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Google is a very powerful tool if we know how to use it well. It offers many free opportunities, does not require constant engagement like social media, and can help you generate more direct bookings.
How can you make the most of this tool? Below, we highlight the basic prerequisites worth putting in place so guests can find you more easily on Google.
SEO and keywords
For a guest to find you on Google, your accommodation first needs to be present on Google. If you have decided to rely less on portals and agencies and launch your own website, you have already taken an important step.
You have prepared descriptions and photos and translated the texts into the languages your guests speak. The next step is SEO optimization, meaning adapting your website content to the way guests search on Google.
To optimize a website well, we need to follow the guest’s behavior. When planning a holiday, guests first choose the broader and then the narrower destination. In other words, they first choose the country, then the region, and only then the city, settlement, or neighborhood.
After that, they also think about transportation. If they are traveling by plane, the distance from the accommodation to the airport is often important. Before making a final decision, they will also explore the micro-location and the amenities it offers.
When they start looking for accommodation, the most important criteria are usually capacity, property amenities, and its specific features. From this alone, we can understand what a guest is likely to type into Google — and those are exactly the keywords that should be present on your website.
What a guest searches for on Google should also be clearly and naturally present on your website.
What are keywords and how should you use them?
Keywords are the link between you and your guest. These are the terms guests type into Google and that also appear on your website. Thanks to them, Google can recognize that your content is relevant to what the guest is searching for.
If we follow the travel planning process, it is clear that your website should mention the country, region, and place where the property is located. If it is a smaller place, it is useful to mention nearby larger destinations as well, so guests can find you more easily.
For example, someone is less likely to know Galižana in advance, but much more likely to know Pula. That is why it is good to include terms related to location, transport, amenities, capacity, and the special features of the property.
As an example, let us take a holiday house in Galižana for four people. In that case, useful keywords may include: Croatia, Istria, Galižana, near Pula, Pula airport, holiday house, vacation rental, for 4 people, pet friendly, swimming pool, hot tub.
How to choose the right keywords?
Once you define the terms through which a guest could find your property, you can use the free Google tool Keyword Planner to check which variations are searched more often.
Choose the exact phrases people actually type into the search engine. For example, even if two words have the same meaning, one version may be searched more often than the other. The same applies to terms such as pet friendly, pet-friendly, or pet friendly accommodation.
The best results usually come from content that uses natural expressions people really search for, rather than terms we personally find logical.
Keywords suggested in Google Keyword Planner
Where should you add keywords?
Keywords should be meaningfully incorporated into the property description, especially in headings and subheadings (H1 and H2 tags), then in photo descriptions, and in the meta description shown in Google search results.
Google search result
The meta description is entered in the space intended for SEO settings.
SEO settings layout on an Apartmanica website
Google needs some time to process the content of a new website and start showing it in search results. That is why it is important to set up the basics well and then give the content time to rank.
Google Maps and Google Business Profile
While Google is processing your website content, it is also useful to set up your profile on Google Maps through Google Business Profile. There you can enter the property name, address, contact details, a link to your website, a short description, and photos, and mark the exact location on the map so guests can find you more easily.
On the profile, you can also track basic insights, such as how users found you and what actions they took after viewing the profile.
On your Google Business Profile, you can also track visit statistics.
You can also see what visitors did after they found your property on Google Maps.
Google Business Profile also allows guests to leave reviews and add photos of their stay. This kind of content often means more to future guests than any ad, because it provides a real impression and builds additional trust.
When your website, Google profile, and content are well organized, guests can find you more easily and contact you directly.
All of the tools mentioned above are available at no additional cost and can help you improve the visibility of your accommodation and generate more direct bookings.
