SEO Strategies for Tour Operators: Earn More Website Bookings

Search engine optimisation (SEO) refers to the strategies to make your website more visible and discoverable in search engines like Google and Bing. There are a few reasons why tour operators invest in SEO:

• To build brand credibility and awareness
• To get their tours and travel services in front of audiences actively searching for what they offer
• To increase direct website bookings and reduce reliance on online travel agencies (OTAs) like Booking.com or Expedia
• To save budget on paid ad campaigns
• To build out their customer contact book for retargeting and email marketing initiatives

SEO is often viewed as a cost-effective means of driving long-term, continuous business growth. But here’s the thing: it’s not something you can implement overnight and see immediate results. And it’s not a “set it and forget it” type approach. You have to play the long game — strategically building out your site content, targeting keywords relevant to your tours and location.

In many cases, tour operators begin to see improved website performance after six to nine months, and after they start to gain traction, the benefits can quickly compound (as long as you stay on top of your site content).

So our content marketers put their heads together to create this guide of the most effective SEO strategies — the strategies we’ve tried and seen success from — to increase search engine visibility, website traffic, and ultimately, bookings from your site.

Our guide walks through:

• The best SEO strategies for tour operators
• SEO tools that’ll make your life easier
• Our tips for long-term success

1. Identify all of the most relevant bottom-of-funnel keywords to describe your tours and travel experiences

The very first thing to get familiar with is keywords and keyword research.

Keywords = the exact phrases users search. The research here involves brainstorming all the phrases your target audiences (potential customers) might search for to find your tours and travel experiences.

Consider your product category, location, and the typical questions customers ask. You can also refer to “People Also Ask” and Google’s autocomplete options when conducting this research.

For example, let’s say you’re a zipline operator in Kauai — some relevant keywords include:

• Zipline experiences in Kauai
• Zipline tours in Kauai
• Kauai zipline
• Things to do in Kauai
• Best experiences when visiting Hawaii
• Kauai zipline reservations
• Best zipline company Kauai

Beyond these straightforward search terms, consider what customers may look for while browsing experiences and making purchasing decisions. Some of those topics may include:

• Zipline Kauai cost
• How to prepare for zipline tour
• What to wear ziplining in Hawaii
• Kauai zipline age requirements
• Zipline safety Kauai
• Kauai zipline weather conditions
• Best time to zipline in Kauai

We recommend targeting the most bottom-of-funnel keywords first, like “zipline experiences in Kauai,” because those get you in front of audiences specifically looking for what you offer and indicate that users are in a buying and booking mindset.

The best approach here is to gather a list of 20 to 50 keywords relevant to your tours and travel experiences — so you have ample options to get started, without overwhelming yourself — and then work through your list, moving from the bottom of the funnel (ready to book) to the top (just starting to research).

It’s also helpful to revisit keyword research every month or two, so you can keep up with trending topics and catch new opportunities.

2. Create high-quality, specific, optimised content to target each keyword

Next, you’ll create high-quality website content to target each of your keywords. There are a variety of ways you can do this:

• Blog posts
• Landing pages
• FAQ pages
• Product pages
• Photo galleries

The route you choose really depends on the keyword and what’s most appropriate.

• You can target bottom-of-funnel product keywords, like “Zipline experiences in Kauai” or “Zipline tours in Kauai,” with product or landing pages.
• You can build FAQ pages for more informational keywords like “What to wear ziplining in Hawaii,” “Kauai zipline age requirements,” or “Zipline safety Kauai.”
• Then you can create blog content as you move up the funnel and hit on keywords like “Zipline Kauai cost,” “How to prepare for zipline tour,” or “Best time to zipline in Kauai.”

Regardless of the route you take, the key to ranking highly in search results and seeing actual conversions is content quality.

So what makes content “high-quality”? It’s comprehensive but focused, concise, and tailored to the reader’s search intent.

You don’t want to try to cover too many topics on one page, or hit readers with fluff that’s not relevant to their query. Stop and consider: what does this query suggest the user is looking for? Then tailor your content around what readers actually want to know.

Say someone searches “What to wear ziplining in Hawaii”. You shouldn’t give them a 3k-word essay on Hawaii’s climate history.

Instead, provide a detailed answer about clothing recommendations, weather considerations, and what you provide vs. what they need to bring. Use clear, scannable headings, and include sufficient detail in each section. You could (and should) also include some photos of properly-dressed participants.

Don’t overthink content length either — just focus on answering the search query in sufficient detail. Some FAQ answers might only require 200 words, while a guide on the “Best time to zipline in Kauai” might need 1k+ words to cover weather patterns, seasonal considerations, and booking tips.

Whatever content you create, ensure that you include relevant images and videos. Videos are especially valuable because they increase time spent on your page (which signals to Google that your content is useful), and they can be repurposed for social media promotion.

Just remember to compress and optimise media files so they don’t slow down your site. Large, unoptimized photos can actually harm your website’s performance and, consequently, its search rankings.

The bottom line: create content that genuinely helps your potential customers make decisions, and search engines will reward you for it.

3. Build backlinks from credible, authoritative sites

Backlinking is one of the most effective ways to enhance your website’s authority and domain rating — the more authoritative you appear to search engines, the more frequently they will recommend your site to users.

Search engines only want to provide helpful, reliable content to their users. Otherwise, people won’t rely on sites like Google or Bing to find what they need.

However, you have to be strategic with backlinks. Quality beats quantity here.

You shouldn’t source links from just any site. Links from low-quality or spammy sites will only drag you down.

Focus on building partnerships with reputable, relevant, authoritative sites, ideally in the tourism and travel sector. This creates a connection between your site and others that search engines already deem reliable and trustworthy — showing Google that other high-quality sites recommend yours as a valuable and credible resource.

There are a few strategies to garner quality backlinks. You can:

• Reach out directly for link exchanges. Find complementary businesses (hotels, restaurants, local attractions, travel companies, influencers and bloggers) and propose linking to each other’s relevant content.
• Offer guest posts. Write valuable content for travel blogs, local tourism boards, or industry publications that naturally link back to your expertise or travel services.
• Work with a link-building agency. These agencies partner with dozens of sites and can build relevant connections that make sense for your business.

When building backlinks, you should:

• Check domain ratings with an SEO tool like Ahrefs before reaching out. You should only build links from sites with a similar or higher authority than yours.
• Ensure links are placed in relevant content that actually relates to your tours or travel services. You can’t just slap a link in any post and hope for the best.
• Use clear, descriptive anchor text that tells readers what they’ll find when they click the link — not vague phrases like “click here” or “read more.”

4. Leverage local SEO & stay on top of your Google Business Profile

For tour operators, local SEO is often the lowest-hanging fruit when it comes to improving your online visibility. Think about it: Most of your customers are searching for experiences in a specific location, like “hiking tours in Sedona” or “best food tours in Chicago.”

Your Google Business Profile is the foundation of local SEO, and it’s completely free to set up and optimise. This is where you’ll appear in those local “near me” searches and Google map packs — often before your website even ranks.

To make the most of your Google Business Profile:

• Use your exact business name and location consistently across all platforms
• Add high-quality photos that showcase your tour experiences — think action shots, happy customers, and stunning scenery
• Include all relevant services, accurate hours, and clear booking information
• Choose the right category, like “Tour Operator” or “Tourist Attraction”
• Keep your contact information up to date

Once your profile is set up, the real work begins: collecting reviews. Google heavily weights recent, authentic reviews when determining local rankings. Don’t be shy about asking satisfied customers to leave reviews; most people are happy to help if you make it easy for them.

You can also check out our guide here on how to get more reviews.

You should also make sure your business information is consistent across other local directories like TripAdvisor, Yelp, and local tourism websites. (Inconsistent information across platforms can confuse search engines and hurt your local SEO efforts.)

Local SEO is often where tour companies see the quickest wins, so if you’re just getting started with SEO, this is your best bet for early results.

5. Perform a technical audit to ensure no back-end issues impact site speed or performance

Technical SEO might sound intimidating, but it’s basically about making sure your website works properly behind the scenes. Search engines can’t rank a site that loads slowly, crashes on mobile devices, or has broken links everywhere.

You should run a comprehensive technical audit at least once a year to catch issues that could be hurting search rankings and the user experience on your site. Common problems include:

• Crawlability issues (search engines can’t access your pages)
• Indexing problems (your pages aren’t being included in search results)
• Server downtime and slow response times
• Broken links (both internal and external)
• Poor internal linking structure
• Missing meta descriptions
• Mobile responsiveness failures
• Uncompressed images that slow down load times
• Missing HTTPS security
• Duplicate content across pages
• Missing or incorrectly structured data (search engines can’t properly understand and display your content)
• XML sitemap issues (if search engines can’t find your sitemap or it’s broken, they might miss pages)
• Missing alt text on images (both for SEO and accessibility)

Tools like Screaming Frog SEO Spider can crawl your entire site and automatically flag these issues. (And don’t panic if you find dozens of problems — most are easy fixes that you or an experienced web developer can knock out quickly.)

Mobile optimisation is particularly crucial for tour operators since most travellers are browsing and booking experiences on their phones.

Your site needs to be mobile-friendly and responsive, meaning it automatically adjusts to look good and function properly on any device size. Pages should load within 3 seconds on mobile, navigation should be thumb-friendly, and booking forms should be simple to complete on a small screen.

It’s also important to note: Google uses mobile-first indexing, which means they primarily look at the mobile version of your site when determining rankings. If your site looks terrible or doesn’t work on mobile, you’re essentially invisible in search results.

The good news is that most modern website builders (including Bókun’s templates) handle mobile responsiveness automatically. But it’s still worth testing your site and connection speeds regularly, on different devices, to ensure everything works smoothly.

Building your SEO toolkit

The right tools can make SEO management much easier — they help you identify the most valuable keywords, produce high-quality, optimised content, monitor website performance, and determine what’s actually working. There are dozens of SEO tools available, but you really only need the essentials below to get started.

• For keyword research and tracking rankings: Use Semrush or Ahrefs to discover new keyword opportunities and track your own keyword positions over time. You can also use these tools for competitor analysis (more on this below). Both offer similar features, so choose based on your budget and preferences. These tools also help track backlink profiles and domain ratings.

• For content optimisation: Clearscope helps ensure your content is correctly optimised for your target keywords — without all of the keyword stuffing and guesswork. Instead of the old-school approach of “use the keyword once in the header, once in the body,” it guides you toward more natural writing that covers related topics and terms search engines expect to see.

• For technical audits: Screaming Frog SEO Spider crawls your entire site and identifies all technical issues, such as 404 errors, broken backlinks, slow load times, missing meta descriptions, and duplicate content. Run this (at least) once a year to catch issues before they hurt your rankings.

• For tracking performance: Google Analytics shows you how much traffic you’re getting, which pages are most popular, and most importantly, which pages are converting visitors into bookings. Google Search Console is equally important — it shows you which keywords you’re ranking for, alerts you to technical issues (such as crawlability or indexing issues), and allows you to submit sitemaps directly to Google.

Our tips for long-term success

As mentioned, SEO isn’t a one-and-done marketing strategy — it requires consistent effort and regular maintenance to maintain momentum and deliver continuous results. Here are the key habits that distinguish successful tour operators from those who see SEO performance drop off after a few months.

First, there are three key success metrics to track:

1. Rankings: What pages appear in search results and where (in what # positions).

2. Website traffic: See how many travellers are visiting your site and which pages pull in the most views.

• Note: You should monitor both overall and organic traffic. Measuring organic traffic is most useful here because it shows how many people found your site through search engine results.

3. Conversions & conversion rates: This is the most important metric because it shows how many people actually booked a tour with you after visiting your site and reviewing content (though you could also track email newsletter sign-ups or other calls to action). Look at conversions per month in total, zoom in on which pages travellers view before booking tours, and which pages consistently lead to bookings.

You should also:

• Run technical audits annually to catch problems before they hurt your rankings. Tools like Google Search Console can send email alerts when they detect issues like broken backlinks or crawling problems, so you don’t have to remember to check manually.

• Publish new content or update existing pages regularly. The frequency of publishing impacts your search performance — sites that consistently produce fresh content get more attention from Google’s algorithms. You don’t need to blog daily, but regular updates signal that your site is active and current.

• Maintain backlinking relationships. These connections can be huge for keeping your site performing well. When you have ongoing relationships with other credible sites, it shows Google that you’re a reliable industry source worth recommending.

• Stay informed about trends, but don’t chase every shiny object. Your most valuable content will always target bottom-of-funnel keywords; however, creating content about industry events, news, or new products helps build credibility. Plus, this content can be repurposed for social media promotion and newsletters.

• Monitor your competitors. Keep an eye on the keywords they’re targeting, the content they’re creating, and any new backlinks they’ve acquired. Tools like Semrush and Ahrefs make this easy with competitor tracking features. You don’t need to copy everything they do, but understanding their strategy can reveal opportunities you might have missed or help you identify gaps in your own approach.

Lastly, you should consider working with an agency if SEO feels overwhelming.

Digital marketing agencies can handle the heavy lifting for you — they can develop a content strategy, identify the right keywords to target, create engaging content, build backlinks, conduct technical audits and address flagged issues, and track the results of their efforts.

Many also manage paid advertising, such as PPC campaigns, to complement your organic SEO efforts.

How to drive more business via Bókun Websites

Bókun is an all-in-one tour operator software born and raised by Tripadvisor. Our software includes the whole gamut of features to manage tour business operations — your bookings, availability, sales channels, products, staff, equipment, customers, and more.

And our system includes a simple-to-use one-click website builder to begin growing your brand’s online presence.

Our website builder includes templates (designed for the travel industry), booking engine widgets, and advanced customisation tools to build out your site and optimise it for SEO. You can create landing pages, blog content, photo galleries, and more to target all of your business’s most relevant keywords.

Even more convenient? Our sites are desktop and mobile-friendly by default, so you can hit the ground running.

Your Bókun website is included in your subscription (no extra charges!) — we even cover costs to secure your desired website name and publish your site online. You have complete control over your site; you can change, update, and add to it any time. You don’t need a professional website developer to hold your hand or manage content.

Take a quick peek at our website builder below:

Explore our platform by starting your 14-day free trial (no credit card required).

Related reads:

• How to create a booking website in 7 simple steps
• 10 free & paid strategies to market your tour company