SEO for Hotels

Which hotel searches can you win?

Start by sorting the searches a guest might type, because your effort should go where a hotel has an advantage.

The pattern is simple. The more a search compares many hotels in one town, the more a booking site's database wins. The more it is about your name, an experience or a question only you can answer, the more room there is for a hotel with specific information.

Check your own-name results first

Search for your hotel name in a private browser window, on a phone, and read the whole first page. Note whether your own site sits first, whether the map listing is correct and whether any advertisers sit above you. If a booking site shows above your site for your own name, guests who already chose you are being routed through a channel that charges commission. Decide whether a small paid campaign on your own name is worth it. Do this check before you write a single new page.

Google's hotel results and free booking links

Google shows hotel prices in its own hotel results. Free booking links let your booking site appear there at no cost per click. According to Google's help page, existing Hotel Center partners taking part in Hotel Ads are eligible automatically. Other hotels can follow the Hotel Center starter guide, or may be connected through their reservation system provider. You need a Hotel Center account, available rates and a landing page.

Google ranks free booking links on signals such as consumer preference, value to the user, landing page experience and historical price accuracy, and says that bids do not affect their position. Two practical points follow:

• The landing page is part of the ranking, so it must show the rate the searcher saw, load quickly and not hide the room behind a pop-up. The hotel website design guide covers the page itself.
• Price accuracy has a history. Google lists historical price accuracy among its ranking signals, so a feed that shows the wrong price counts against you.

Pages worth building

A hotel site does not need a large page count. It needs these 5 kinds of page, plus language versions where your booking data justifies them:

1. One page per room type, with photos, size, bed options, view, what the room costs to book direct and what is included.
2. An offers page that states the terms, dates and how to book, kept current.
3. Experience pages for each revenue line: weddings, meetings, spa, restaurant, activities. Each should answer the planner's questions, including capacity, sample prices where you can share them, and a way to enquire.
4. A getting-here page with directions from the airport, driving time, parking and public transport.
5. A policies page covering check-in, cancellation, pets and children, written in plain language.

Skip destination encyclopedias. Where you do write about the area, base it on what you know: the restaurants you send guests to, a walk you recommend, a quiet month.

Hotel schema and what it can and cannot do

Schema.org's Hotel type extends LodgingBusiness, and its properties include check-in and check-out times, star rating, number of rooms, amenity features, whether pets are allowed and a price range. Google recommends using the most specific local business type available, and says structured data does not guarantee that any search feature will appear. Treat the markup as clear labelling that helps machines read the page, and mark up only content visible on it. Our schema markup guide shows how.

Reviews need care. Google says pages that use local business markup are ineligible for review stars when the business controls reviews about itself, including reviews pulled in from third-party sites. Show guest reviews if you like, but do not expect stars from them.

Languages and markets

Look at your booking data before you translate anything. Which countries book direct, and which book through other sites? Build language versions for the markets that already book, each on its own URL, and check each translation for room names, policies and measurements. A badly translated policy page leads to disputes and refunds, so budget for a careful translation.

Direct pricing and the booking sites

In the European Economic Area, the European Commission says that businesses using Booking.com can set prices and conditions freely on and off the platform, including lower prices on their own sites. That makes your own site a place to offer something better, and makes the click worth earning. The economics are in our guide to hotel website marketing and direct bookings.

What to measure

Track branded searches, direct bookings, and the share of bookings that come through your own site. Rankings for "hotels in [town]" tell you little. If you want help planning the work, see our SEO service, and we quote in writing.