Websites, SEO and Google Ads for hotels, lodges and luxury villas
Hotel & Hospitality SEO
Hotel SEO is the work that gets your property found on Google, Google Maps and AI assistants by guests who have not chosen where to stay yet, and brings them to your own website instead of a booking platform. We run it as a monthly service and measure it on bookings and enquiries, not rankings alone.
Where hotels compete in search
A hotel appears in three different kinds of result, and each is won differently.
- Searches for your name A guest sees you on a booking platform, then searches your name. Your own site should be the first result, with a Google Business Profile beside it showing the right details.
- Map and listing results For searches such as hotels in an area, Google shows a map and a list of properties. According to Google's Business Profile help, these local results are based mainly on relevance, distance and prominence, and prominence draws on things like reviews and links from other websites. You cannot change your distance from the searcher. You can improve the other two.
- Specific searches Broad searches are crowded with booking platforms and large brands. An independent property does better on specifics: the type of stay, a feature, an occasion or a nearby venue. A pet-friendly guest house near a reserve, a hotel close to a conference centre, a villa with a private chef.
What we do each month
- Structure One page per room type, experience and occasion, and no two pages competing for the same search.
- Technical work Speed on photo-heavy pages, clean redirects, and making sure search engines can read the site. Booking engines that sit on a separate address need particular care.
- Google Business Profile Hotel profiles work differently from other businesses. Google's help for hotel profiles explains that hotels edit amenities and services under hotel details, cannot set their own class rating, and that the booking links and prices on the profile come from Hotel Ads and free booking links, not from the profile itself. So we look at the profile and your rate connection together.
- Structured data Schema.org has specific types for hotels, bed and breakfasts, resorts and vacation rentals, with properties for check-in times, amenities and star ratings. We mark up what is on the page, accurately.
- Reviews A simple routine for asking guests and replying to them. Google lists replying to reviews among its tips for local ranking. We never buy or write reviews.
- Content Area guides and pages written from what you know about your location, in specific terms a platform listing cannot match. No mass-generated copy.
- Links Earned from tourism bodies, local partners and press. We do not buy links.
This sits on top of our core SEO service.
AI trip planning
Travellers now ask ChatGPT and Google's AI features where to stay. Google's guidance on AI features says there are no extra requirements or special optimisations for appearing in AI Overviews or AI Mode beyond being indexed and following normal good practice, with important content in text and structured data that matches the page.
So we get the fundamentals right first. Then we add what helps an assistant quote you correctly: a short factual summary at the top of each page, questions and answers, and the same facts everywhere your property is listed, from room count to pet policy. No one can guarantee a mention in an AI answer, and we do not promise one. Our guide to AI trip planning for hotels goes further.
Villas, lodges and farm stays
The same approach applies to every kind of stay, with a different emphasis. Villas depend on a strong page per property and per area. Lodges depend on answering practical questions about getting there and what is included. Guest houses depend most on the map results in their own town.
How we measure it
We report on bookings, enquiries and calls from search, as far as your booking engine allows bookings to be tracked. Rankings and traffic are useful signals, not the goal. SEO builds over months, not weeks, and we do not guarantee positions.
If you have an existing site, we start with an audit. SEO works best alongside Google Ads for hotels, which covers the searches where platforms advertise on your name. For the wider picture, see our hospitality overview, or get in touch to talk about your property.
Clients in hospitality & luxury villas
Questions
Questions about Hotel & Hospitality SEO
Can't see yours? Ask Ryan directly and you'll get a straight answer, usually the same day.
Ask on WhatsAppHow is hotel SEO different from ordinary SEO?
Hotels compete with booking platforms that list the same rooms, and Google shows hotels in its own listing format with prices and booking links. Hotel SEO therefore covers your Google Business Profile, your rate connection to Google and your reviews as well as the website.
Can an independent hotel outrank the booking platforms?
For searches on your own name and for specific searches, such as a type of stay or a nearby venue, it is realistic to compete. For broad searches such as hotels in a large city, the platforms usually dominate. We do not guarantee rankings.
How long does hotel SEO take?
It builds over months, not weeks, and depends on where the site starts, how competitive your area is and how much content is needed. Fixes to a Google Business Profile or to technical problems can show sooner. We do not promise results by a set date.
Do you manage our Google Business Profile?
Yes. Local SEO includes Google Business Profile work: hotel details, photographs, categories and review replies. The profile stays in your name, and you keep it if we stop working together.
Can you get our hotel recommended by ChatGPT?
No one can guarantee that. What we can do is make sure the facts about your property are clear, accurate and consistent on your website and wherever else you are listed, which gives AI assistants reliable information to draw on.
Do you write the content?
Yes, with your input. Good hospitality content depends on local knowledge that only you and your team have, so we interview you and write from that. We do not publish mass-generated copy.
Start a project
Be the business they find first
Tell Ryan what you sell and who buys it. You'll get a straight answer on what's holding your website back and what to fix first. There's no obligation to go ahead.
More enquiries you can trace. You'll see which search, page or ad brought in each call, booking and form.
Higher in search results. On Google, in the map results and in AI answers, for the searches your customers make.
One person to talk to. Ryan answers on WhatsApp and sends a plain-language report on results every month.
