Vacation Rental SEO Masterclass

Vacation rental SEO is hard. There's so many ways to do it.

It's a topic I find myself always wanting to learn more about.

I get SEO. I've done it for years. I've gotten results. But, I always ask myself the same question:

"Is there a better way to do this?"

I believe there are fundamental truths to SEO.

Core ideas and tasks that everyone should do to outrank competitors in the area.

A couple weeks ago, I sent an email to BuildUp Bookings Founder, Conrad O'Connell to workshop that belief.

He agreed to hop on a 30 minute interview and our conversation made me rethink how I view vacation rental SEO.

You can watch my interview with Conrad at the bottom of this article.

Here's what we talked about:

• Is SEO for everyone?

• How to build an SEO moat and own a geographical region.

• What we must do that OTA's don't.

• The #1 thing all rental operators must pair with SEO.

Let's dive into this vacation rental SEO masterclass.

Is SEO For Everyone?

There are geographical limitations with SEO.

If you're in a rural area with low tourism, SEO might not be worth the investment.

If you're in a crowded market like the Smokey Mountains or Joshua Tree, SEO might be too large of an investment.

Ideally, if you're in:

1. A growing market.

2. With some level of tourism.

3. And a moderate amount of competition.

You're in the sweet spot and SEO is worth your time and money.

How to Build an SEO Moat & Own a Geographical Region

An SEO moat is created by working backwards from niche to broad topics.

Niche pages are local guides and blogs. For example, "boat landings on Lake Superior."

Broad pages are property types and listing pages. For example, "cabins on Lake Superior."

OTA's are not creating local guides. They optimize for listings, not general tourism.

This gives you:

• A chance to rank for a topic Airbnb won't.

• Visibility in a space where people are planning trips.

• An easy sell to guests who need lodging.

Bonus: Not many brands create content for niche topics in a specific area. This means....

ring ring

One sec. I have to take this.

....

Sorry, opportunity called.

The #1 Thing All Rental Operators Must Pair With SEO

If you're investing in SEO, leave some room in the budget for Google search ads.

You won't see results tomorrow from SEO. At minimum, results could take 3 months.

Google search ads put you at #1 right away.

Here are some other benefits to consider:

• If guests see your brand enough, then they will begin to recognize it and search for you directly. This is free traffic.

• Ads provide valuable data like: where guests live, their age and what they searched to find you.

• Google ads start working within a week.

I run Google ads while I put in the SEO work all the time. Yes, it's more expensive but worth it in the end.

My Masterclass Notes

This 30 minute conversation made me rethink how I view vacation rental SEO. If I could only take three things from this interview, they would be:

1. See what others are doing and use your findings as a foundation to an SEO strategy.

2. Build back to front. Niche to broad.

3. Pair SEO with something like ads for a quicker time-to-result.

If you want free traffic from Google, watch my interview with Conrad O'Connell here.

I hope you enjoy.

That's all for today. I'll see you in the next article.

Watch My Interview with Conrad O’Connell

Before you go

I’m currently building an all-in-one marketing agency focused on:

👉️ Direct bookings

👉️ Ads

👉️ Social media

and creating an endless pipeline of guests.

Want to join the waitlist? CLICK HERE. I plan to launch November 2024.