Mobile SEO: How to Increase Tour Bookings in 2023

Your job as a tour operator is to make your tours easy for travelers to find and book. Here's where mobile SEO comes in.

You can make sure your tours rank high in search results on mobile devices by following a few tips and best practices - making it easier for travelers to find and book them!

The use of a mobile phone to make travel plans has shifted in recent times. 70% of mobile users search for things to do on a trip, 66% look for attractive destinations, and 58% finalize their accommodation options. -TravelPerk

In this blog post, we'll share some mobile SEO tips and tricks that will help tour operators book more tours. Ready to get started? Let's dive in!

• Why is mobile SEO important for tour operators?
• What's the difference between mobile SEO and desktop SEO?
• How to optimize your website for mobile devices
• Tips for creating a mobile-friendly website
• The importance of local SEO for tours
• How to use social media to promote your tour business
• Measuring the success of your mobile SEO strategy

Why is mobile SEO important for tour operators?

As mobile technology becomes increasingly ingrained in everyday life, mobile SEO has been gaining more importance for tour operators looking to maximize their profits.

Mobile SEO involves optimizing your mobile website to increase mobile user engagement and Google’s mobile search ranking, thus allowing more people to find your business page through search engines and book a tour. It’s important to remember that mobile users behave differently than desktop users.

Tour operators need to think strategically about how they use mobile SEO to capture audience attention and drive bookings while providing the most convenient options available.

Utilize mobile SEO to create an optimized mobile experience that effectively reaches mobile users; this will make it easier for potential customers to discover your tours on top search rankings, and ultimately will help you grow into a successful business.

What's the difference between mobile SEO and desktop SEO?

Mobile SEO and desktop SEO are often confused to be the same thing, but in reality, they have distinct differences.

Mobile SEO is more focused on optimizing content visibility and user experience on devices with small screens such as cell phones and tablets, while desktop optimization focuses on making sure that your website's desktop version is indexed and appears in search engines for larger devices, such as laptops and desktops.

Both strategies require detailed keyword research and optimized content; however, mobile optimization additionally requires taking into account page speed, page loading times, link navigation design, boosting your landing page, ‘clickable’ elements, and the overall user experience of your site's mobile version across a range of devices.

With the recent explosion in cell phone usage and search engine consumption, it is becoming increasingly important to optimize not just for desktop bandwidth but also for other mobile platforms.

Understanding the difference between these two SEO will put you at an advantage when developing web pages for different screen sizes, and targeting internet users for desktop and mobile searchers.

What is search engine optimization?

Search engine optimization, or SEO for short, is a great tool for any website looking to get more visibility online.

By using strategies such as keyword research and content optimization, websites can help push themselves up in the search rankings and increase their reach online.

How to optimize a website for search engines

Keeping a website optimized means ensuring up-to-date content, high-quality images, and videos, and structuring your site blogs into categories and tags—all of which will help improve the customer experience on your web page.

Last but not least, it is important to regularly update your web page with new information as search engines are constantly changing how they rank sites.

All these factors combined create an effective SEO strategy that can help promote any website’s visibility effectively and efficiently in search rankings.

How to optimize your website for mobile devices

If your tour operator's website isn’t mobile-friendly, you’re not taking full advantage of mobile SEO. Mobile internet usage is skyrocketing, so optimizing your website for mobile users will help you appeal to more customers and increase bookings.

Making sure your mobile website can be read easily on mobile devices requires the right design strategy, but it doesn’t have to be hard - there are easy-to-implement tweaks you can make right away.

From strategically using fonts to making sure each page is screened with mobile users in mind, taking into account mobile friendliness can help your business stand out in mobile search engine rankings and take off as a successful tour operation.

Know about Google Mobile-First SEO Indexing

Mobile-first indexing by Google has been a game-changer for SEO. Instead of basing search results on the desktop version, as in days past, content is now weighed based on the mobile version. This further reflects that mobile usage and preferences are now an integral part of our lives and likely will only increase in ubiquity.

However, this also brings implications for website owners - if there's any inconsistency between what appears on the desktop and mobile versions of their page then they can expect to take a hit in terms of traffic.

What you can do:

If you’re worried about losing traffic due to mobile-first indexing, then do not make your mobile website a lesser version of your desktop page.

This includes removing content with the intent of conserving space. There are smart options that help optimize the mobile website without sacrificing its quality. Try making full use of features like accordion menus or tabs, which can compress content that wouldn’t otherwise fit.

Keep in mind that creating a good user experience should be the highest priority, and this basic design modification can make all the difference. In addition, keeping content consistent across both versions should be your top priority when considering Google's indexation process, so don't skip out on optimizing all available forms of your page.

Tips for creating a mobile-friendly website

Here are tested and proven tips on how you can create a mobile-friendly website for your tours:

1. Make sure your mobile website is responsive

This means that it should automatically adjust to the size of the device it’s being viewed on, whether desktop or mobile.

2. Use short and simple headlines

People reading on a mobile device are likely in a hurry, so make sure to keep the content brief and easy to digest. Identify popular search terms and use them for mobile optimization.

3. Include relevant and high-quality images

Images are a great way to draw attention, but make sure they’re not too big and optimized for mobile devices.

TIP: You can format and design your images as a team using a collaborative tool like Figma. And then, compress your images using free image compressor tools online- such as, Compressor.io, TinyPNG, and Squoosh.

In the consideration stage of planning and booking corporate travel, videos and photos are the two most critical factors affecting global travelers’ decisions.- Hospitalitynet.org

4. Optimize page loading time

Page speed is an important factor in mobile search rankings, so try to keep your website's mobile version loading time as short as possible by reducing the size of large images or videos if necessary.

If your site is loading slowly, you can use Google PageSpeed to measure it and adjust it as necessary. PageSpeed is another developer tool offered by Google. The app analyzes your website's performance and gives feedback to its developer using its URL.

Among other things, PageSpeed shows the length of time it takes a user to see the main content of a page, the time it takes an interactive page to render, and the speed index.

5. Place call-to-action buttons prominently

Make sure it's easy for customers to book a tour right away - include clear “book now” or “schedule a tour” buttons on the homepage and other key pages.

The importance of local SEO for tours

Increasing bookings for a tour operators' business can be a daunting task, but harnessing the power of mobile SEO is a great way to get more customers and gain an edge over the competition.

Today’s traveler relies heavily on their mobile device to find and access everything they need on the go - and that includes booking tours.

To make sure your tours appear high in local search engine results, you will want to use local SEO strategies.

How local SEO works for tour marketing

Local SEO helps travelers find your business more easily by using geo-targeted keywords as well as optimizing your website for mobile users.

Including local details such as city names, towns, and landmarks can significantly boost your reach so you are more noticed than ever before.

Utilizing local SEO is an absolute must for tour operators who want to increase their presence in the travel market and ultimately grow bookings for their business.

To help you get started with local SEO, here are some tips for tour operators:

1. Include local keywords in your website’s content

This will help you appear higher in local search engine rankings, as it lets potential customers know where you are located and what tours you offer.

2. Add your business to online directories

Ensure that your tour operator’s information is up-to-date on popular websites like Google My Business, Yelp, and TripAdvisor.

By doing so, travelers can easily find all the relevant details about your business such as contact info, location, hours of operation, etc.

Not sure which travel review websites are best to list with? Here are our top recommendations: Which Travel Review Websites are Best?

3. Utilize social media for promotions

Take advantage of social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok to promote upcoming tours and specials - this can be a great way to increase visibility and get more bookings.

Creating a mobile-friendly website and utilizing local SEO are two key components of the success of any tour business. So make sure you take the time to implement these strategies and watch your business take off!

How tour operators can use social media to promote their business

If you're in the tour business, chances are you've heard of using social media as an effective and affordable way to market your tour business.

Social media channels provide a great platform to get your message out there on a large scale and can generate plenty of interest in your tour services.

From posting evergreen content to running giveaways or promotions, there are numerous strategies that you can use to promote your tours on social media that all have the potential to put more customers through the door.

Additionally, it's also important to keep tabs on what people are saying about your tours - as well as other operators’ - so you can stay ahead of the curve when it comes to customer service and attracting new bookings.

When used properly, social media has the potential to be a powerful tool for any tour operator looking to increase their bookings and grow their profits!

Measuring the success of your mobile SEO strategy

When it comes to gaining attention and booking more tours, mobile SEO is an incredibly valuable tool. But how do you know if your mobile SEO strategy is working?

Identifying crucial metrics is the key to success!

There are a few ways tour operators can measure their mobile SEO performance, such as tracking website visits from organic mobile search results, the percentage of rankings for targeted keywords, and the number of conversions via phone or bookings through the mobile site.

Let's talk about these key steps one by one.

Track your website visits

Using a tool such as Google Analytics, you can easily track the number of website visits that result from organic mobile search results. This is important data to have as it will show you how effective your SEO strategy is at driving new visitors to your site.

Additionally, your site's presence in Google Search results can be monitored, maintained, and troubleshot with Google Search Console, a free service from Google. Google doesn't require you to sign up for Search Console to appear in Search results, but it helps you figure out what Google thinks about your site (including mobile sites) and how to fix it.

Keep an eye on your keyword rankings

It's also essential for mobile search engine optimization to keep an eye on your rankings for targeted keywords. This will let you know where your website is appearing in the SERPs and if any changes need to be made.

TIP: You can use a tool like SEMrush or Ahrefs for more detailed insights into your keyword performance.

Conversions via phone calls and bookings

Finally, it’s also important to measure how many conversions (phone calls or bookings) are resulting from your SEO efforts. This will give you a good indication of how successful your mobile SEO strategy is in terms of generating leads and boosting sales for your tour business.

By monitoring these key metrics, you'll be able to measure the success of your mobile SEO strategy and make any necessary adjustments as needed for maximum impact.

Key Takeaways

From creating a mobile-friendly website to leveraging social media and local SEO, there are numerous effective strategies out there you can use to increase your tour business. It all boils down to ensuring tour operators have a comprehensive understanding of the mobile SEO landscape before they start applying different tactics.

• Optimize your landing page both on desktop and mobile site experience
• Make use of local SEO strategies
• Simplify headings and titles of your web page for a mobile friendly site
• Don't miss internal links
• Regularly measure and track website traffic
• Always start content creation (for example, a blog post) with keyword research (know relevant keywords and their search volume)

Remember that SEO is an ever-changing environment, so it’s important that you stay up to date on algorithms and trends to see the greatest success with your strategy.

Ultimately, if done right, successful optimization for mobile devices can help drive more people to your tour business and will pay off in droves.

If you’re looking for assistance with taking your business from good to great, TicketingHub online booking system is designed for tour operators like you. Don’t wait – get your demo now and see how your tours can optimize, automate, and grow in ticket sales with TicketingHub!