SEO Mistakes to Avoid on Your Hotel Website

A strong search engine optimization (SEO) strategy for your property’s website is predicated on quality content and an easy-to-use layout. What’s user friendly is generally search engine friendly as well, and if you proceed with that principle in mind, you won’t land too far off. However, there are mistakes to avoid along the way that can hurt your website’s search rankings. Here’s what not to do to ensure guests find and book with you.

By now, most people have heard of this one. Don’t do it. Stuffing keywords into content unnaturally not only gets you penalized by the search algorithm, it gets you the raised eyebrow from users as well. No one wants to read the sentence, “The local hotel, Two Pines, is a local, nearby hotel in…”

Cramming keywords in places the user won’t see them, e.g., behind an image or in size zero font, is also a non-starter as is putting them in your alt text. The search engine finds these and downgrades you for them even if users can’t.

Cloaking is when two different versions of a website, page, or image are displayed, one for human users and one for the search algorithm. Specifically designed to cheat search engines, this tactic is definitely against the rules. If you didn’t do this on purpose, this could be a sign that your site has been hacked and you should check the Security Issues tab on your Google Search Console. There may also be a warning alongside your site URL on the search engine results page.

When choosing a content management system, review the security measures that come with it to prevent hackers gaining access. What firewalls and encryption methods are there? If a search engine sees cloaking, it’s going to assume that either you or someone else is trying to trick the user and penalize you accordingly.

Similar to cloaking, a doorway page is a middleman page designed to pull in users who type in a certain query but which then leads immediately to another page. It takes the user to a place they didn’t ask to go. To prevent this issue, check through any redirects on your site to ensure they lead to where you’d expect and that you didn’t accidentally copy/paste the wrong URL.

If a page redirects mobile users somewhere that Google’s crawlers can’t see, that’s another penalty! A mobile site can necessitate redirects and image modification, and this isn’t a problem if the content is more or less the same on both desktop and mobile. But if it’s not the same, then Google may punish your site. Be aware that this problem can be a side-effect if you use third-party scripts to redirect mobile users or show ads (a third-party script is code you didn’t create, hosted on another server). Check through any third-party scripts designed for this purpose.

Not all backlinks are created equal. If the sites linking to yours are low quality, the search engine assumes that yours is as well. Find low-quality links with the search tools provided by Google or other sites such as Ahrefs or Semrush, then take care of them by reaching out to the site’s webmaster and asking them to remove the link to your website. If you have a lot of spammy backlinks, consider using Google’s Disavow tool. That said, you don’t have to chase down every odd backlink your site has ever accumulated. Google understands that this accumulation happens.

Buying, selling, or exchanging links (I’ll link to you, if you link to me) is also a bad idea. However, you can still obtain quality backlinks from businesses that you partner with. For instance, if you offer discounted tour tickets as part of your midweek package, and the tour operator links to you, that’s wonderful (and perfectly acceptable)! Writing a blog post for someone else’s site, ideally someone in your industry, is another way to gain credible backlinks.

You can attach a no-follow tag to a link if you would like to link to that site for your users but not connect your credibility with it. That way the search engine won’t “follow” the link off your site.

If you’re taking over a property and inheriting their website, check through the links both to and from that site to make sure they’re good.

If you allow comments, you should monitor them regularly to ensure you aren’t getting spam bots or dubious links. A CAPTCHA test helps weed out the bots. Note: A hotel blog is a good way to generate interest, both about your hotel and your local area, but it is susceptible to this.

Google has threatened to penalize entire hosting services, so make sure that yours isn’t one of them. A hosting service is where your website files are kept online. It’s worth your while to invest in a paid one that’s reliable and free from any spammy ads. Free hosting services can be problematic; you get what you pay for.

Content that doesn’t add value for the user, whether because it’s autogenerated, stolen/scraped from another site, or just, well, bad is also bad for your ranking. You don’t necessarily need a ton of content to do well in SEO, but what you do have should be high quality. Pro tip: If you have a lot of shorter pages that focus on the same or similar keywords, combine them into a single longer page.

Generating your content solely by using AI contributes to this issue. It won’t reflect your brand voice, and it may include inaccurate information. Originality is a concern as well. Generative AI grabs its content from what’s already out there; it can’t give you anything new. You need to have a human check through any AI content before publishing to verify the facts and inject your business’s unique personality. Google also keeps track of which content is AI generated and labels it as such.

If you outsource content to freelancers or even other companies, work closely with them to ensure that they know your goals, brand voice, and industry.

Schema markup is a little bit of code that you add to your site so that the search engine understands it better and (hopefully) gives it a visibility boost. It categorizes basic details such as the title, author, headings, and type of content. For instance, if it were a recipe page, the schema markup would classify the content type as a recipe, and categorize details such as ingredients, cooking time, and star rating. However, like the other elements here, if it’s misleading, it’s a problem.

Make sure that your schema markup precisely reflects your content. If you have information that users can’t see, don’t add schema to that information, regardless of how accurate it is. In addition, schema should never have a page all of its own. It needs to be attached to actual content via the in-page markup of the applicable page.

If you notice a drop in search traffic that you can’t explain, find out if (and why) you’ve been penalized by going to the Manual Actions tab in Google Search Console. Once you’ve taken care of the issue, ask Google for a review. Be aware that there is a time limit. Eventually the alert in the Manual Actions tab disappears, and you won’t be able to get the problem fixed.

However, penalties due to algorithm changes (that don’t just impact your site) don’t appear here, so it would be wise to check if that drop in traffic happened at the same time as an algorithm update.

Take this list as a lesson in what not to do. Though some of these issues may be out of your control, say if a dubious site gives you a backlink, you can avoid most of them by following proven SEO best practices. An ounce of prevention really is worth a pound of cure!