Search engine optimization — or SEO — is critical to your overall online presence. With the best SEO practices, you can increase your ranking on the search engine results page.

The point of all this is that you’ll receive more bookings as you earn higher rankings, because most people won’t scroll past the top results.

But you don’t need to hire a professional to implement the SEO strategy at your B&B. By following this checklist, you’ll be an SEO expert in no time at all.

Create a simple and modern website

You need to have a clean structure that makes it easy for users to get the information they need and ultimate book with you directly.

Make sure each page doesn’t take too long to load. The top search engines will dock your ranking for slow site speeds.

Optimize your site for mobile usage

The algorithms on many of the top search engines promote pages that have a responsive web design, or a design that automatically adjusts to the type of device being used while browsing.

You need a mobile-friendly website in order to earn one of the top spots on the search engine results page.

Insert relevant keywords into your content

You’ll want to use specific keywords that are unique to your B&B and also include the location of your property.

Keywords should be scattered throughout the content in a natural way, and should always be placed in the meta data.

 Earn inbound links for your page

The more inbound links you earn across the web, the more credible your website will seem to the search engines.

Try to partner with local travel sites and tourism experts and encourage them to link to your property, as industry links will be more valuable than random, irrelevant links.

 Make visual content a high priority

High-resolution photos and videos, in particular, are the type of visual content that search engines want to see on your page.

In some cases though, visual content can negatively impact your ranking. For example, you will want to avoid podcasts and flash pages.

 Post fresh and useful content frequently

You need high-quality, accurate content that is valuable to your reader. One of the ways you can do this is by blogging!

Your search engine rankings will continually improve if your content is always fresh and new, as this ensures that your website is most useful to your target audience and worthy of having one of the top spots on the search engine results page.

Generate positive online reviews for your brand

Positive feedback about the rooms and amenities that you offer is critical to your growth, success and overall presence online.

Through online reviews, you earn the trust of your customers and you also may gain valuable links that help you achieve higher rankings.

Looking for a way to increase direct bookings for your property? Watch our on-demand demo videos to see how we can help.