Most bookings come through a third party
The booking sites send the guests and keep a share of every one.
SEO for Travel
Fill the calendar with direct bookings.
Travelers plan with a search bar, and a booking site is waiting at every step. We help your hotel, tour or attraction get found first and booked direct, so you keep the commission.
What we measureSEO for Travel3/3
- Searches where your own site ranks first
- Availability checks and direct bookings from search
- Bookings in the months you most want to fill
Get your free SEO audit
No cost and no commitment.
The search problem
Travelers find you through someone who takes a cut.
A couple planning a weekend searches for things to do, then where to stay, then how to get there. At each step a booking site ranks first and offers your room or your tour for a commission. Many of those travelers would rather book direct. Your own site never came up, or it came up without the dates, prices and answers they needed to decide.
We build the pages a traveler needs at each stage of planning, keep them current through the seasons, and make booking direct the easy choice. Then we count the bookings that began with a search.
In plain terms
How does SEO work for travel companies?
A guest plans a trip in steps: the idea, the place, the practical questions, then the booking. Travel SEO puts your business in front of them at each one. No operator outranks the big booking sites for “hotels in” a major city. An operator can win the searches closer to the decision: its own name, its specific experience, and the questions only a local can answer well.
That local knowledge is the advantage. A page that tells a traveler when the whales pass, where to park, what to wear on the boat and what happens if the weather turns is more useful than any listing, and Google is built to put the most useful page first. Many guests also arrive from abroad, and for them international SEO decides whether they see your page in their own language.
Signs you are renting your own guests
Your name leads somewhere else
A booking site ranks above you when people search for your own hotel or tour.
Busy season only
Summer fills itself, and the shoulder months stay empty.
Pages that go stale
Last year’s dates, prices and hours are still on the site.
What we do in travel SEO
When someone searches for your hotel or tour by name, your site should be the first result, with prices and a way to book. We fix the pages, the Google profile and the listings so that it is, and so the official site is the obvious place to finish.
We build guides around what your guests ask before they come: the best month, what to bring, how long it takes, what is nearby. Each guide is written from what your staff know, and links to the room, tour or ticket that fits.
Searches for a summer trip start months before summer. We map when your guests plan, and publish or refresh each page ahead of that window. Seasonal hours and dates are kept current on the site and on the Google profile.
A traveler who reaches your site should see dates, the full price and a clear button within seconds, on a phone. We work with your booking system so that path is short, and so every booking is counted.
Check it yourself
Search for your business the way a guest would.
Open a private browser window, which hides your own history, and search for your business by name. Then search for what you offer with your town, as a stranger would. Note who ranks above you, and what their result shows that yours does not: a price, a rating, dates.
One rule changed what a price has to look like. Since May 2025 a federal rule on fees has required lodging and event-ticket prices to show the total, mandatory fees included, from the first time a price appears. Showing the real total early is the law for lodging now, and it is also what a guest comparing two tabs wants to see.
- 01Search your business name. Your own site should be first, above any booking site.
- 02Search your main offer plus your town. Note the first five results and what each one shows.
- 03Open your site on a phone and time how long it takes to see a price for real dates.
- 04Check your Google profile for this season’s hours and photos from this year.
- 05Read your three most-visited pages for last year’s dates, prices or closures.
What you get
Work you can hold.
- Pages that win searches for your own name and offers
- Planning guides written from your staff’s local knowledge
- A seasonal calendar of what to publish and refresh, and when
- A shorter, counted path to direct booking
- Reporting on direct bookings that began with a search
The readout
How we know it worked.
We record a baseline before we change anything, then read search visibility beside the actions that pay the bills.
- Searches where your own site ranks first
- Availability checks and direct bookings from search
- Bookings in the months you most want to fill
Pricing
Your investment in being found
Three ways to invest in your business showing up when buyers search. Each package is billed monthly, month to month, and each one includes everything in the one before it.
Foundation
The work every site needs, done properly and kept up every month.
$1,000a month
Month to month
We recommend
Growth
Foundation, plus the pages, articles and links that reach more of your buyers.
$2,500a month
Month to month
Leadership
Growth, plus press outreach, more markets and reporting that follows each lead to revenue.
$5,000a month
Month to month
The price changes only when the scope does, such as a very large catalog, many locations or a move to a new platform, and we agree any change in writing before the work starts.
Questions
Before we start.
How do we compete with Expedia and Tripadvisor?
By not fighting them for the broadest searches. They will hold “hotels in” a big city. You can win your own name, your specific experience and the detailed questions travelers ask, where a local operator knows more than any listing site.
Can SEO get us more direct bookings?
Yes, and that is the main reason to do it. Many travelers find a place on a booking site and then search its name to look at the official site. If your site ranks first, shows the full price and is easy to book on a phone, more of them finish there.
How should a seasonal business handle SEO?
Work ahead of the season, because people plan trips weeks or months before they travel, and the pages need to be live and current before those searches start. In the quiet months, refresh the pages for the season coming and build the ones you lacked last year.
Does a tourism business need a Google Business Profile?
Yes. It feeds the map, the information panel that appears when someone searches your name, and driving directions. Keep the hours accurate through the seasons, add current photos and answer reviews.
How long does travel SEO take to bring bookings?
Fixes to how your own name appears usually pay back first. Guides and seasonal pages build over a longer stretch, and they are worth most when they are in place before the season they serve. You see bookings from search in every monthly report.
Keep exploring
Find the next useful page.
All SEO servicesExplore the full search program and its specialized services.International SEOReach guests searching in other languages and countries.Local SEOThe map and your profile, for travelers already in town.SEO Blog Writing & StrategyPlanning guides that bring travelers in early.UX Design for SEOA shorter path from a search to a booking.Hospitality and tourismThe full marketing program for hotels, tours and attractions.
Tell us what you offer and when you most want guests. We will show you who is ranking for your name, and your season, today.
- How your buyers search for what you sell
- Who shows up above you today, and why
- Your website, as Google reads it
Prefer email? Write to hello@wearemachina.com
Prefer to talk? Call (831) 230-7787
What we measureSEO for Travel3/3
- Searches where your own site ranks first
- Availability checks and direct bookings from search
- Bookings in the months you most want to fill
Get your free SEO audit
No cost and no commitment.