Travel SEO & LinkBuilding StrategiesNovember 2013

1

08/04/2023

2

Firstly grab the GOOD but Free links

Step 1: Grab the FREE Low Hanging FruitBusiness DirectoriesNiche Travel Directories (relevance is the new CSS Galleries

08/04/2023

3

Submit your URL to Business Directories

Business Directories:Free to submit to– often with travel subsections (relevance and semantics)Great for Local SEO Free (generally)

Pro tip: Scrape directories from Google SERPS, filter by PR/pages indexed/ #backlinks/# referring domains, then submit to the cream of the crop

08/04/2023

4

Submit your website to Travel Directories

Travel DirectoriesFree to submit toCan usually find sites in your specific niche (e.g. Winter travel) Super-relevant makes links worthwhile – focus on relevancy vs GenericsPlenty of travel directories with great domain level metrics – links have true value

08/04/2023

5

Take advantage of authority CSS Directories

CSS / Site showcase sites & Directories for backlinksSome showcase sites are pr6, pr7 Free to submit toIf your site is good enough you can often get featured on homepage of a gallery site and enjoy a lot of link-equity (some sites are pr7!)Sites have subsections for niches for relevanceLinks are permanent

08/04/2023

6

Scaling the research, selection & submission process

Scrape Search engine results pages for candidate sites (Scrapebox is good for this)Check domain level metrics using ScrapeBox and other tools (eg SEOGadget’s tool)Automate part of the submission process using RoboForm Pro or another form-filler app (with custom fields)

08/04/2023

7

Become a Travel News Authority

Leverage Industry-Related News & EventsGet ‘the scoop’ and the links follow immediatelyTactical Coverage fosters links, Shares & RelationshipsGet syndicated where it gets eyeballs & Counts (NewsNow Travel Section, Google News)

08/04/2023

8

Do something newsworthy and tell the world

Do something noteworthy in your verticalShout about it, let everyone know [social, email. Press-releases]E.g. released / releasing a travel app? =>

Possible to get coverage & links from big newspapers, travel tech sites, general tech sites (VERY easy to get links from tech sites)

08/04/2023

9

Leverage Charity Tie-ins for Links + PR

Everyone loves ‘giving’ and getting involved with charity and other good causesNo shortage of big travel brands getting involved in charity

http://www.disabilitysnowsport.org.uk/Sponsors.aspxhttp://interactiveresorts.co.uk/fete

Easy way to get links that cannot be bought or traded – e.g. from travel forums, news sections on even your competitors’ sites

08/04/2023

10

Use Celebrities in Your Content Marketing

Tapping into the fan-bases of celebrities can be great for attracting site visitorsIncrease brand-awareness and credibility, and of course garnering links from relevant sites and related sites E.g ski companies can garner links from winter snowsports sites/forums/blogs

08/04/2023

11

Know Your Customer & Write Great Content For Them

Use Personas for site visitor modellingUse internal search data to fill in blank spots in your own contentUse personas for Q&A Type content

08/04/2023

12

Leverage events + structured data

People attending events need to get there and often need to stay thereEvent names are low competition search-terms – easy to rank forMicroformats like hEvent make your data easily understood (vs read) by Search EnginesSearch Engines <3 structured Data

08/04/2023

13

Affiliate program => Links

As well as bringing in business, affiliate programs can be a smart way to build links too.It’s possible to get SEO value from affiliate links (if done in a smart way)

08/04/2023

14

Use Infographics & Novel Data Visualization to Share Data

Leverage your own internal data => give insights + sharePeople like to share ‘good looking data’Plenty of free data visualization tools to package your data in a nice wayMake it sharable => get links

08/04/2023

15

Use Reviews For huge SEO Benefits

Rich Snippets to ‘Outclick’ Competitors in SERPs PPC  - use trustpilot to get critical mass of good reviews for review stars in your PPC listing – increased CTR benefits 50 or more reviews per product can mean a 4.6% increase in conversion rates:User-Generated Content & long-tail targeting

08/04/2023

16

Tactical Content-Marketing Partnerships

Partner with companies which offer related services that your customers can use without causing negative ROI for youE.g ski holiday company + ski apparel providersMountain holdiday company + Walking boots companiesTactical partnership => blogging => links =>cross-brand endorsements

08/04/2023

17

DDM - Travel SEO + Link-building Agency

Travel SEO and link development is what we do

Get in touch to discuss your specific Travel SEO requirements.

Read more Travel SEO Linkbuilding strategy advice and ideas on our Marketing blog