When it comes to a solid digital marketing strategy, content marketing is one of the most successful ways to drive results and create brand authority in the travel space. However, for any content marketing service to work it needs to be done correctly. Which means you need to have a focused SEO strategy that includes using highly targeted keywords for your travel blog – so your content gets seen by the right people.
First off, what do we mean when we talk about keywords as part of an SEO strategy? Simply put, keywords are the words and phrases that you implement into your content, helping Google discern both what your content is regarding and your authority on the given subject, so that it appears on the primary pages of the search engine results pages (SERPs) when people search for said word or phrase.
The secret sauce to any content marketing service
There’s no shortage of people who can write a nicely worded travel blog or engaging piece of content for their customers. That’s all well and good, but it doesn’t matter if you’re a modern-day Shakespeare. Without an SEO strategy and thoughtful keyword research behind your content, you won’t be boosting your organic presence. In turn, your blog won’t be seen without an alternative push from your marketing team.
In fact, 90.63% of pages get no organic search traffic from Google. This means that so much content is out there and not even being looked at. Ranking higher on Google is the best avenue to getting original traffic to your website and part of this is done by strategically picking keywords for your travel blog to make sure it gets noticed – and that’s where we come in.
Taking keyword volume, difficulty and intent into account, we create content that targets the phrases that your ideal customers are searching for, getting you more traffic to your website and more results.
So how exactly do we do this?
How to choose the best keywords for a travel blog
When writing any travel content to be used online, it is imperative you carry out keyword research to make sure that your content is relevant and actually being searched for by your target audience. Without the right keyword research to back it up, your content is far less likely to be doing your organic presence any favours.
There are quite literally countless keywords to choose from. But of course, when it comes to the intent of your digital content, not all were created equal. It takes some careful thinking to decide which keywords are best to get you noticed and move higher up the rankings on Google and other search platforms.
Choosing the best keywords for your next travel blog can be broken down into several areas.
Short tail vs long tail keywords
Keywords fall into two categories – short tail and long tail. Short tail keywords tend to consist of 1 to 3 words and – as such – are typically a broad term that has a lot of people searching for it but not necessarily a shed load of intent behind it. For example, the short tail search term ‘beach holidays’ has over 12,000 searches in the UK every month. However, people searching this could be looking for anything from booking a trip, to destination info, to packing tips, to the history of British beach holidays.
Long tail keywords are more niche and therefore often better for targeting, as there is less competition but more specificity in the term. For example, if you are a travel company that provides budget UK coastal holidays a long tail keyword could be ‘Best Affordable Beach Holidays in the UK’. As you can see, in this circumstance this is more suitable than the more general short tail keyword above and will get higher quality leads onto your website. In turn, this increases the effectiveness of your content marketing.
High search volume, low difficulty
Some keywords are thoroughly competitive to rank for, with masses of high quality content already out there targeting a particular word or phrase. This can make it extremely difficult to rank high on the SERPs for such search phrases. That’s why it is best to think about where the sweet spot lies when carrying out keyword research.
Ideally, you want to find a phrase that combines high search volume with low competition. These low-hanging keywords are the best words to choose when looking to build a basis and see your website rank high in the search results for relevant terminology. Provided your content is engaging and relevant of course…
Competitor research
Give yourself that competitive edge and make sure you are on top of what keywords your competitors are ranking for. Researching your competitors allows you to see what other content is out there that has the potential to snare the attention of your target audience and beat the competition by creating something better.
Unique Keywords
It’s important to make sure each piece of content has a unique keyword focus. This ensures that your blogs or articles are not competing with each other for the same keyword in what is known as keyword cannibalisation.
Where to place your keywords
Now you know what keywords to pick – where do you put them?
Well, when it comes to keywords, it’s all about location. Here are a few tips:
Page Titles
Optimising your page title to include your keyword is a great place to start, as this is what will first appear in the search results. A keyword-focused SEO title helps both Google and your target audience know your content is highly relevant to what they are searching for. Through this both your ranking and your click through rate will get a healthy boost.
Subheadings
Subheadings are given more weight than the rest of the text. Using your keyword in select subheadings throughout your content helps Google see your content as highly relevant to the particular keyword.
Content
It goes without saying that you should have the keyword throughout your piece of content. Having it in the first paragraph is preferable and spread throughout the piece where appropriate. However, don’t go crazy and load up your content with keywords that either make it hard to read or lack sense. This will hurt your SEO and – in turn – your Google ranking. This process is called keyword stuffing and will send your content straight to the bottom of the barrel, so avoid it at all costs.
There are other means of focusing your content on particular keywords for your travel blog, but you’ll have to contact our team to find out how…
How to know if your keywords are working?
Now that your keyword strategy is in place, it’s important that you track how your travel blog is ranking. If you have created well-written and engaging content with the right keyword targeting then you should see your content climb up the pages of Google and start getting a lot more traffic to your website. You can track your keywords through different online tools to make sure your content marketing is on the right track.
So there you have it, how to use keywords to make your travel marketing strategy really work for you. But if you don’t fancy doing all the hard work yourself, it may be better to leave your content marketing to the professionals, like us at Signify.
We can create a highly engaging SEO content strategy that is focused on meaningful, tangible results.
So if you are looking to increase your business visibility online and get more traffic to your website with a strategic content marketing service, then get in touch today.
