer 3-4 word phrases (long tail keywords).

Using online tools to gain clarity

Using a keyword research tool will give you a look at the search volume (how many people search for this term over a specific amount of time) and the competition.

To supplement your research, find information about search volumes and competition here: Google Keyword Planner, AnswerThePublic, and Google Search Console

A challenge is that the first page of Google's result for competitive search terms is usually dominated by booking sites and online travel agencies. So keep your focus on targeted search terms, where you can have a slight competitive advantage, this way you'll have a shot at ranking without spending additional marketing budget on paid advertising.

Gather all your insights, document your list and keep it handy so that you can reference it when creating new content for your website, updating content or reviewing your SEO Settings.

Updating your websites content

Web page content

Once you’ve gathered your keywords; single words (short tail keywords) or slightly longer 3-4 word phrases (long tail keywords). Review the current content present on each web page and identify opportunities where you can add or replace current words or phrases with the specific keywords you have now identified are relative to your business. A good starting point would be reviewing your Page Titles and Descriptions.

SEO Settings

Springnest will use default settings if you leave your SEO Settings blank, however you have the option to customise your SEO Settings for pages; a good opportunity once you’ve completed your keyword research. For an indepth look at how to update SEO Settings in Springnest, view our guide from the Help Centre.