EN 
ES 
Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) control approximately two-thirds of all online bookings, with Expedia and Booking.com having a 28% and 19% share in the market retrospectively.
These sites command a large reach and boast high engagement levels.
According to data from SimilarWeb, booking.com secures over 408 million monthly visits with 43% of these being unique. A user on booking.com will roughly spend around seven and a half minutes on the website, visiting around seven to eight pages per session.
Travelers these days compare various properties on travel sites before making a booking. So with time and growing competition, OTA rankings have become more important than ever. OTAs always see to it that their users have a great experience on their sites.
The key is understanding how you can optimize and leverage those quick visits and make your listings highly visible and in great demand.
In order to rank highly on hotels, regardless of keywords, listings need to display their star rating.
Every OTA has its own algorithm and you’ll need an SEO plan for each site. The keywords used must be of the right language to where the property is found.
These sites command a large reach and boast high engagement levels.
Refresh your content
OTAs require a constant content update of the listings and improve their standards once in a while. Therefore, if a specific OTA added new criteria for their listing, you might be at risk of being outdated if you do not go with the flow and follow the trend.
Ensure that keywords are used throughout
Keywords are essentially important for SEO boosting and identity building.
Believe it or not – if guests enjoy dealing with a specific host, they might look for properties under their umbrella for their next vacation! Property managers can leverage this need of bonding with the guests through creating unique descriptions for their listings. Keywords unique to the host will surely reflect the image of the expected service at the property, if booked.
Also, make sure to use the correct terminology and language for the country in which your property is listed in. In other words, give a chance to your potential guests to feel more connected to your listing.
Solicit positive reviews
Asking for reviews shows your guests that you care; guests need to feel they are the product, not the property. Their satisfaction should matter a lot. Positive reviews are easily fetched using a dual strategy of “during and after”. That means, property managers should ask their guests for reviews, but then express an after-care for the guests, or a will to improve what was not the best in their experience.
Use high-quality pictures
High quality photos are the key factor in creating a high-ranking listing.
All OTAs promote the importance of having a specific number of high-quality photos. That is because the number of clicks your listing gets after appearing on an OTA’s search results page influences the ranking in their algorithm.
Think about having a stunning main photo as the biggest click magnet.
Remember to include photos of every room and facility, as listing something without photographic evidence can raise questions or suspicions, and surely decrease the chance of being wanted.
Use accurate descriptions
In addition to the basic description of the interior of your property, going the extra mile has a great significance as well.
Therefore, make sure to list down the amenities and services provided by the community or building. Also, mention what the guest should expect to find in the neighborhood they’re choosing for their vacation; that includes main landmarks in the area, as well as transportation.
It is also important to mention the house rules, in a view to allow the guest to make a conscious decision when choosing the property, and thus avoid any unwanted surprises once checked in.
Make your listing title stand out
The title of your listing is the first-ever seen written content for your property. Make sure to mention your selling points in your title, whether it is a facility or a nearby famous landmark, or simply an exceptional service in your unit.
Also, avoid wasting the space in the title on information already filtered out by the guest during their search, i.e., number of bedrooms, or the city they’re searching into.
Airbnb, and Booking.com agree that a main driver of their algorithms is the appeal of your listing, and this is measured in 2 main ways:
Your click-through rate (CTR), expressed as a percentage; this is the number of times people actually click on your property listing compared to the number of times it is returned in searches.
Your conversion rate, which is the percentage of people that actually decide to book your accommodation compared to the number of people who click through to your listing without taking any action.
Ranking on search engines is a pretty inexpensive way to market your business. So, various industries apply SEO to boost visibility.
Search Engine Optimization isn’t just helpful for getting customers to book a trip, but you can also help a guest at every step by providing research on destinations, travel rates, reviews, and much more!
