SEO for travel blogs in 2023 – Increase your traffic NOW!

This blog is specifically for travel bloggers, so you don't have the problems we do.

All of these travel blog SEO tips below have been tested by us.

If you have a hotel with a website to book, do not miss this post about hotel marketing and how to promote your hotel on the internet and on Google.

What is SEO (Search Engine Optimization) search engine optimization?

According to MozSEO is the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results.

There are actually two sides to search engine optimization (SEO): the technical component and the on-site component.

The technical component has more to do with control in the backend of your blog. On-site SEO is all about the content you write and how you write it.

Technical SEO is quite important and plays a huge role in building your website as well as increasing traffic to your site. Here we have covered the most important travel SEO trends and practices of this year 2022.

SEO Tips for Travel Blogs in 2023

1. The user and the search intention

2022 is the time to focus on the user and search intent.

Search intent or user intent is the main goal a user has when typing a query on Google or any other search engine.

And satisfying the search intent is the main goal of Google.

Content that does not match the search intent will not be ranked.

To satisfy search intent, you have to do keyword research. Every keyword you use has a search intent.

Keyword research is one of the most important aspects of SEO for a travel blog. The keyword can be a word, a phrase, or multiple words.

What is a keyword?

Those words that you type into Google are known as keywords. Google calls them queries.

Why are keywords important for a travel blog?

keyword research

While the term may sound quite technical, keyword research just find out what people are actually searching for on Google. 

Google gives us tools to see what queries have been used in the past.

For example you can look at keywords with google ads. You just have to open an account to use the keyword planner tool.

For travel blogs, a search is usually related to a travel Guide either things to do in place X or a Itinerary of place X.

It can also be a packing list either tasks to do or even a city tour guide.

The better your content matches the search intent, the more likely it is to rank on Google. So the first step is to recognize the search intent of your target keyword.

I give you an example.

Suppose you have come back from a Myanmar trip and you want to write about it. And you take as keyword “Myanmar”.

It is obvious that “Myanmar” is quite a common keyword and the user intent is not clear with this keyword. Even if you use a keyword like “Myanmar travel” or “Myanmar travel”, you will have a hard time getting it on the first page of Google.

What you have to do is create content that offers searchers exactly what they are looking for.

In the case of travel blogs, it is a bit difficult to get an exact search intent. But keywords like “Myanmar One Week Itinerary” or “Myanmar Budget Travel Guide» they definitely have a better chance of qualifying.

 

Re-optimize old content for search intent

Search intent is not just for new content. You can touch up and change your old content to improve it. This will also boost your on-page SEO.

For example, we have modified one of our old content taking into account the search intent. And it ranks on the first page of Google.

google index

Google does not browse the Internet in real time every time someone searches for something. That would be too slow, so they maintain their own copy of the web. Google calls its copy of the web the Google Index.

That means if you just created new content on your website, Google may not have it in their index yet. Therefore, your new content will not appear in Google results if it is not already in the Google Index.

Is your site indexed in Google? All URLs?

On your computer or on your mobile, do the following to check how indexed this website is.

Go to google.com and type "site:" and then your domain name (without spaces) like this:

site: mihotelperfecto.com

That will show you all the pages on your domain that are currently in the Google Index. FYI, this does not work on a mobile device.

Google Algorithms

So how does Google decide what's a good match for what you searched for?

Wrap your head around this question and your brain will mimic Google's algorithms:

What's this page about?

Basic SEO is really as simple as having a page (or blog post) that has a clear and obvious answer to the question:

What's this page about?

And just to be clear, I use the page of terms and public interchangeably here. Most travel bloggers know that pages and posts are a little different. For Google, they are really the same.

How to position travel blog with good SEO

So how do you get Google to understand what your page is about?

When you create a page or blog post, start with a plan. After 2 decades of SEO, I think your plan should start with:

What is this page going to be about?

That's the first step in my 4-part process when writing a well-optimized page (or post) for my travel blog.

4 Steps to a Well Optimized Blog Post

1. Search topic and focus keyword
2. Create Blog Post Outline
3. Create the blog post
4. Review, improve and publish

Here are the details of how I use this 4-step process on this travel blog.

Find a topic and focus keyword for your blog post

If you don't already have a topic in mind, you should think about it first.

This is the short answer to " What's this page about? “

Once you have an idea for the topic of the post, use a word research tool key as Generator of keywords to determine a focus keyword phrase.

This should be 2-6 words that are very well associated with the topic.

Let's say I want to use "Visit to Pearl Harbor» as my focus keyphrase.

I will also identify related phrases such as:

• pearl harbor memorial
• pearl harbor attack
• pearl harbor tickets
• best time to visit pearl port
• how long to visit pearl harbor
• Is Pearl Harbor worth visiting?
• USS Arizona Memorial

As you do some keyword research, take a look at the websites/pages/posts that are currently ranking well. This can give you an idea of what to create.

The next step in writing a well-optimized travel blog post is planning the content structure.

Create Your Travel Blog Post Outline

Before you start writing your blog post, have a plan of what you need to cover and what it will include.

Most, if not all, of what you include on your page/post should reinforce the response to:

What's this page about?

Start with your title.

Create a title that resonates with the searcher you are trying to reach. I decided that I want to help someone who is thinking of visiting Pearl Harbor. To do this, my title can be as simple as: "My visit to Pearl Harbor"

I used my main keyword and customized it a bit by saying it is » My visit to Pearl Harbor. This title should really be of interest to someone thinking of visiting Pearl Harbor.

Next, create a meta description that summarizes the blog post in 1-2 sentences. This will help guide you as you create the content.

By the way, you can always go back and review as you go deeper into the process in case you decide to go in a different direction.

Here is my meta description:

On our first trip to Hawaii, a visit to Pearl Harbor was high on our to-do list. It was a powerful experience that I will never forget.

Using your meta description as a guide, number the sections of your post. What will you cover?

For me, this is the summary of my blog post to help people who are considering a visit to Pearl Harbor:

• Tickets to Pearl Harbor
• Best day and time to visit
• How long to visit?
• Is Pearl Harbor worth visiting?

See how I've used my keyword research to find SEO-friendly travel terms and topics?

Create the blog post

You now have a plan for writing your travel blog post. It's usually best to start with an introduction, cover the elements you have in your outline, and then close with some sort of conclusion.

If you did your outline really well, you can use each line of the outline as a section heading and just add 1 or more paragraphs to flesh out each section. If you need to modify the schema to generate more well-written section headers, that's fine.

By the way, there is a nice tool in WordPress that shows the outline of your blog post.

That's an easy way to see if your headers align with "What's this page about?"

Use your keywords, but sparingly

Try to use the focus keyword and some of its naturally related kw phrases in section titles and content.

Don't overdo this.

Don't feel like your travel blog post have to say that your travel blog post it is the best post travel blog For people who want to read a travel blog post as their travel blog post .

That sounds stupid, right? There's even a term for this: keyword stuffing . do not do it

Use images or other non-text resources. Remember to add filenames and alt text that both:

• accurately describe the image, and
• include one or more of your keywords.

Review, improve and publish

It's time to review what you've created. Read your blog post, or better yet, have someone else read it. How did you do it?

Ask your test reader to answer this question:

What's this page about?

If your answer is what you expected, you're well on your way to SEO success with this blog post.

Now, let's take it to the next level.

Is it high quality content?

Did you create something that is quality content? Would it really help the seeker you have in mind? Is it better and/or different than what is already online? If the answer is yes, you are going in the right direction.

How is your SEO?

How did you do with SEO? Did you include your focus keyphrase at least once?

Were you able to include some of your related keywords?

Did you enter too many keywords?

When you read it, if it seems like you used it too many times… then already you've been through soooo much more from the appropriate point of use.

What could be better?

How could your blog post be better? Is it too short, too long, too boring…? Do the images you used enhance the user experience or are they just some random images?

Think about how your blog post can be improved, and then make those changes. Repeat this process until you are sure that you have created a high-quality, well-optimized blog post.

2. Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals are a set of factors that Google considers important in the overall user experience of a web page.

First of all visit this website https://pagespeed.web.dev/ to check the speed and health of your site.

According to Google, Core Web Vitals are going to be one of the most important ranking factors in 2022. Core Web Vitals include the following:

• The speed and fluidity of loading your web pages
• How quickly does the website respond to users?
• Is your website mobile friendly?
• How secure is your website?

Technically, Core Web Vitals consists of 3 parts.

Higher Content Paint (LCP) : It is the time it takes to load a page from the point of view of a real user.

First Entry Delay (FID): Measure the time it takes a user to interact with your website.

Cumulative Design Displacement (CLS): It is the measure of the stability of your page during loading.

 

How to improve your Core Web Vitals?

The steps to improve your Core Web Vitals depend on your website and platform. To find Core Web Vitals, go to Google Search Console and click on "Core Web Vitals."

Check the performance of your pages and try to remove bad URLs. In short, you have to make your poor URLs zero. Google penalizes poor URLs much more than it rewards good ones.

One of the steps to improve Vital Web Basics is to improve the speed and loading time of the website. You can do this by using a lightweight theme and compressing the size of the images on your pages.

However, page speed is not the only factor to improve Core Web Vitals, user experience (UX) is just as important.

3. Classification of passages in Google

This is an interesting feature from Google. In October 2020, Google had announced the concept of this new search technology. In this feature, Google ranks specific sections of a page (passage) independently.

According to Google this feature will affect almost 7% of search queries. It is a huge number!

 

How does Google Passage work?

As you understand, the passages will allow Google to rank specific parts of a page, and not the entire page.

Now Google will consider the relevance of a specific section of the page instead of the relevance of the entire page.

That being said, Google will still rate entire pages. So on-page SEO, UX signals, backlinks, and other ranking factors. The difference is that now a single page has a better chance of ranking, as long as it is well optimized and organized.

So what you have to do is divide your pages into different sections. And each section should be related to a specific topic.

Because now Google could take each section as a mini web page. Why lose it?

4. Optimize for Rich Snippets (featured snippets)

Have you seen the short snippets of text that appear at the top of Google search results? Yes, they are the featured snippets. And they get a lot of clicks.

In short, Featured Snippets are important for driving traffic to your website and are therefore important for your travel blog SEO.

How to optimize rich snippets?

1. Find Opportunities for Featured Snippets

Keyword research is the first step here too. Find the keywords you already rank for. And then look for keywords that have featured snippets.

You might think why find keywords I already rank for? According to Ahrefs, 99,58% of Featured Snippets are from pages that are on the first page for that term. So if you're not in the top 10, forget about being featured in the featured snippet.

2. Add bait to the snippet

The Snippet Bait is a block or paragraph of 40-60 words that usually answers the searcher's questions.

3. Featured Snippet Type

There are different types of featured snippets that Google displays for a search query. The different forms of featured snippets are:

1. Paragraph
2. numbered list
3. bulleted list
4. Board
5. Video

Select your keyword and find out what type of snippet will work best for you.

5.EAT

Long ago, a lot of work was done to get backlinks. Although link building is still important to the Domain Authority, today Google evaluates a website based on Experience, authority and reliability EAT for short.

The EAT has always been part of the guidelines, but lately it has become a major ranking factor.

In short, you have to be an expert and have authority in your field.

As travelers, we are sure that you have authority in certain places or types of travel. It is better to write about what you have confidence in.

If you're a backpacker, then most of your content should probably focus on backpacking and advice related to it.

I personally think this part is easier for travel bloggers.

Second, your travel blog should have a proper information page, an easy-to-find contact page, a privacy policy, and terms of service.

The author's signature on each article, although not required, is important to build trust.

Lastly, it is a huge boost to your EAT if you are cited by other trusted websites

6. Work on your mobile SEO

 

In 2022, the focus is more on mobile SEO. According to him latest data, the percentage of global mobile traffic in the first quarter of 2022 is 55%, compared to 42% for desktop devices. And mobile use is expected to grow.

Therefore, make sure that your content and your website work well from a mobile perspective. Mobile user experience (UX) is a big SEO factor for travel blogs in 2023.

The key is in simplicity. Focus on improving your users' mobile site experience.

7. Video content for SEO of a travel blog

Video content is booming. You may have noticed more video snippets in your search queries. With a travel blog, visual representation is definitely a big boost.

We recommend embedding video content in your blog posts. In general, video content significantly improves the bounce rate of your page.

We also couldn't resist the lure of the perks of a YouTube channel.

 

Other quick SEO tips for travel blogs

long form content

Gone are the days of 500 word articles. Today, longer content conforms to Google's EAT Guidelines. Travel blog content of 2000-2500 words is the standard today and the trend is now towards 2500-3000 words.

That being said, don't cram your content just to have a 2000 word article. If your content deserves fewer words and you can express your authority and expertise in less than 2,000 words, all is well.

 

Use emotions in titles

Emotional titles have a relatively higher probability of CTR. But excessive use of "Power Words" in titles can also reduce clicks.

In short, search engines like to click on Compelling Headlines, but they are also wary of click baits.

Write a meta description on each page

The meta description is one of the main factors that drive users to click on your travel content.

Make sure your meta description tags are original and to the point. Imagine that you are the one looking for the topic.

Would you click on the web page after reading the meta description? If the answer is yes, then you are in a position to do so.

This simple step can increase your CTR by 6%.

Include your keyword in the URL and title of the travel blog

This is a simple step. Use your keyword in the URL of your page and also in the title tag.

Research has shown that keyword-rich URLs get more clicks than URLs that don't contain the keyword. Also, keep the URL short.

Focus on the LSI keyword

LSI or Latent Semantic Indexing keywords are related terms that Google and other search engines use to understand the content of a web page.

There was a time when you had to use your keyword multiple times throughout your content for Google to understand what your page was about.

But today, Google has gotten a lot smarter. Today, Google's goal is to figure out the general theme of the page.

Google hopes that other keywords related to your main keyword will appear in your article.

For example, if you write about a Nepal Itinerary, Google also expects to find words like Kathmandu, Pokhara, trekking in nepal, Everest Base Camp Trek, Durbar Square, Nepal Travel Guide, places to stay, etc. also to appear in the article.

So these are our SEO tips for travel blogs in 2023 for you. We have tried these methods and this has increased our website traffic considerably.

Frequently asked questions to position travel blog in Google