SEO for tour operators: how to get your tours found on Google

Why does SEO matter for a tour operator?

For a tour or activity company, it decides who gets the booking. A traveller who searches "boat trip Hvar" or "food tour Lisbon" picks from what Google shows first. A booking made through your own listing or site carries no online travel agency commission. Our post on direct bookings vs OTA commission works through that sum. Google's local ranking page says results rest on relevance, distance and prominence, and prominence draws on how many websites link to you and how many reviews you have. The steps below work on all three, starting with what you control today.

How do you do SEO for a tour company?

1. 1. Complete your Google Business Profile

   Pick the category closest to what you run, write a description that names your main tours and the town, and add hours, photos and your booking link. Google says complete and detailed information helps it match a profile to searches. The glossary explains the Google Business Profile in more depth.¹

2. 2. Show the address where guests meet you, if it is staffed

   If guests check in at your kiosk on the harbour, that is your address. Google's guidelines allow an address only where the business is staffed during its hours. If you only pick guests up from their hotels, set a service area instead and hide the address.²

3. 3. Give each tour its own page

   One page for the sunset sail, one for the cave kayak trip, each at a plain address such as /tours/sunset-sail/. Google's starter guide says words in the URL can show as breadcrumbs and help people judge a result. Name the place and the activity in each page's title, the way travellers search for it.³

4. 4. Answer the questions guests ask before they book

   Put the length of the tour, the meeting point with a map, the price, what is included, what to bring, the minimum age and the cancellation terms on each tour's page. Google's helpful content questions ask whether a page gives a substantial, complete description of its topic.⁴

5. 5. Write your own descriptions

   Many operators paste the same text onto their site and every reseller. Google asks whether content that draws on other sources adds substantial value of its own. Say what only you can: the cove your skipper stops at, the family recipe the cooking class makes, the guide who grew up on the island.⁴

6. 6. Get your tours into Things to do

   Google recommends that an individual operator, or a reservation system with fewer than 100 operators, joins Things to do through one of its connectivity partners, so ask your booking system whether it is one. Our post on Reserve with Google covers the rest.⁵

7. 7. Name and describe your photos

   Save photos with names like sunset-sail-hvar.jpg and give each one alt text that says what it shows, such as "guests swimming off the boat at Pakleni islands". Google uses alt text and the page around an image to understand it, and alt text helps people using screen readers.⁶

8. 8. Ask every group for a review

   Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help a local ranking. Ask at the end of each tour, when guests are happiest, and send a short link afterwards; our guide to getting more Google reviews has the wording.¹

9. 9. Earn links from the places that send you guests

   Hotels, hostels, the tourist office and local bloggers already recommend tours. Ask them to link to the right tour page. Our post on local SEO backlinks lists where to ask.¹

10. 10. Skip pages made only for search

    Near-identical town pages that funnel visitors to one booking page are doorway abuse under Google's spam policies; our guide to local landing pages shows how to make area pages that are worth having.⁷

11. 11. Check where you rank, then wait a few weeks

    Run your main searches through the free local rank checker before you start. Google's starter guide says changes can take a few hours to several months to show and suggests waiting a few weeks before judging them.³

Checklist

• Profile category, description, hours, photos and booking link
• Staffed meeting point as address, or a service area
• One page per tour at a plain address
• Length, meeting point, price, inclusions and cancellation terms on each page
• Descriptions written for your own site
• Booking system connected to Things to do
• Photos named and given alt text
• Review asked for after every tour
• Links asked for from hotels and the tourist office
• No copied town pages
• Rankings checked before and after

Written by Joseph Jang, Co-founder, PlacePilot