How We Optimize Our Website For Vacation Rental Search
Friday, April 2nd, 2010 by Ryan TWhen marketing First Vacation Rental subscriptions, we advertise that our site, along with each owner’s listing, will be optimized for search so that vacationers can easily find rentals. One of the most frequently asked questions is “How do you optimize your site?” and “What does that mean?” Both are good questions that deserve thoughtful answers.
We are noticing that vacationers renting homes from online directories are often originating from Google through its search engine. Many of our pages are designed to be placed in the top search results for certain search terms. This helps attract vacationers to our website who are searching for Wellfleet or Cape Cod information through Google.
There are two ways we use Google to get these searchers onto our rental listing pages. The first is by buying advertising space for popular searches that vacationers make. When searching for “Wellfleet vacation rentals,” “Cape Cod cottages,” or “Marconi Beach rental,” our ad will often appear in a section of the page right above the search results. Our ad is displayed for over 100 different Wellfleet-specific search terms. Our ad is also displayed during some more general Cape Cod seach queries such as “Cape Cod summer vacation.”
This is one of our Wellfleet ads. Most of our ads are specifically targeted to Wellfleet.
The second way we optimize with Google is by building pages on our website that will naturally find themselves among the top search results over time. For example, if you search for “Indian Neck Beach Wellfleet” our page about Indian Neck is on the first page. Once searchers end up on this page about Indian Neck Beach they can see nearby vacation rentals. There aren’t a huge number of people searching for Indian Neck Beach in Google; in fact, we only get about one hit a day from that search. Although that may seem small at first, it adds up quickly because we have over 100 pages about Cape Cod beaches, restaurants, and other Wellfleet activities. Factoring in all of our pages, the hits start to add up.
First Vacation Rental is the first result when searching Google for Indian Neck Beach in Wellfleet.
About 70% of our Google visitors find our site by searching for specific terms like Indian Neck Beach. The other 30% come from clicking our advertisements.
We make sure to get all of our Wellfleet vacation rentals into Google’s database. We do this by making sure that each one of our rental pages complies with the search engine’s guidelines. Also, we provide Google with the information it needs to best index the listings into the search results. Here are some tips for vacation home owners to help drive traffic to listings pages.
Our software provides all of the necessary tools and methods for attracting vacation searchers from Google. Of course, until you list your rental on the internet, Google won’t know about it. Once you’ve listed your rental, there are a few things you can do to help vacationers find it. For more information on this subject, check our our articles on: