SEO Advice for DMOs

by | Jun 30, 2023 | Destination Marketing, Digital Signage

SEO for DMOs

What is SEO and why does it matter to destination marketing organizations

SEO is the process of improving your website’s ranking in search engines. Generally, this is done by optimizing your site to be more relevant to specific searches and keywords. There are many strategies for doing this including writing high quality content, using social media and marketing, and creating backlinks from other websites. Optimizing a website doesn’t happen overnight so it’s important to stay consistent with your efforts over time.

How to optimize your website for search engines

If you manage a DMO website, you likely have a TON of content that needs to be organized. The process of optimizing your website for search engines is not an easy one. It can be time-consuming and frustrating, but it’s worth the effort. You can start by identifying these two thoughts. Imagine organize chapters of a book, and within those chapters there are sub-divided sections that get more detailed from the overall chapter.
1) Identify Your Target Audience: Who are you trying to reach? What keywords should they be searching for? Make sure that these keywords are found throughout your content, including headings, meta descriptions, body text and tags.
2) Organize your content from Broad to Specific. Take a look at these ways to think through how to organize your content:

  • Things to do > Outdoor > Camping,
  • Things to do > Nightlife > Bars,
  • Things to do > shopping > clothing

Do you notice a pattern here? When organizing the file structure of your website, you should organize the content from a broad to specific. The urls would like this for the above respectively:

  • [YourWebsite].com/Things-To-Do/Outdoor/Camping
  • [YourWebsite].com/Things-To-Do/Nightlife/Bars
  • [YourWebsite].com/Things-To-Do/Shopping/Clothing

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Best practices for on-page optimization

Follow these tips and you will give yourself a better chance to get your webpage discovered via search. This is just a beginning look.

  • Make a Descriptive Title for your Page. This title should include your primary keyword phrase you wish to rank for. If you want to rank for ‘SEO for DMOs’ then you would want that phrase, or a similar iteration, in the title.
  • Organize your page with descriptive headers. Make sure each section of the webpage answers a who, what, where, why, and how if possible. You should also include the your expertise, authority, and trustworthiness (EAT). This can be done using reviews, identifying your awards or experience, and getting others to vouch for you.
  • Make sure your website loads quickly. The majority of traffic online is on mobile devices now. You’ll want a website that is optimized and loads well in mobile.
  • Write a descriptive meta description. This will populate in the SERPs and help drive CTRs (click thru rates).
  • Make sure your images aren’t too big. You can compress images to smaller sizes so they load faster. Loading a 7mb image take a while. Compressing that same image to 700 kb would help get your page to load faster.
  • Pay attention for your Alt-tags. These are the tags that tell the search engine what the image is about. These help reinforce the primary keyword phrase in the title.
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Tolls and Notes about SEO concept on blackboard

Keyword research tools you can use

I like to use the following keyword research tools.

  1. Semrush
  2. Ahrefs
  3. Keyword Planner
  4. Answer the Public

In the travel and tourism industry, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plays a crucial role in attracting potential tourists to various destinations. It’s all about making your website more visible to people who are looking for travel information via search engines like Google.

Keyword Research & Optimization The first step in SEO is keyword research and optimization. This involves identifying the keywords or phrases that potential tourists are likely to use when searching for travel destinations. For example, if you are a travel agency offering tours to Paris, you might want to optimize for keywords such as “Paris tours,” “travel to Paris,” or “best time to visit Paris.”

Local SEO Local SEO is especially important in the travel and tourism industry. This includes optimizing your website for local searches, ensuring that your site appears in local directories, and managing online reviews. For instance, a hotel in New York might want to ensure that they appear in local searches for “hotels in New York.”

Creating Quality Content Creating quality, engaging content is another key aspect of SEO. This could include blog posts about top tourist attractions, guides on local cuisine, or tips for traveling with children. The goal is to provide value to your audience, which can help improve your search rankings.

Mobile Optimization With more and more people using their smartphones to plan their travels, mobile optimization is more important than ever. This means ensuring that your website is easy to use on a mobile device, quickly loads the content, and is appealing visually.

Two examples of Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) that are doing great SEO are VisitScotland and Tourism Australia.

VisitScotland has an excellent SEO strategy that includes a focus on creating high-quality content. They regularly publish blog posts and articles on topics ranging from Scotland’s hidden gems to seasonal events and activities. This not only engages their audience but also helps to improve their search rankings.

Tourism Australia, on the other hand, has a robust local SEO strategy. They have ensured that their website appears in local directories and have managed their online reviews effectively. They also have a mobile-optimized website, making it easy for potential tourists to find information on the go.

Effective SEO in the travel and tourism industry involves a combination of keyword optimization, local SEO, quality content creation, and mobile optimization. By implementing these strategies, DMOs can increase their visibility on search engines and attract more tourists to their destinations. 

A marketing department for a Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) would perform SEO and content creation in the following ways:

  • Keyword Research and Optimization: The team would identify relevant keywords that potential tourists are likely to use when searching for travel information. They would then optimize their website and blog content around these keywords.
  • Local SEO: To attract local tourists and those searching for specific locations, the marketing department would ensure their organization appears in local directories and search results. They would manage online reviews and ratings to build credibility.
  • Quality Content Creation: The team would consistently create and publish engaging, valuable content that appeals to their target audience. This content would be optimized with relevant keywords and structured for easy reading.
  • Link Building: The marketing department would work on acquiring high-quality inbound links from reputable sources. This could involve partnerships with other businesses, guest blogging, or social media promotion.
  • Analytics and Reporting: The team would monitor their SEO efforts using tools like Google Analytics. They would track metrics like keyword rankings, organic traffic, bounce rate, and conversion rate to understand what’s working and where improvements are needed.

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Types of Blogs to WRITE

Ranking the Best Things: Posts that rank attractions, activities, or events in the destination. For example, “Top 10 Family-Friendly Activities in [Destination].”

  • Activity vs. Activity: Posts that compare and contrast different activities or attractions. For example, “Hiking vs. Cycling: What to Choose When Visiting [Destination]?”
  • How-To Blog Posts: Guides that help tourists navigate their experience. For example, “How to Navigate Public Transportation in [Destination].”
  • Glossary of Local Terms: A list of local slang or terms that tourists might come across during their visit. For example, “A Tourist’s Guide to [Destination] Slang.”
  • Upcoming Events: Posts about upcoming events, festivals, or celebrations. These posts could also suggest who might enjoy them most based on interests or age groups.
  • Reviews of Previous Events: Recap and review posts about past events, which can give readers an idea of what to expect for similar future events. For example, “A Look Back at the [Annual Event] in [Destination].”
  • Local Culture and History: Posts that delve into the local culture, traditions, and history of the destination, provide a deeper understanding and appreciation of the place.

By incorporating these content types and SEO strategies, a DMO’s marketing department can effectively drive traffic to its website, engage its audience, and promote its destination to potential tourists. There are many schools of thought on how to approach doing the best SEO for the travel industry, DMOs, and other tourism related content. It’s best to take a look at what has been working on your website and see if you can replicate any success. 

Schedule a Free Demo

SEO is an ongoing process that requires a lot of time and effort. It’s not something you can do in a day or even a month, but if your website isn’t ranking well in search engines, it may be worth the investment to invest in improving your site’s rankings with these strategies. Would you like to learn more about how SEO can help your DMO? Then contact us today to schedule a time. We will even take a look at your website and identify any opportunities you may be overlooking.

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