A lot has changed in the digital marketing space in the last year. Updates to social media platforms and advertising, new media platforms becoming increasingly popular, and changes in how online users behave and engage, are just the tip of the iceberg. With exciting advancements in algorithms and technology, there’s so much potential for creativity and innovation in the digital marketing space.
What has changed?
The tried and true marketing methods aren’t performing the way they used to. A few years ago, simply having a website and publishing a few posts on your Facebook page could get plenty of exposure. Supplementing this with some paid advertising when running special offers or promotions worked well.
These days, the online space is increasingly crowded, and it’s becoming more challenging to stand out to potential guests. Many businesses that updated their website only a few years ago are now finding that these websites are outdated and no longer ranking well. Mobile-first design, page speed, and fresh quality content are essential.
What about Paid Digital Advertising?
Organic reach on social media platforms is more limited in 2022 than in previous years. More and more businesses need to turn to paid social media advertising to generate engagement and conversions.
To further complicate matters, paid reach has also become more complex, with privacy protocols creating challenges in targeting specific demographic groups by interests or preferences. Campaigns are now targeting broader audiences that match target demographics less precisely, and so conversion rates aren’t as high as in previous years.
While options such as Google Ads, social media advertising, YouTube advertising, and digital display ads are still generating results, the financial investment required to generate the same results is showing an upward trend. As voice technology such as Google Home, Siri, and Alexa becomes more popular, search queries are becoming more tailored to question formats.
Search Engine Marketing in 2022
The outdated way to rank well for a Google search keyword was to include a few pages of content on your website with strategically placed keywords, tags, and backlink building. Today the algorithm is much smarter and aimed at providing high-quality content and a fast, enjoyable user experience for the online searcher.
It considers a variety of factors, including regularity and quality of content published, and how well the content matches the search intent. It factors in readability, related keywords, subsequent user behaviour, and much more. It’s far harder to “trick” the algorithm than in years past.
The best way to rank well in 2022 is to consider what your potential guests might be searching for and optimise your website to give them the answers they are looking for. Deliver regular, fresh, accurate, and high-quality content. Ensure the user experience on your website is fast, intuitive, and enjoyable and makes them want to keep reading more.
Having a social media presence on multiple platforms and sharing website content such as blog posts and updates can also help signal the freshness of content to search engines. Targeting the right keywords for your business, including those that indicate user intent actions, is another crucial strategy.
Where to Start
Keyword research is key. Ask your guests how they found you, and why they booked with you. This can give you an idea of potential search terms to investigate. Find out which keywords your competitors are targeting and which are driving their website traffic. Discover keywords that your competitors aren’t yet targeting.
Next, audit your website for mobile speed, responsiveness, content quality, backlink quality, and domain authority. Optimise for any missing or duplicate tags, missing meta descriptions, image alt tags, compress images, and remove any unnecessary pages. Disavow toxic backlinks. Remove any unnecessary code.
Finally, build an SEO strategy based around great keywords. You want to choose keywords that have a good monthly search volume, ideally, indicate purchase intent, aren’t so competitive that you are unlikely to ever rank, and are highly relevant to your accommodation offering. Then deliver excellent content that’s well written, informative, and valuable to the reader.
If SEO isn’t your area of expertise, chat to us about a tailored SEO strategy, optimisation, and content creation package to align your hotel or accommodation website SEO with 2022 best practice.
