In the latest episode of Back of House Banter, GuestRevu’s Amy Branford chats with Mark Durber from Clockwork Marketing to demystify SEO for hotels. If search engine optimisation feels more like smoke and mirrors than ever, this conversation brings it back to basics: understand your guests, make your website work, and be consistent.
Myths vs reality
Myth: SEO is scary and expensive.
Reality: It’s often the highest-ROI channel for direct bookings. You can start small and scale.
Myth: It takes forever to work.
Reality: Google crawls and updates faster than before. Solid changes can move the needle quickly.
Myth: You must choose between looks and performance.
Reality: You need both – beautiful and technically sound wins.
Start with the guest journey
Google’s own model (Dreaming → Planning → Booking → Experiencing → Sharing) is still as applicable as it was in the 2010s. The smartest SEO supports each stage.
Inspire dreaming with content about your area and experiences. Help with planning (itineraries, what to do, when to visit). Make booking obvious and effortless. After the stay, encourage reviews so future guests can discover you in their own searches.
“You're the expert of your area, you're like the local guide,” says Mark. “It's just consistency in providing seasonal ideas, seasonal content, regularly responding to reviews, just staying in touch. And then, once you get into that flow, it's just going to do really great things in terms of your marketing.”
Reviews now shape visibility
Reviews are powerful trust signals for both travellers and Google. With AI overviews now surfacing summaries across sources, a healthy volume of recent, positive reviews can tip you into travellers’ shortlists – whether they are creating them themselves or getting AI assistants to do it for them.
“Reviews are really interesting and I think they're playing a bigger part in a more effective SEO strategy – now more than ever, really, with the onset of AI,” says Mark. “You'll notice that there's a lot of AI overviews now in Google. You'll search, and it's not just providing you a list of results, it's now combining loads of different sources, and it's summarising it and citing those sources, and reviews play a part of that.”
You should also display reviews on your own website to keep visitors from bouncing back to review sites, and respond to reviews to show active management (and quietly help your SEO).
Use the data you already have
Hotels are rich in first-party data. Your property management system (PMS), customer relationship management tool (CRM), website analytics and guest surveys all give you valuable insights into who your guests are and how they behave.
Mine this data to understand who actually stays, what languages they speak, how long they stay and what they value. Then, plan content, advertising and offers accordingly. If you need help, specialists can analyse patterns and trends for you, but the insight starts with data you already own.
Get the SEO fundamentals right
“It's really, it's about getting the fundamental essentials in place,” Mark asserts. “The things that you really need to get grounded and in place are those elements that surround your website first; your online presence, what Google can see.”
Here’s what that means in practice:
- Fast, mobile-friendly pages
- Relevant, intent-matched keywords
- Human-sounding, unique content
- Sensible headings and clean structure
- Clear meta titles and descriptions
- A site Google can crawl easily
Think of your website as your direct booking ecosystem — a fast, functional, well-structured foundation for all your marketing activity.
Play your own game
Keep an eye on competitors, but don’t copy them. Lean into what makes you different and partner with local businesses to highlight experiences on your doorstep. A strong community story can set you apart far more effectively than trying to mirror what others are doing.
The golden rule: consistency
SEO isn’t a one-off push. Keep publishing helpful content, keep gathering and responding to reviews, and keep your site fast and tidy. Small, regular actions compound over time
“It's like shaking up a Coke bottle,” Mark explains. “It gets fizzy all of a sudden and you're all excited and it's great! And then you just leave it, but then it just goes flat. That's what happens with SEO. If you just do it and then you leave it, it's going to go flat.”
