SEO for Travel Bloggers: What You Need to Know to Rank #1 on Google
Want THE PERFECT TRAVEL SEO STRATEGY for Bloggers?
Travel blogging is one of the most competitive fields on the internet, so gaining knowledge to blog about SEO for travel bloggers is not a recommendation — it’s a requirement.
I run multiple travel websites and have learned the perfect SEO strategies to consistently rank my posts at the top of Google — resulting in more than 300,000 monthly readers 🤯 on just one of my sites!
In this basic SEO guide, I will share my top SEO strategies to help you get your blog ranking, too!
I’ll provide an overview of what SEO is and how it works, as well as tips for optimizing your content to make the Google-gods happy.
I’ll also tell you about my favorite tools that help me quickly climb to the top of the first page on Google (Even with a low DA).
Ready for some SEO blogging tips and tips on how to become an SEO expert? Let’s dive in.
What is SEO & Why Is It Important?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing a website or blog to increase its visibility in search engine results.
If you wonder why blogs are good for SEO, or how does blogging help SEO, let’s discuss that al in detail — because SEO can really make or break your blog.
What are SEO strategies?
An SEO strategy for travel websites involves using keyword optimization, link building, and content creation to improve a website’s ranking on Google and generate more organic traffic from each blog post.
Why you need SEO for your blog?
Blogging and SEO tips help websites rank higher in Google search results, leading to more customers and income opportunities.
SEO is the foundation of any successful online marketing strategy, whether you have a travel blog or a local business.
With proper SEO for travel blogs, you will gain an edge over your competition and build a solid online presence. You don’t even need social media to do it!
SEO for travel bloggers
The Basics of SEO for Bloggers: Finding the Right Keywords
Keywords are the backbone of SEO for my blog. They are often the most searched travel questions for a destination.
Each post targets a specific keyword, which I put in the title, headings, body content, and meta description.
Keyword Research & Competitiveness
When choosing a keyword for your blog post, the ultimate goal is to find one with high search volume and low competition, which is easy for some but more difficult in saturated travel blogging niches.
We’ll talk about my favorite SEO tools later, but for now, the most important thing to do is select your target keyword BEFORE writing the post, not the other way around.
As a travel blogger, you only have a limited amount of time to write each week, and you want to ensure that the posts you’re writing have a decent volume and a chance to rank on Google.
SEO for Travel Bloggers
What are buyer intent keywords?
The best affiliate income opportunity is writing posts with buyer-intent keywords.
These are keywords that someone is searching for while simultaneously getting their credit card ready. Their search intent is to spend money.
💻 sample keyword research result #1
For example, “best Cancun resorts for honeymoon” is a buyer-intent keyword.
This person knows where and when they are traveling, and just wants a personal recommendation to decide on a hotel. 🤑 This is where the money is!
💻 sample keyword research result #2
On the other hand, “best time to visit Cancun” is a high-volume keyword, but the person searching this is not necessarily intending to buy something.
In fact, they are probably still deciding on a destination and looking for places with good weather during their vacation schedule.
👩🏻💻 I teach bloggers how to find travel blog keywords with big potential to earn affiliate income in my How to Find Affiliate Marketing Keywords Class. You can read more about my class in this Best Courses for Travel Bloggers article.
SEO for travel bloggers
Short vs. Long-Tail Keywords
When it comes to SEO terms for bloggers, you should know the difference between short-tail and long-tail keywords when researching SEO keywords for travel blog opportunities.
💻 keyword search result for a short tail keyword
Short-tail keywords are typically 1-3 words with high search volume but are typically very competitive. A good example is “Hotels in Athens.”
💻 keyword search result for a long tail keyword
Long-tail keywords are longer phrases with 4+ words that usually have lower search volume, but significantly less competition — so it’s easy to rank for them.
Here’s an example: The keyword “best luxury hotels in Athens” will be more difficult to rank for because it’s more competitive than “best hotels in Athens with a view of the Acropolis.”
Ultimately, the goal should be to find a keyword with high search volume AND low competition, but this is easier said than done.
SEO for new bloggers should include mostly long-tail keywords.
SEO for travel bloggers
What are LSI keywords?
LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keywords are related terms or phrases used to help search engines better understand the content of a webpage or blog post.
They are based on the context of the words used, rather than just the words themselves.
For example, if a website talks about bowls, it could refer to a soup bowl, toilet bowl, or the Super Bowl.
The LSI keywords (also sometimes called related keywords, secondary keywords and/or tertiary keywords), help give your main keyword context.
🤔 how LSI keywords help your blog
LSI keywords are used to add further context and make sure the search engine knows which kind of “bowls” you are referring to.
Using LSI keywords in your blog post can help give you an edge over other websites targeting the same keywords, as it helps Google better understand the context of your post.
SEO for travel bloggers
Where should you put keywords?
For optimal SEO, keywords should be strategically placed in the title, meta description, headings, and throughout the content.
Additionally, consider including them in the URL, image alt text, and internal links.
Each post should have 1️⃣ a primary keyword, which is the target keyword for the article.
Of course, we hope that one post can rank for many keywords, but there should still be a phrase that’s #1.
All of the other keywords are considered 2️⃣ secondary keywords and 3️⃣ tertiary keywords.
Your primary keyword should show up in a lot of places (though not quite everywhere because you don’t want to over-optimize the keyword).
You should find a way to insert it into the blog in these places:
- Your title
- Introduction (specifically the 1-2 paragraphs, or first 100-200 words)
- A few H2 and H3 headings (but only where it fits naturally)
- In-Content (a good rule is once per 500 words)
- Conclusion (specifically the last paragraph)
- Meta description
- Alt text for your images
A good rule for secondary keywords and tertiary keywords is to insert them at least once throughout the post — but post can contain hundreds of keywords, so try to get a good amount in (without sacrificing readability).
SEO for travel bloggers
My Favorite Keyword Research Tools
Many keyword research tools can help bloggers find low-competition keywords and provide blogger SEO tips to help you write blog posts optimized for Google.
This will help you understand how to write SEO blogs and give you a better chance of ranking higher in SERPs, thus increasing organic traffic to your travel blog.
Here are some of the most popular, starting with my favorite tool, Keysearch.
🏆 My #1 Choice: KeySearch
Keysearch is my favorite SEO tool because it is the most affordable and user-friendly.
I have used it since 2020, and recommend it to all my students. ⚠️ Keep reading for my 20% OFF Keysearch discount code!
You can search a keyword to find the estimated volume, difficulty score, and current SERP (top ten in search results).
Then you can optimize SEO for travel websites with competitive analysis, rank tracking, and check if you’ve used the recommended LSI Keywords through their Content Assistant.
It’s a remarkably useful tool and the best value for your dollar of any SEO travel research tool.
Ready to sign up for Keysearch? Use this link to purchase Keysearch, and at checkout, add the code KSDISC for 20% off you entire purchase price.
2. AHREFS
AHREFS has been one of the #1 keyword research tools for a long time.
They provide an in-depth analysis of competitors’ backlinks 👩🏻💻, allowing users to discover new link-building opportunities.
It also has a powerful keyword explorer for identifying low-competition keywords with high traffic potential.
The drawback of AHREFS for many bloggers is the price, which is over 6x the cost of Keyseach.
3. Semrush
Semrush is another trusted SEO research tool, and people love it for its wide variety of features.
You’ll find over 40 pages with tools for keyword research, link building, backlink assistance, on page SEO audits, and competitive analysis.
The most significant benefit of Semrush’s SEO for travel blog capabilities is their Keyword Magic Tool, which can help you quickly find hundreds of long-tail keywords.
But, the price is steep (similar to AhREFS).
4. Rank IQ
RankIQ helps travel bloggers find long-tail keywords, which is extremely helpful for new bloggers.
I have been a RankIQ user since 2021, when they were still in beta!
Instead of searching for the keywords individually, you can select a travel niche, and then they will provide a travel keywords list of low-competition keywords.
I’ve received some of my highest-volume keywords through this platform, some of which I would have never thought of on my own.
You can then run a report on each keyword to find LSI keywords and essential content needed to rank over the competition.
In addition to all the keywords, RankIQ also has rank tracking!
5. Surfer SEO
Surfer SEO doesn’t offer site audits or backlink analysis. Still, it’s a powerful tool for on-page SEO optimization and finding travel blog SEO keywords.
The platform collects tons of data for your blog post and then tells you exactly what’s missing from your content compared to those in the top SERP spots.
If you’ve found yourself Googling “SEO tips for travel website” this tool will help!
But Surfer SEO is also great for people who don’t have a lot of posts yet. You can start creating posts with zero guesswork on what to include in each post.
They also provide LSI keywords and tips for optimized headlines, meta tags, and word count.
SEO for travel bloggers
7 Steps to Optimizing Your Blog Content
These are the best SEO practices for blogs, condensed into seven easy steps. Follow these SEO blogging tips, and you’re off to a great start.
1. Download and install an SEO plugin
My favorite SEO plugin is RankMath. It’s an excellent SEO plugin that can help you optimize your blog content quickly and effectively in WordPress.
The tool helps ensure you have adequately used your keyword in the proper areas, created a Meta description, and have an SEO-optimized Title for each blog post.
Another popular option that has near-identical functionality is the Yoast SEO plugin.
Both RankMath and Yoast work, but different bloggers have their preference (mine is RankMath).
SEO for travel bloggers
2. Establish E-E-A-T
E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Google is starting to prioritize this more with every update.
In every post, talk about why you have the authority.
You can explain why you know about the topic or share personal experiences, such as “I have lived in Mexico since 2018” or “I have taken a few cooking classes in Mexico, including #1 and #2 on this list.”
SEO for travel bloggers
3. Reach an ideal readability score
When you download an SEO plugin, like RankMath or Yoast SEO, the tool gives you a readability score.
Readability scores tell you whether or now the content is easy to understand and engaging for readers.
By optimizing each blog post for readability, you can improve the user experience and its chances of ranking higher in search engine results.
💡 Fun Fact: An 8th-grade reading level is usually recommended for most blogs. (Actually, maybe that’s not such a fun fact.)
SEO for travel bloggers
4. Don’t forget about the images
Every image should have an alt text related to the article’s topic.
A few of them should have the primary keyword or secondary keywords for SEO purposes.
Alt texts provide information about an image, which can be read by search engine crawlers (who can’t see the photo).
This helps tremendously with SEO for travel websites.
SEO for travel bloggers
5. Links to other internal and external sources
Your blog post should include internal and external links relevant to the article’s content.
Internal links help direct readers to other related posts on your website, while external links can provide additional information from sources outside of your own website.
In terms of travel blog SEO, external links show Google you are providing value to your readers, while internal links help boost other posts and make it easier for Google to crawl through your website.
SEO for travel bloggers
6. Double-check your meta-description and permalink
Your meta-description is the small snippet below the Title in Search Results.
You don’t fully control this snippet (Google sometimes pulls from the post itself), but it gives readers and Google a summary of the content they are about to read.
The permalink, on the other hand, comes after the URL’s blog name (i.e., www.travelblogging101.com/seo-for-travel-bloggers).
Both the meta description and permalink need to include your primary keyword exactly.
SEO for travel bloggers
7. Above All Else: Write for humans, not search engines
The most important thing to remember is that you are writing for people.
SEO optimization should always be a piece of the puzzle, but the best thing you can do is write posts that offer a wonderful User Experience (UX).
Best practices for UX includes writing engaging, concise, conversational content that genuinely serves the reader, and provides helpful travel tips.
SEO for travel bloggers
How to Prepare your Site for SEO
Although Google is not the only search engine, it’s the most popular one by far, so that’s whose guidelines we should follow.
Google’s algorithms determine which search results to show for a given query and in what order. Therefore, everything we write should have Googlebots in mind.
This includes setting up Google Analytics and integrating your site with Google Search Console.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a powerful tool that tracks and analyzes website traffic.
It provides detailed insights into how visitors interact with your website, such as which pages they visit, how long they stay on each page, and their country of origin.
With this data, you can see which articles users visit most and write more blog posts like them to continue gaining traffic on your website.
SEO for travel bloggers
Google Search Console
Google Search Console is a valuable tool for blogging and SEO.
The tool is free and provides insights into how each page performs in the SERP results, so you can identify areas needing improvement and prioritize posts accordingly.
🤔 How does Google search console work?
With Google Search Console, you can monitor the visibility of your pages in Google’s SERPs to check your rankings.
You can also track keyword performance, index posts manually, analyze backlinks, check internal/external links, and receive notifications when issues arise on your site.
SEO for travel bloggers
4 Steps to Setting Up Your Travel Blog For Success
Now that we’ve covered the basics let’s talk about how to nail your blog in SEO strategy. The first step is building a solid foundation for your travel blog.
1. Choosing the Right Hosting Platform
Finding a hosting provider with reliable, secure, fast servers is essential to ensure your website runs smoothly.
Poor website performance can negatively affect speed, functionality, and user experience.
No one likes to browse through a slow, buggy website. So if your blog stops working correctly, people will find a more navigationally easy SEO-optimized blog to read.
low-cost hosting for travel blogs
For those looking to start a travel blog on a budget, shared hosting is the best option, as it is cost-efficient and provides all the basic features you need.
For good but cheap website hosting, I recommend Hosting.com (formerly known as A2 Hosting), though many people use Bluehost.
However, I use and love Lyrical Host — who I’ve been with since 2021.
While they are slightly more expensive, you will be rewarded with a super speedy blog and 5-star customer service.
🤑 Lyrical Host Discount Code: Use code TRAVELBLOGGING101 to get 10% off all Lyrical hosting plans.
SEO for travel bloggers
2. Invest in the RIGHT Website Theme
After choosing a hosting provider, another of the best travel blogging tips is to pick a theme that prioritizes user experience and SEO optimization.
A good design looks attractive and allows visitors to find what they’re looking for quickly. It should also be optimized for good site speed and mobile responsiveness.
Some of the most popular WordPress themes are Genesis and Divi, but the theme I have found the most success with is Kadence.
It’s super easy to navigate, and my site speed has never been better!
SEO for travel bloggers
3. Create an SEO-friendly Website Structure
When you begin structuring your blog posts, you need to create an SEO-friendly website structure so that it’s easy for Google to crawl through the pages and find what to rank in the SERPs.
The most important blogger SEO tricks for this are to verify your domain in Google Search Console, and create landing pages on your blog so that every article can be reached in just two clicks.
This is good for user experience and also prevents Google from not finding articles deep in your website.
SEO for travel bloggers
4. Focus on a Niche
Niche is something talked about all the time in the blogging world, and that’s because it’s really important!
You should know your travel blog’s niche before you start writing, so you can focus on specific topics and build a name for yourself.
This simultaneously builds trust with your audience and helps with SEO optimization because Google will know that you are an authority on the subject.
SEO for Travel Bloggers: FAQs
What is a good SEO score on a blog?
A good SEO score for a blog post is usually 80-100, depending on your SEO tool.
This indicates that the SEO travel blog’s content is well-structured, easy to read and understand, and SEO-optimized.
It also checks that you use the best practices for keyword usage, alt texts in images, meta descriptions, and internal/external linking.
SEO for Travel Bloggers
How long does it take for blog SEO to work?
For a brand new blog, it can take 6-12 months for you to see the benefits of your SEO for blog efforts.
But this can happen much quicker if your blog is already a couple of years old, with plenty of content.
My blog did nothing in year one; it was a place to hear crickets.
In year two, I invested in the best travel blogging courses I could find and made $8,507 dollars 🤯 (not too bad for my second year).
Then in year three, I made $272,569 from my travel blogging business. While these results aren’t typical, I also can’t say they’re impossible because this is what happened for me.
SEO for Travel Bloggers
How do I know if my blog is SEO-friendly?
You can check if your blog is SEO-friendly with a free SEO plugin like Yoast or Rank Math (I personally use Rank Math, though most people seem to use Yoast).
However, the best way is to monitor the rankings of each post in Google Search Console, and make adjustments to articles that need to be improved.
There are also site audit functions within many SEO tools that can help identify issues with your website.
SEO for Travel Bloggers
What should I avoid with SEO content?
Avoid keyword stuffing, duplicating content, low word count, and generic headlines when writing SEO content.
You also should refrain from linking to direct competitors or websites with low authority.
SEO for Travel Bloggers
How long should a blog post be for good SEO?
A blog post should generally be at least 1,500 words for good SEO.
However, this highly depends on the target keyword, as more difficult keywords may require more than 5,000 words to be fully SEO optimized.
SEO for Travel Bloggers
What’s the best platform for a travel blog?
The best platform for a travel blog depends on the individual.
The most popular choice is WordPress.org, which is also the best for SEO, web design, and UX).
Other options include WordPress.com (yes, it’s different than WordPress.org), Squarespace, and Wix.
How do I find keywords for my travel blog?
You can find keywords for a travel blog with keyword research tools like Keysearch, AHREFS, SEMRush, and even Google Trends.
These tools identify relevant keywords for travel bloggers, making it easy for your posts to target the right audience.
Because of SEO-rich blogs, I made $272,569 from my travel blogging business in 2022 — and I can show you exactly how in my How to Find Affiliate Marketing Keywords Class.
Need Help? Join my Affiliate Marketing Keyword Course
If you’re looking for a more hands-on way to learn SEO basics for bloggers, I can help!
I created an in-depth Affiliate Marketing Keyword Class showing exactly how I took my blog from making a few hundred dollars a month to more than $40,000 per month 🤯 most of it from affiliate marketing.
This masterclass shares all of the juicy secrets of exactly how I did it, from finding the most profitable low-competition keywords to optimizing those posts to get to the top of Google faster!
Sign up today to start increasing organic search traffic for your most profitable posts!
My Final Thoughts on SEO for Travel Bloggers
Hopefully, this article has provided you with all the SEO blogging tips you need. SEO for blogs is essential.
With the proper keyword research, in-post optimization, and SEO strategies, you can increase organic search traffic to your site and begin making your blog a success.
You’ve taken a huge step by researching SEO for travel bloggers, but I don’t know a single successful blogger who doesn’t use any Keyword research tools.
My go-to tools are Keyseach and Surfer SEO, and if you would like to learn how to make more money from your posts, my Affiliate Marketing Keyword Course is the best place to start!
There’s a lot of free SEO info out there. But to really get better, consider joining one of my classes — you won’t regret it.