Hospitality SEO
More direct bookings.
Less commission to OTAs.
Every booking that comes through Booking.com or Expedia costs you 15–25% in commission. Every booking that comes through your own website costs nothing. SEO is the most effective long-term channel for building the direct booking traffic that makes that difference.
Why it matters
OTAs will always be there. Direct search is yours to own.
Booking.com, Expedia, and TripAdvisor have invested heavily in SEO and will rank for generic accommodation searches. But guests also search by specific destination, occasion, and experience — "dog-friendly hotel New Forest", "wedding venue Hampshire barn", "countryside hotel near Winchester" — where an individual property with the right content can rank above aggregator listings.
The properties that win these searches have invested in content that reflects the specific appeal of their location: things to do nearby, seasonal packages, venue-specific FAQs, and rich Google Business Profile listings that accurately represent the experience on offer.
Combined with structured data that earns star ratings and hotel features in search results, and a fast, mobile-optimised booking experience, organic search can become a reliable, commission-free direct booking channel within 6–12 months of consistent focus.
Common problems
What holds hospitality websites back in search.
A single homepage trying to rank for "hotel Hampshire", "wedding venue Hampshire", and "conference venue Hampshire" simultaneously ranks for none of them well. Dedicated landing pages for each occasion type — weddings, events, leisure breaks, business stays — with unique content and keyword focus are significantly more effective.
GBP is the single most important local SEO asset for hospitality businesses. Properties without complete profiles — missing attributes like parking, accessibility, check-in times, amenities, and regular photo updates — lose map pack prominence to nearby competitors who have invested in their listing.
"New Year's Eve breaks Hampshire", "autumn walking breaks New Forest", "Christmas party venue Winchester" — seasonal and occasion-specific searches spike predictably throughout the year. Properties without content targeting these searches miss the peak booking windows when guests are actively planning.
Schema markup for accommodation — star rating, check-in/out times, amenities, price range — supports rich results in Google search and Google Hotels. Without it, a property's listing looks identical to competitors when appearing in search, regardless of the quality of the property itself.
Hospitality websites are image-heavy by nature — and often painfully slow on mobile as a result. Core Web Vitals, particularly LCP (Largest Contentful Paint), are a direct ranking factor. Poor mobile performance disadvantages the property in search at exactly the moment most guests are making booking decisions on their phones.
What I look at
What the Visibility Review covers for hospitality businesses.
- GBP audit — profile completeness, category accuracy, attribute coverage, photo volume, and Q&A setup
- Landing page structure — occasion, room type, and package pages: what exists, what is missing, and what is targeting the wrong keywords
- Structured data check — LodgingBusiness, Hotel, or Restaurant schema and review markup
- Seasonal content review — peak booking period searches and whether the site is visible for them ahead of time
- Core Web Vitals — LCP, CLS, and INP on key landing pages, with specific attention to image delivery
- Competitor gap analysis — what nearby properties rank for that you are currently missing
Hospitality SEO audit
Every direct booking is a commission-free booking.
A Peacock Search Visibility Review identifies what is limiting your direct search presence and sets out the steps to build organic traffic that works for your property year-round — without paying a percentage to OTAs.
Book an SEO Review How the review works