Two of the main reasons for tour operators to have a blog is to help their SEO and draw travelers to their website based on things guests are searching on Google. Fortunately, these two things go hand in hand. If you want to increase your SEO, having a blog full of useful and original content(opens in a new tab) is a great place to start, and original content will also draw people to your website from Google.
Let’s say you run bike tours in Chicago. You might write a blog post about the best bike routes in Chicago, best breweries in Chicago, or anything that people who visit Chicago might Google before or during their trip. The idea is that they’ll click your article on Google, see your website, and maybe book a tour. It’s a great way to get Google to pick up your name and deliver it to your potential guests.
Think about what type of content your target audience is interested in. If you’re struggling to come up with some ideas, take a look at our list of 10 Blogging Ideas for Tour Operators(opens in a new tab) for inspiration. Even though this should keep you writing for a while, you need to make sure your content is also optimized for SEO in order to take full advantage of your blog. Consider the following elements as you write.
1. Keywords
Keywords are simple terms that define what your content is about. Continuing with the previous example, if you run bike tours in Chicago, including that specific phrase on your website is probably a pretty good idea! Keywords are incredibly important as you probably know, but even more important is avoiding the common pitfall of keyword stuffing. Keyword stuffing is when you try to fit too many different keywords into your content. Search engines will recognize this as an attempt to manipulate your site’s ranking, and in turn, this will hurt your SEO. Stick to a couple of important ones and use them throughout the blog post.
2. Long-tail keywords
For blogging, long-tail keywords are your best friends. What’s the difference between regular keywords and long-tail keywords? A simple keyword can be “tours,” whereas a long-tail keyword contains at least three words, like “La Jolla kayak tour.” The perk of long-tail keywords is there isn’t as much competition for these search results, yet there are still people searching for it. In fact, roughly 70% of searches are the result of long-tailed keywords(opens in a new tab). Include your chosen keywords in your title, introductory sentence, concluding paragraph, and the text that you hyperlink to other sites.
3. Voice-search keywords
People are increasingly using Siri and other voice assistants to search on Google, though keep in mind that the way people phrase their search when using voice-search differs significantly from how they would search by typing. While a text-search long-tail keyword might be “kayaking tours San Francisco,” a voice-search keyword would more likely be conversational, like “where can I kayak in San Francisco.” When writing posts for your blog, consider using both phrasings in the same post to account for voice-searchers and traditional typists.
4. Meta-title and meta-description
Utilizing the meta-title and meta-description on each page of your website is absolutely fundamental. This is what will show up on Google when your page appears on a search, so what you write here will particularly help Google understand your content and place it in the correct categories. If you’re using a content management system like WordPress, each page that you create most likely has a section specifically for your meta-title and meta-description, so make sure to take advantage of it!
If you’re having trouble deciding the best keywords to include in your content, you can use KWFinder(opens in a new tab), an online keyword research tool, to see what keywords people are searching for.
5. Images
If you’re adding images to your blog post, change the file name to a relevant keyword instead of a nonsensical number code. This is yet another way to convince Google to prefer your post in its search results.
6. Links
For each blog post you write, think back to past articles and figure out ways to link them together. Add the new one’s link to an old blog post, and link old blog posts into the new one. Internal links (links to pages within the same website) will help Google “crawl” your website(opens in a new tab) — meaning that it will more easily navigate through your site and categorize its page, allowing it to therefore be able to appropriate rank your content.
Keeping these tips in mind will not only assure that your original content won’t go unnoticed but also help your target audience find your website. If you’re looking to add a professionally written blog to your site, read our blog writing service(opens in a new tab) information and don’t hesitate to get in touch with us!(opens in a new tab)
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