Trustworthy SEO strategies for tour operators

Search engine optimization (SEO) has become quite the buzzword over the past decade, solidifying a prominent spot in the vernacular of marketing professionals across the globe. Whether you’ve heard it mentioned casually in conversation or are intricately aware of its benefits, there’s no two ways about it: SEO has become absolutely essential to your business’s marketing efforts.

Today, we’ll break down how you can craft an optimization approach that suits both your business needs and customer expectations.

Introduction to SEO for tour operators

No matter how exceptional or unique your tour is, potential customers need to know it exists to understand its value. That’s where SEO comes in—many modern tourists never leave the digital environment when researching upcoming experiences.

Optimizing your website for search engines is a key step in getting discovered, driving bookings, and standing out from the competition.

Let’s take a look at why search engine optimization has become so important and how you can tailor your strategy to ensure maximum effectiveness:

Importance of SEO in the tour industry

With so many tourists using the internet to start their experience research, SEO has become a non-negotiable technique for tourism-based businesses. By optimizing your online presence, you can ensure your website ranks higher in search engine results pages (SERPs), giving you a better chance of landing on the highly-coveted first page of results. 

Studies show that 75% of individuals don’t scroll past a search engine’s first page, suggesting that securing a spot here can provide a significant competitive edge.

Overview of SEO benefits

While SEO efforts can often yield immediate results for tour operators, their benefits will only continue to grow over time as you slowly build up an arsenal of quality and targeted content. The more search-optimized content you create, the more likely you are to appear for specific search results.

By incorporating location-based SEO techniques and optimizing for mobile users, tour companies can also tap into both local and global audiences. Targeting localized keywords like “private city tours in Rome,” for instance, promotes visibility to tourists already in the area, while broader content strategies like blogging about “top adventure destinations” appeal to international travelers planning trips months in advance.

Leveraging SEO tools and platforms

If you’re unsure of where to start with your search optimization strategy, that’s okay — there’s no shortage of SEO-focused tools currently available on the market to assist with these efforts. From keyword research and content recommendations to backlink building and competitor analysis, these platforms can help improve every aspect of your optimization approach.

Google Search Console and Google Analytics

Processing 99,000 search queries per second, Google is by far the most frequently utilized search engine on the web. Thus, it’s vital that you optimize your content with the Google algorithm in mind, as it ensures that your approach is tailored for the platform’s specific requirements.

Here, Google Search Console can be invaluable, providing insights into how a website performs in search results, offering data on keyword rankings, click-through rates (CTRs), and search impressions. It also flags technical issues such as broken links and mobile usability problems, enabling timely corrections to maintain a strong online presence.

Meanwhile, Google Analytics complements Search Console by offering a deeper understanding of user behavior on your site. It tracks metrics such as the number of visitors, session durations, and bounce rates, facilitating a comprehensive view of how users interact with your content.

SEO analysis with SEMrush and Ahrefs

Beyond these Google-specific SEO tools, broader platforms like SEMrush and Ahrefs can deliver more wide-ranging information, such as how your business compares to competitors and in-depth backlink analysis. 

SEMrush offers a comprehensive suite of features, including keyword research, site audits, and much more. It enables tour operators to analyze competitors’ keyword strategies, revealing gaps and opportunities for differentiation. 

Ahrefs, on the other hand, excels in backlink analysis and content exploration, giving tour operators an edge in understanding their link-building opportunities. By examining backlink profiles of competitors, operators can identify which domains link to competitors and strategize outreach to secure similar partnerships.

Local SEO optimization

With such a high volume of location-based searches occurring in the tourism sector, local SEO is an integral component of any tour operator’s marketing strategy. A well-rounded approach here ensures that when potential customers are seeking a unique experience in a specific location, your offerings appear in their search results.

Google Business Profile optimization

Many tour operators make the mistake of over-complicating the optimization process. A good place to start is with simply fine-tuning your Google Business Profile (GBP). Filling out all of your account details — such as business name, address, phone number, and website — helps you significantly improve your chances of ranking higher for relevant local queries like “guided city tours near me” or “day trips in [city].”

A well-optimized GBP is particularly valuable for standing out in location-specific queries. Features like photos, reviews, and Q&A sections allow prospective customers to gauge the uniqueness of your offerings and see whether specific locations they’re interested in are covered in the tour.

Managing online reviews

Though online reviews, whether negative or positive, can play a major role in attracting or dissuading potential customers from committing to a purchase, it’s also crucial for SEO. Search engines often consider review quantity, quality, and recency when determining local rankings, making a strong review presence essential for separating yourself from competitors.

To encourage reviews, companies should create easily accessible opportunities for satisfied customers to leave feedback. This might involve sending follow-up emails with direct links to your business’s GBP profile, incorporating QR codes on tour brochures, or simply asking for reviews at the end of a tour experience.

Alternative search engines: Beyond Google

While Google should be the main focus of your SEO approach, it’s still necessary to consider other search engines, such as Bing and Yahoo, as well. These alternatives attract a different demographic and offer unique opportunities, like less keyword competition and more affordable advertising, enabling tour operators to reach an audience they may not have otherwise.

Unique demographics of Bing users

Considering the market dominance of Google, you may be asking yourself “Is anybody actually using Bing?” Well — yes actually. Bing’s user base includes a higher proportion of older, wealthier individuals who prefer to use desktops or laptops, as it’s the default search engine on Microsoft devices.

Another significant advantage of Bing is its relatively less-saturated SEO environment. Many businesses focus their digital marketing efforts on Google, leaving Bing with fewer competitors vying for the same keywords.

Comprehensive content strategy for SEO

In SEO, it’s crucial to attack the often-intimidating search algorithm from all angles, generating a diverse arsenal of content and links that support a comprehensive approach. When articles, blogs, and informational pages are well-rounded and organized in a logical manner, it makes it easier for both potential customers and search engines to consume your content and understand its value.

Developing pillar pages

Pillar pages act as all-encompassing, authoritative pages on a website that serve as the central hub for a specific topic or theme. When it comes to tourism, businesses might focus on a broad topic like “Adventure Travel in Europe” or “Sustainable Tours in Africa.” 

A pillar page essentially acts as a guide that introduces users to key areas of interest while offering navigation to more in-depth content, thereby helping to facilitate a better user experience (UX) and improve SEO.

Evergreen content creation

Evergreen content refers to articles, blog posts, or guides that remain valuable to users long after they’re published. Unlike trendy or time-sensitive material, which may lose its appeal after a short period, evergreen content provides always-relevant information that continues to attract visitors year-round. For tour operators, this could include blogs such as “Essential Packing Tips for Adventure Travelers” or “The Best Destinations for Solo Travelers.”

Integrating SEO with other marketing channels

Though organic content creation is a major component of search engine optimization, there are many other factors to consider when crafting your approach. The various branches of SEO extend far across an organization, requiring marketing and advertising teams to align their efforts to ensure ultimate success.

Role of email marketing in SEO

By building an email list of subscribers interested in travel services, tour operators can maintain a direct line of communication with potential and repeat customers without incurring significant costs. 

Email marketing can also be leveraged to boost SEO, serving as a prime opportunity to drive traffic to your website. For example, a well-rounded email campaign typically includes links to relevant blog posts, destination guides, or newly updated evergreen content, encouraging recipients to explore your site further. This enriches the overall UX for individuals while also indicating to search algorithms that visitors value your content.

PPC advertising and SEO

In addition to organic traffic facilitated by content creation, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising can be a useful tool to ensure your offerings are reaching their intended audience. While building a content-based strategy from the ground up can require significant time and effort to yield results, PPC ads can place your tour at the top of search results almost instantly. This, of course, comes with a fee that you’ll pay for each user who engages with your link, but this investment often pays for itself through an increase in bookings and improved brand awareness.

Monitoring and tracking SEO performance

Whether it’s gauging website traffic, evaluating keyword performance, or analyzing user engagement, monitoring relevant SEO metrics empowers tour operators to fine-tune their approach as needed. If certain elements of your strategy aren’t generating anticipated results, it’s alright to ditch it. Conversely, if another area is performing better than expected, you might choose to allocate more resources to it.

Monitoring key SEO metrics

Once you’ve identified and implemented your optimization strategy, it’s critical that you continue to evaluate its effectiveness over time. Key performance indicators (KPIs) like traffic, clicks, and conversions all provide valuable insights into where your efforts are succeeding and where they may be falling short. Metrics to keep a close eye on include:

• Traffic: Tracks the number of visitors arriving at your website through organic search. This metric provides insights into the overall reach of SEO efforts, helping to gauge visibility and audience interest.
• Clicks: Measures the number of times users click on your site’s link from search engine results. A high click-through rate indicates that meta titles and descriptions are compelling and align with user intent.
• Impressions: Counts how often a webpage appears in search results, regardless of whether it’s clicked. High impressions with low clicks may indicate the need for more appealing titles or descriptions to attract users.
• Conversions: Evaluates actions taken by users, such as bookings, inquiries, or newsletter sign-ups. This KPI is critical for understanding how effectively SEO traffic translates into tangible business results.

Using webmaster tools for insights

Webmaster tools act as powerful platforms that provide useful insights into how search engines perceive and index a site. Google Search Console is one example, offering data on search queries, impressions, and average keyword rankings, enabling tour operators to understand which topics drive the most traffic. By leveraging these solutions, you can focus your content creation efforts on high-performing areas, while also addressing underperforming keywords to maximize visibility.

What’s next?

While prioritizing search engine optimization may have been seen as going above and beyond in the past, it’s now a general requirement for staying competitive in an increasingly saturated market. With so many tour operators vying for the attention and business of today’s tourists, it’s paramount that you employ an effective combination of organic content, paid advertisements, and strong online reviews to ensure you’re able to reach your target audience.

Still, attracting potential customers is only half the battle — you’ll also need to verify that your booking process is as frictionless as possible to secure an eventual conversion. This is where Fareharbor steps in. Fareharbor serves as an all-in-one online booking platform, providing users with secure payment options, mobile check-ins, enticing loyalty programs, and much more. For tour operators, staff management tools, dynamic pricing options, and a dedicated booking POS ensure that you’re able to oversee your operations with ease.

Ready to see what Fareharbor can do for you? Sign up for your free demo today!