Google has introduced a string of algorithm updates in the last few years in an attempt to banish spam and prioritise quality, freshness and social content on the search results page. All this has stirred up a lot of debate about the value and future of Search Engine Optimisation as we once knew it –so what exactly is the reality of SEO in 2013?
Quality is key, but keywords aren’t going anywhere
Now that search engines are rewarding quality content, you can forget all about keywords, right? Wrong. While Google has improved the way it ‘screens’ websites, it still can’t pick up on the subtleties and meaning behind content to anything like the same extent humans can. For this reason, it’s still vital your website is using keywords to send out the right signals to search engines if you want to rank highly on the results page.
For your guests, quality content is all about relevance. Each search they make starts with them entering a set of keywords into the search box, and ends with them clicking through to one of the web addresses they see displayed in search results. If your resort’s website doesn’t contain the keywords or phrases your guest searches for in its on-page copy and meta data, then you’re not alerting Google (or your guests) to your site’s relevance for that particular search query, and your search rankings, traffic and bookings will suffer.
Links are still important
Despite the new emphasis on quality, search engines are still crawling links to discover content. So, the more links there are out there directing to your resort’s website (from high-quality sources), the more chance you have of getting found.
Social shares are now just as valuable as web page links, so make sure you’re consistently promoting your blogs and other content through your resort’s social media accounts.
Website glitches damage your search ranking
A well-designed website will always remain integral to any successful SEO campaign, no matter how much Google switches search up with its algorithm updates. Your guests won’t hesitate to leave a page that takes too long to load or is confusing to navigate and neither will the search engines, which means keeping an eye on technical issues, especially after updates, should be a key priority if you want to keep your website as search engine friendly as possible.
SEO still going strong
Search engine optimisation is all about making sure your guests can find your resort at the exact moment they’re looking for it through Google and other search engines. As long as consumers use search engines to look for data, SEO is bound to play an important role in the online marketing mix.
How is your resort using SEO to drive traffic and bookings?
Related blog posts:
- SEO Update: Social Media and Search Rankings
- Back To SEO Basics
- The New Breed Of SEO
