Choosing the right words to rank for can make or break the success of your hotel’s PPC campaigns. By taking time to conduct research into the market’s demand for certain keywords and phrases, you can identify the words to target to reach more of your guests, uncover new opportunities and learn more about your audience.
How To Start Researching Keyword Research
A lot has changed since the early days of search marketing, rendering a lot of traditional keyword research methods out of date and futile. Thanks to Google algorithm updates in the last few years, it’s now a lot less about the quantity of keywords you’re targeting – in other words, there’s no need to add more key search terms just for the sake of it!
Rather than trying to flesh out existing keywords or add new keywords which are similar to ones you already rank far, a good rule of thumb with keyword research is to aim to uncover new but related themes.
For example, you might have already exhausted all the different terms to describe “family hotel Gold Coast” but there are particular qualities travellers search for when planning their next break with the kids, such as “great value”, “affordable apartments”, “child-friendly attractions Gold Coast.”
Before you make any decisions, don’t forget to take a look at the keyword search volume estimates to ensure that new keywords you’re considering are likely to have an impact that’s worth the time and effort.
Assessing The Value of New Keywords
It’s important to keep a close eye on the performance of new keywords to make sure they are really adding value – the simplest way to do this is to label new keywords as you add them, to allow for quick and easy performance review moving forward. As well as monitoring performance, it’s also a good idea to remove keywords that have been flagged for generating a low volume of search queries. If the terms simply aren’t generating impressions, it makes sense to get rid of them to avoid cluttering the account.
Tips for uncovering potential keywords
- Think like a guest: Which words and phrases are your target demographic likely to use when searching for the services you offer?
- Look for gaps in organic traffic: Keeping an eye on Google Analytics organic traffic trends will help you identify areas where there has been a decline in organic traffic or where there is little traction. If your hotel isn’t currently bidding for these terms, it may be worth including them within your paid accounts to become more aggressive.
- Take a cue from your competitors: What better way to identify important keywords for your target demographic than to learn a thing or two from your biggest competitors? There are numerous tools out there to help you find out the terms competing websites are bidding for in terms of both paid search and SEO, so don’t be afraid to make the most of them.
How does your hotel identify quality new keywords? Let us know in the comments below!
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