Do you wonder why your vacation rental website does not appear on top of Google search results? You may need to improve your ranking using Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
The SEO is a methodology of strategies, techniques, and tactics used to increase the number of visitors to a website. A good SEO will help you obtaining a high-ranking placement in the results page of a search engine like Google.
We published a guide which will help you improve your SEO ranking. The guide is available in PDF format at this link.
Your domain name is a crucial part of your SEO strategy. If you choose the yearly or bi-yearly Lodgify subscription plan, you can register a free domain. See how to register a new domain. In case you had a website before, don't forget to redirect your URLs to keep your Google ranking. If you previously had a different domain and don't want to lose your Google ranking, we recommend to keep the domain live and connect an additional domain to your website in order to be able to redirect the URLs.
Once you have a custom domain connected to your website, verify the ownership of your website in the Google Search Console which allows you to monitor and maintain your website's presence and optimize its performance in the Google search listings.
When you have successfully verified your website in Google Search Console, submit your sitemap to Google. A sitemap is an XML file that contains a list of all of your website's pages to tell Google and other search engines about how your site content is organized.
The Meta Data is a combination of Meta Keywords and Meta Descriptions, and each of the pages in your website should contain them. Meta Keywords are words which define the purpose of the website, and Meta Descriptions are short text paragraphs which appear in the search results underneath your website link they briefly explain the content of the website.
Choose the website you want to amend, click Edit and select Pages.
On the new screen add your Meta Keywords (the best 5-6 Keywords) and your Meta Description (relevant and natural description of the page and business using 2-3 keywords if possible) for each of the pages of your website, then click Save. UberSuggest is a great free tool to help you define your Keywords.
Your Meta Description will show on the search engine results page underneath the title.
💡 Note: you may have published your website in other languages. Remember to add and tailor your metadata for all the website languages that you have published. Also, we recommend resubmitting your sitemap to Google once you have all your keywords set up.
Title tags tell your visitor what each page on your site is about in a clear, concise manner. Each page of your website should contain a unique title and a Primary Keyword.
💡 Note: Don't forget to add the actual symbols (- and |) in the title to help structure it.
A new page appears. On the left navigation bar, click the Settings icon which appears when you hover over with the mouse on the Pages list.
On the new screen add your Title and link text for each of the pages of your website, then click Save.
💡 Note: When changing the Title of your page, the Link Text will automatically update. Don't forget to change this back if you want the link text to remain as it was (e.g. Home, Gallery etc.).
This is an example of titles appearing on the search engine results page.
💡 Note: you may have published your website in other languages. Remember to add and tailor your titles for all the website languages that you have published.
Headings, also known as H tags help Google to identify and read the content of a webpage. The H1 is the most important header, so it's a good idea to use your targeted keywords in the H1. It's also essential to remember there should only be one H1 per page and it should contain a Primary Keyword. H2 can be used as subheadings and should contain Secondary Keywords.
Go to your homepage or custom page, click Add new widget and select Heading.
Now decide the size of the heading (Big = H1, Medium = H2, Small = H3), type in the title and Save.
💡 Note: You can also insert a heading and respective keyword inside a Content Widget by using the Formatting button and selecting a Heading.
Alt tags are HTML attributes applied to an image and provide a text alternative for search engines. So using alt tags for your images can positively impact your SEO as they help search engines understand what an image is about. Also, the text of the alt tag appears inside the image container in cases when the image cannot be displayed.
For pictures in your Gallery the alt tag is the name of the picture, so make sure you give each image a proper name ideally using keywords. To change the names of the pictures you can do so in the section Map/Gallery of your property.
For images placed in a Content Widget, you either need to name the picture properly before uploading it. Otherwise, after uploading the image you click on it and then hit edit in the center of the photo. This will open a pop-up window where you can change the title of the picture.
💡 Note: Images in your slideshow widgets and image widgets don't have proper alt tags but they should still always have a proper name as this one will be displayed if the picture doesn't load properly.
LinkBuilding. Add links from local business web pages to your vacation rental site. Ask them to return the favor and increase your web visibility.
A blog helps you showing further information and include crucial keywords which may attract more visitors to your website. Learn how to add a blog page to your website.
Create social media profiles, such as Facebook, Twitter or Google + and give to your followers the opportunity to share your website on their pages.
Add badges and certificates to your homepage to build credibility and trust.