Top SEO Keyword Tips for Travel Agents

As a long-haul journey, travel industry marketing requires investing a decent amount of time and effort into search engine optimization (SEO).  Organic leads are of vital importance to expand your travel business while SEO reduces customer acquisition costs by 87.41%.

Knowing popular travel SEO keywords will help you rank higher and generate organic traffic to your website.

Three Ways To Make Your Website Rank Well 

Local SEO, on-page optimization, and off-page SEO are essential steps you should take care of while pursuing a solid content marketing strategy. Today, Promodo SEO experts have selected keywords for travel agencies associated with popular online searches.

Local SEO

While pushing your brand name online and establishing a local presence, you’ll initially stick to the local SEO requirements. This will provide you with a sufficient background to expand geographically or diversify the range of your travel services.

High rankings in local searches are about providing accurate contact and supplementary information about your travel business so that local travel seekers may find you with a click away.

Prominent local presence is also about gaining competitive advantages over your closest rivals. Align Google's tools, maps, and services to achieve wider visibility and boost your SEO effectiveness.

Along with being listed on Google with a Google Business Profile (GBP) and getting spotted atop the local SEO 3-Pack, your strategic priority is to do the keyword homework. 

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33% of all clicks get to the top 3 search results on Google’s first page 

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This is to say, the most popular searched SEO keywords locally will help you generate inbound leads and further convert them into your clients. 

On-page SEO

Take on-page SEO efforts as a regular optimization of each page on your site. If you are good enough, Google will rank you higher in search engine page results (SERPs) and you’ll get more quality traffic. Proper optimization of your meta tag titles and descriptions will best inform search engines about the nature of your travel services. 

A successful content marketing strategy is about targeting local keywords that align with commonly used search terms for travel services. The best-fit approach is to select keywords for travel blog. 

Blogging is among customer-centered content marketing approaches that will boost organic traffic. Do not go overboard with an excessive keyword selection. On average, to rank you well organically, Google's algorithm should read about 3% of keyword content per publication.  

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When people search for a travel operator in your area, they use niche-specific keywords or long-tail phrases to find the best service. Your strategic goal here is to align with user intent and incorporate the most popular search terms in your region.

Be sure to opt for the right keywords, conduct keyword research, and analyze your competitors' web traffic with evidence-proven online services like Ahrefs and SimilarWeb. 

Even simpler than that, compare a couple of keyword combinations with Google Trends in your area over a certain period, and you’ll get a clear idea of what’s on the demand side for travel services now. 

A strategic focus on local keywords is essential because most of your potential clients will seek a nearby travel agency. 

A broad choice of keywords for travel and tourism and their possible combinations will considerably enhance your visibility on Google and make your brand name stand out from the pack. 

A great part of your content marketing strategy is about targeting niche-specific keywords people associate with the travel industry. Direct keyword matches of the content on your site with popular user queries for travel services will signal to Google that you resonate with the search intent of your target audience. 

Off-page SEO

High ranking on search engines like Google is also about establishing a solid Domain Rating. The stronger your SEO effort is, the higher you’ll rank organically. In addition to on-site SEO, off-page SEO is about hunting high-quality travel websites that would link back to your website. 

Developing a link-building strategy is your must-have to ensure your website is found atop of organic search. Your task here is to compile a comprehensive portfolio of backlinks that will keep your website at the forefront of Google’s search results.

In this pursuit, examine the link-building strategies employed by industry leaders across the travel niche. Gather data on the authority and a potential harm associated with referring domains. This way, you’ll save a high-ranking and trustworthy status fo your website.

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With a thorough analysis of the quality and quantity of competitor backlinks, you will perfectly know what to do next. Some 54% of businesses generate links through competitor analysis and targeted link building. 

Pursuing a link-building strategy and acquisition, you should prepare anchor lists, determine the optimal number of links, and create links. If that all sounds technically difficult to you, mind that 64% of companies outsource link-building tasks to professional digital marketing agencies.

Betting on Low-competition Keywords 

At the core of your SEO campaign are target keywords that will generate a decent amount of organic traffic to your website.

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US travel agents get 74,000 online searches a month

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Use Google Keyword Planner to select the most searched keyword combinations. 

Monitoring page performance with a Google Analytics Account will help you optimize your SEO strategy. Much of your job here is to spot high-ranking queries popular among your target audience. Integrate these popular keywords into the content on your site. High-quality content will bring you a decent share of visitors organically.

Scenario 1

Say, you are a small-sized travel agency in Cleveland (OH). Let’s consider the local search scenario with the following travel-related keywords list: 

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Even though these are top travel keywords with high monthly search volume and low competition, we suggest narrowing these keyword combinations to match local search intent:  

👌best online travel agency in Cleveland

👌best travel agency in Cleveland

👌best travel agency in Cleveland

👌best travel company in Cleveland

👌car rental agent in Cleveland

👌exotic travel service in Cleveland

👌flight agency in Cleveland  

👌local travel agent in Cleveland

👌top travel agent in Cleveland

👌tour agency in Cleveland

👌tour operator in Cleveland

👌travel agency in Cleveland

👌travel agency in Cleveland

👌travel agent in Cleveland

Targeting local-based searches with organic content on your site is a far more efficient strategy than hunting for highly competitive keywords.  

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Few of your travel industry competitors will use low-competition keywords. There is less competition for these phrases across search engines. So, fill the content on your site with niche-related specific long-tail phrases that are easy to rank for, Given their lower search volume, you’ll earn more quality traffic to your site.

Based on keyword analysis with Ahrefs, our SEO experts claim that the keywords with a low keyword difficulty (KD) are the ones most likely to achieve high rankings. Betting on these keywords is the most effective way to optimize your marketing budget and expect relatively swift results. While coping with keywords with higher KD, we suggest implementing a precise targeting approach with more detailed content and links. To boost organic traffic from your content, analyze the traffic potential and volume of keywords with a KD of around 30 if your website is in its startup phase. If you operate a well-established website, bet on travel-related keywords with a KD of 40 and above.

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Scenario 2

In addition to targeting local-based keyword combinations with the content on your site, be sure to segment your target audience by interest. We’ve prepared the following travel keywords list:

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Taking people’s interests into account and generating segmented content with relevant keywords is a win-win approach to generating more leads.

Scenario 3

Travel business is also about seasonality, so be sure to explore the most trending travel-related searches online and integrate them as part of your content.

Crafting related content that resonates with immediate people’s needs for due season vacations or holidays is of vital importance. By Integrating season-related keywords, you will not only engage more traffic to your site but will also resonate with the immediate travel needs and preferences shared by your prospects. Seasonality factor marks the best-fit approach to make people order your travel services and tours here and now.

To make the best use of the seasonality factor, make sure you publish relevant content well in advance of summer vacations, weekend tours, or winter holidays. Do not downplay the core dates like Independence Day, Labor Day,  St. Valentine’s Day, and Christmas Eve among others. 

Scenario 4

In addition to exploring your audience by location, travel interests, and seasonality, dig deeper by creating an ideal customer portrait based on the following criteria: 

🟠Location

🟠Age

🟠Gender

🟠Social status

🟠Income rate

🟠Lifestyle

🟠 Travel preferences

A customer portrait will help you customize your travel services and personalize a user experience (UX) on your site. This will also enhance a user path throughout your sales funnel. 

We further suggest researching keywords related to travel regularly and checking up on what’s trending. 

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