What is SEO?

We often find that when we talk to new clients about the services we offer and how we can help. One questions pops up more than most. What is SEO?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation, in its simplest term, it means optimising your website for the search engines, such as Google, to make it easier for your potential customers to find you. This means generating more visits to your website from better quality potential guests, but how do we do this?

ON-SITE SEO

On-site optimisation, as with any SEO, is all about keywords and the topic, making sure that they’re relevant. Here’s how:

• Pick relevant keywords.
• Get your keyword into your meta title and description (and don’t forget to include a Call To Action in the description, this will encourage people to click through to your website – good for SEO and good for business!).
• Get your keyword and variations into the copy of your landing page making sure it’s natural – Google knows when you’ve simply tacked a keyword onto the end of your copy.
• Include an H1 tag (main heading) that has your keyword in it.
• Include sub headings H2 tags (e.g. H2, H3, H4 … tags) that has a variation of your keyword in.
• When blogging, use internal links to drive visitors to other pages across the website, keeping them engaged and on your site for longer. Anchor text is important so use relevant keywords and make sure you’re linking across the entire site; not just to top level pages.
• When onsite blogging; keep it relevant; keep it focussed; write with a goal in mind; link to relevant pages around your website; and link to relevant pages around the web. Building domain authority is key.

OFF SITE

Off-site optimisation is all about link building, making sure you gain good domain authority by getting links from top quality sites. Here’s how:

• Links are important, but make sure you’re choosing quality over quantity.
• Relevance is also key – would people be interested in the website you’re linking from be interested in you?
• Make sure links don’t just go to the homepage. For example, a review of the spa facilities, should link to the Spa page.
• How to get links:
  • Content outreach can work, but it takes time and most good websites want paying. Instead, a customer/guest reviews can be great for two reasons:
    1. You get a link back from a relevant website (great for SEO).
    2. Anyone searching ‘Your Company Name’ and ‘review’ will come across a third party site saying good things which could generate a potential sale/booking (great PR)
• Your social media is also key. This classes as offsite SEO. Ensuring  your Facebook and Twitter pages are optimised to show up in the search results is important. Being active on these channels is equally important, so remember to share interesting and engaging content with your followers on a regular basis.

TECHNICAL SEO

Technical SEO is all about the how your hotel website is built and making sure it’s user and Google friendly. Here’s how:

• Technical SEO depends largely on how well search engines can crawl your site and index your content.
• It also has to do with speed, UX and nothing being broken.
• Having a mobile friendly website is also incredibly important.
• It’s always important to have a good 404 page, not only for Google, but for the user.
• Image Alt – keep to under 125 characters, write naturally and only use it if the photo is relevant.

So there you have it, the basics of SEO. If you want more information about how we can help, drop us an email, or give us a call on 0117 930 4365.