Did you know there are 115,000 vacation rental companies across the globe?
Statistically, vacation rentals are becoming increasingly popular among travelers, which is excellent news for property managers. However, this does pose an interesting challenge—how to make your vacation rental company stand out when guests are inundated with thousands of options online.
Thankfully, getting travelers to your website doesn’t have to be complicated. Here are some foolproof tips for boosting your vacation rental website traffic.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of improving the quantity and quality of your website traffic via organic (unpaid!) search engine results. Ultimately, SEO makes it easier for travelers to find your website when searching for a place to stay online.
SEO encompasses several components, many that we’ll outline below. However, first, you need to focus on on-page optimization. This process ensures your website is ranking for search terms related to your properties and the local area. You can improve your on-page optimization by using tools like SEMrush to perform keyword research and implementing these keywords within your website.
For example, if your properties are located in San Diego, California, you may discover “vacation rentals in San Diego” is a commonly searched term. You’ll want to include this keyword within your page titles, meta descriptions, image alt text, and website copy, so people can find your website easily when they search for this phrase.
One of the easiest things you can do to boost vacation rental website traffic is to feature high-quality photos on your website, social media channels, and more. If you don’t already have professional photos, hire a professional photographer to take pictures of your property.
Photographers are trained to showcase the best features of your vacation home(s) and make the rooms appear larger. Travelers are attracted to beautiful images of home interiors that are modern, well-decorated, and clean.
Implementing a backlink strategy is critical for improving your off-site SEO—anything that happens off your website to drive organic traffic. Essentially, the most important part of this process includes getting high-quality links from popular, reputable websites relevant to your industry, like tourism boards and credible travel bloggers.
These links prove that your website is reputable to prospective clients, and they may drive traffic to your website. They also help increase your domain authority, a score that measures how successful a site is at ranking in search engine results.
Creating high-quality vacation rental content that provides helpful answers to the questions your target audience is searching for is an excellent way to boost your website traffic. In fact, 72% of professionals say that content is the most important part of your SEO strategy!
One way to do this is to become a travel authority for your area by publishing highly localized content via blog posts, local area guides, and service pages that answer travel-related questions your potential clients are searching for.
For instance, the San Diego vacation rental owner may create a local area guide about San Diego that includes the history of the city, the best times to visit, things to do in the area, and more. They may also publish helpful monthly blog posts that incorporate keywords like “best restaurants in San Diego” or “best beaches in San Diego” to drive traffic to their website. Chances are, people searching for local keywords are planning a vacation to this destination, and they may still be searching for a place to stay.
Social media can be an effective tool to showcase your property and drive traffic to your vacation rental website. You can showcase high-quality photos on Instagram, upload local area blog posts to Pinterest, and share five-star reviews on Facebook. These suggestions are just a few of the many ways you can utilize social media to drive traffic to your website.
Most importantly, ensure that each social media channel provides a clear link to your website, so your social media interactions can convert to website traffic.
Google My Business is perhaps your most important tool for implementing local SEO—the practice of optimizing your website for a local area. Setting up or updating your Google My Business profile is a great way to boost website traffic.
Your Google My Business profile impacts how well your website ranks on Google Maps and local organic search results. They prove your vacation rental company is trustworthy, close to where your potential clients want to travel, and open for business.
Some great ways to update your Google My Business profile include adding up-to-date contact information, responding to reviews, and featuring your best amenities in high-quality photos.
SEO is a powerful tool that can help boost your vacation rental website’s traffic.
Use this SEO Guide by Magnetic Strategy to increase your reach, save money on paid advertising, and invest in your long-term success.
