The platforms rank for your own name
Type your hotel's name. Booking platforms often appear as ads or high up, with your property as the headline. The traveller who was looking for you clicks through to them, and the night costs you a commission.
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SEO for hotels: more direct bookings, alongside those from the platforms.
A traveller discovers your property on a booking platform, then types your name into Google to see your website. If they can't find it, or the website doesn't make booking easy, they go back to the platform and you pay a commission. I work on your Google Business Profile and your website so that this second search ends with you, and so that travellers also find you without a middleman.
- Rattle your competitors.
- Overtake them.
- Protect you from their attacks.
15 years in SEO
4 books on SEO and GEO
200+ sites tracked every day
1M / month visits to my e-commerce site
They trusted me with their visibility
Darty
Eurofins
Cegid
EBP
CNP Assurances
Ingram MicroThe detail of this page
Seven results for your name, yours last
A traveller has spotted your hotel and types its name to book. Six results appear before your website: platforms, a comparison site, a review site. They all carry your property's name. Your official website is seventh. Put it back in front.
- A booking platform · reservation-1.exempleYour hotel, Cognac: rates and availability
- Another platform · reservation-2.exempleYour hotel (Cognac): book now
- A price comparison site · comparateur-hotels.exempleYour hotel: compare deals
- A traveller review site · avis-voyageurs.exempleYour hotel: reviews and photos
- A tourism directory · annuaire-sejours.exempleYour hotel in Cognac
- A third platform · reservation-3.exempleYour hotel: rooms available tonight
- Youvotre-hotel.exempleYour hotel in Cognac: official website, direct bookingTwelve rooms in the town centre, private parking. Free breakfast with every booking made here.
Your position: 7
Fig. 1. Seven results for a hotel's name. Six take a commission on the night. (The traveller was searching for your hotel by name. The first six links took them elsewhere.)
What this means for you. I start with this search, the one for your own name. The traveller has already chosen you: all that's left is to show them where to book with you.
What is SEO for a hotel or a B&B?
SEO for a hotel or a guest house is the work that makes the property visible on Google, first for its own name, then for searches for stays in its region. It relies on a complete Google Business Profile, a fast website where you can book in a few taps, and pages that describe the rooms, the services and the reasons to come. Its goal is to increase the share of direct bookings, without giving up the platforms that fill part of the calendar.
The problem
What costs a property direct bookings.
“Hotel” followed by a town is out of reach
For that search, the first page belongs to the platforms, price comparison sites and traveller review sites. An independent won't win there with its website alone. It can, however, appear on the map and in more specific searches.
A website where booking isn't simple
A form to send, a calendar that opens badly on a phone, missing prices: the traveller compares in a few seconds with the platform, where everything is done in three screens. They go back there, even if they would rather have booked with you.
An audit, for real
What I see in thirty seconds on a hotel website.
The site below doesn't exist, but its flaws do: they're the five I spot most often. Hover over a number.
https://votre-hotel.exemple
YOUR HOTELThe hotel · Gallery · Rates · Contact
A haven of peace in the heart of town
Charm, comfort and conviviality for an unforgettable stay.
Book on a platformFig. 2. Fictional site, reconstructed. Any resemblance to yours would be a good reason to call me.
- 1A “Welcome” page titleIt contains neither the name nor the town. “Your hotel in Cognac: official website, direct booking” tells the traveller they're in the right place.
- 2No “Book” menu entryThe visitor has to hunt for how to book. A fixed button, visible on every page, leads to the calendar in one tap.
- 3A phrase seen on countless websites“Haven of peace” describes nothing. Write the number of rooms, the neighbourhood, the parking and what's within walking distance.
- 4A photo of a bed taken long agoThe traveller compares it with the recent photos on the platforms. Your images need to show the rooms as they are today.
- 5“Rooms with all comforts”Each room category has its floor area, its bedding and its view. Without these details, nobody knows what they're booking.
What your customers type
What travellers type before booking.
Six plausible searches for a property, quoted as examples. Your real searches, with their seasonality, come out of the research done on your town and your clientele.
- 1The name of your property
- This is the most profitable search, made by someone who has already chosen you. Your website should come up first, with a clear title and a direct link to booking. The Google Business Profile should show your official website.
- 2“hotel with parking” followed by a town
- The traveller is coming by car and has a specific criterion. If your page describes the parking, how to get in and its price, you answer this search. A phrase lost in a list of amenities isn't enough.
- 3“B&B in the vineyards” followed by a region
- They're looking for a setting more than an address. A page that describes the place, what you can see from the rooms and what there is to do nearby matches that wish. The photos must be your own.
- 4“hotel for seminar” followed by a town
- An organiser is preparing a team meeting. They want the room capacity, the equipment, the catering options and the number of bedrooms. A seminar page gives them these details and a direct contact.
- 5“where to stay near” followed by a place to visit
- The stay has a purpose: a site, an event, a cycling route. A page that locates your property in relation to that place, with distances and access, appears in these searches.
- 6“dog-friendly hotel” followed by a town
- It's a criterion that rules out most properties. If you welcome pets, say so on a page, with your conditions. Few competitors bother to write it.
What works
The five levers of a hotel or guest house.
Your name, first
Before targeting new searches, I check what shows up when someone types the property's name. The official website must be the first organic result, with a title that gives the town and invites people to book direct. It's the quickest job, and it reaches travellers who are already convinced.
The property's Google Business Profile
For accommodation, the profile shows photos, amenities, reviews and booking links. I complete each section and check that the link to your official website is there and works. Recent photos of the rooms carry a lot of weight in the choice.
A short booking path
The traveller must see availability and a price in two taps from a phone. I look with you at your booking engine, its speed and what it displays. If there's a perk reserved for those who book direct, it should be written next to the button.
A page for each room and each reason to come
Each type of room deserves its own page, with its floor area, bedding, view and photos. Add pages for the stays you actually host: couples' weekends, business stopovers, families, cyclists, seminars. Each one answers a distinct search.
Reviews and replies
Travellers read reviews before booking, on your Google Business Profile as on the platforms. A short, personal reply to each review shows that someone is looking after the place. I suggest a simple way to invite your guests to leave one after they leave.
What costs dearly
Common mistakes on hotel and guest house websites.
The “Book” button that sends people to a platform
It's common with small properties. The traveller who had landed on your website goes back to the middleman, and the direct booking becomes a commissioned one.
Rooms presented in a single gallery
Twenty mixed-up photos don't tell you which room you're booking. One page per category, with its images and description, answers the question and ranks on Google.
No information to prepare for arrival
Check-in time, parking, getting there from the station, breakfast: these details decide a booking. If they're missing, the traveller reads them on a platform, which always shows them.
A French-only website for a foreign clientele
If some of your guests come from other countries, a few pages properly translated into their language help them book with you. An unreviewed machine translation has the opposite effect.
The method
What I put in place for a hotel or guest house.
Four steps. I start with the travellers who are already looking for you by name.
- The name. I check what comes up for the property's name and put the official website back in front.
- The profile. Photos, amenities, official link, replies to reviews: every section is completed.
- The pages. One page per room and per type of stay, with direct access to booking.
- The split. We track the share of direct bookings and that of the platforms, season after season.
One-minute test
Is SEO right for you?
Five frank questions to find out whether support makes sense in your situation. Sometimes the answer is no, and I'll tell you.
What it brings in
SEO you can count in euros.
A ranking doesn't pay a salary. What counts is what it brings: enquiries, customers, revenue. Move your page up and see what it could bring in.
Example assumptions, open to challenge: 900 searches a month for a stay in your town, 3% of visitors make a request, one request in three is confirmed (this varies a lot from one trade to another), €180 per client. Click-through rates by position are rough orders of magnitude, and they have been shifting since Google started showing AI answers above the results. Rerun the calculation with your own figures
What your page could bring in
Ticket no. 10th · worked example- Searchesper month, for a stay in your town
- 900
- Estimated visitsclick-through rate: 1.5%
- 0
- Potential enquiries3% of visitors
- 0
- Possible customersone enquiry in three
- 0
Possible revenue€0
Close to home
Hotels in Charente.
People come to Charente for cognac and its houses, for the river and its banks, for Angoulême and its festivals, or they stop for a night on the road. These stays differ in length and season. A property that writes for each of these travellers, rather than a single home page, appears in searches that the platforms treat in general terms.
Cognac and the vineyards
Visitors come to discover the cognac houses, the distilleries and the vineyard landscapes. They look for accommodation close to the visits, sometimes in the middle of the vines. A page that locates your property in relation to these places answers their search.
The Charente river
The river draws cyclists, walkers and boaters who travel in stages. They want to know where to store a bike, how far the next stop is and whether they can have dinner on site. These details make a useful page.
Angoulême, its festivals and its business travellers
During the festivals, visitors look for a room in Angoulême and the neighbouring towns. The rest of the year, a business traveller looks for a practical stopover. Two separate pages speak to these two audiences.
Beyond Google
What AI changes for a hotel.
Travellers increasingly plan their stay by asking a full question to an AI like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude or Mistral. For example: “I'm looking for a quiet B&B near Cognac for two nights in May, with somewhere to park two bikes, what do you recommend?”. The AI replies with two or three properties, with a sentence for each. The traveller looks at these names and rarely beyond.
To choose, the AI reads your website, your Google Business Profile, the reviews and the area's tourism websites. It picks up the written details: the bike store, the view, breakfast time, the distance to the centre. A website that settles for “rooms with all comforts” gives it nothing to cite. I write your pages with these details, and I check that the same information appears on your profile and with the local tourism bodies.
Question asked to an AII'm looking for a quiet B&B near Cognac for two nights in May, with shelter for two bikes. What do you recommend?
Answer
Three places to stay match this request:
- Our client— guest house: four rooms in the middle of the vines, locked bike store, breakfast included, booking available on its official website.
- — chain hotel on the outskirts, parking, close to the main road.
- — whole-property rental offered on a platform, three-night minimum stay.
Property websiteGoogle Business ProfileLocal tourism website
Fig. 3. Reconstruction, names hidden. This is the spot we aim for: on the list, with the most precise description.
Three typical cases
Three accommodation situations.
These three examples are imaginary. They illustrate an order of priorities and don't describe any real property. Your plan will follow the analysis of your bookings.
A four-room guest house
Almost all its bookings go through a platform, and its website has no calendar.
- Install a simple booking engine on the website.
- Complete the Google Business Profile and add the official link to it.
- Write one page per room and one page on the surrounding area.
An independent town-centre hotel
It's well rated, but its website only appears after the platforms for its own name.
- Rewrite the home page title with the name, the town and direct booking.
- Show the perk reserved for direct guests next to the button.
- Create a parking and access page, and a business stopover page.
A hotel with a restaurant and a meeting room
It wants to fill weekdays with seminars, and its website only talks about weekends.
- Create a seminar page, with capacity, equipment and packages.
- Give the restaurant its own Google Business Profile and its own page.
- Add a direct contact for group enquiries.
In practice
What you get.
- An official website that comes up first for the property's name
- A complete Google Business Profile, with the direct booking link
- One page per room category and per type of stay
- A booking path checked on a phone
- Tracking of the share of direct bookings over the seasons
Pricing
How much does an SEO consultant cost?
The fee depends on four things. I give you a precise amount after a free first thirty-minute conversation.
- The size of the site: ten pages or ten thousand
- The competition on your queries
- What you can do in-house, and what needs producing for you
- The pace you want
Fancy a game?
Insert a coin.
Quote platforms, directories, comparison sites: they swim between you and your customers. Take the coin and slide it into the machine.
Slide it into the machine
JAWS OF THE WEB
INSERT COINSLIDE THE COIN INTO THE SLOT
Credit: 0
Fig. 4. Sixteen seconds. No sharks were harmed, only their commission.
Together, let's devour your competitors.
One by one, and in order. Every spot gained makes the next one easier to take: that's why it keeps growing. See the method
Who you're talking to
Your SEO consultant: a business owner, not just an SEO.
My name is Kévin Papot. More than fifteen years in the job, four co-written books, and the Newp agency, co-founded in Charente. I also run my own online shops, in France and internationally: one of them went from zero to a million visits a month.
Before we talk tags, we talk margin, average basket and profitability. When you book a call, I'm the one who picks up.
FAQ
SEO and hotels: your questions.
Should I leave the booking platforms?
No. They introduce you to travellers who would never have found you. The aim is to rebalance: those who already know you should book with you. We measure this share over the seasons, and you adjust your presence on each channel.
Can I offer a lower price on my website than on the platforms?
That depends on the contracts you've signed with them and on the applicable law, which I don't rule on. Reread your terms. In any case, you can offer a direct-booking perk that isn't a price: a breakfast, an early check-in, a room upgrade.
A platform is advertising on my hotel's name. What can I do?
Start by checking what your contract says on this point. Then make sure your website is the first organic result and that the Google Business Profile points to it. An ad on your own name is worth discussing; I show you the cost beforehand.
I only have three rooms. Is this work worthwhile at my scale?
For a small property, every night booked direct counts for more. The work is also shorter: a Google Business Profile, a website of a few pages, a calendar. We're not after volume; we're after the travellers looking for exactly what you offer.
Do I need a booking engine on the website?
Yes, if you want direct bookings. A traveller used to the platforms won't wait for an email reply. There are tools suited to small businesses. I help you check that it loads fast and reads well on a phone.
How do I get more reviews on the Google Business Profile?
By asking at the right moment, happy guests, with a direct link. A word at check-out or a message the next day is enough. Nothing is offered in return. And you reply to every review, including the less good ones.
Should my restaurant have its own profile?
If it welcomes customers who aren't staying at the hotel and has its own name and opening hours, it's usually possible and useful. It then appears in restaurant searches, which are separate from accommodation searches. I check the conditions with you.
When should I start to prepare for the high season?
Several months before. Travellers book early, and Google needs time to take new pages into account. Work started in the autumn serves the following spring. I don't promise rankings; I show you how searches and bookings evolve.
Do you have experience of selling online?
Yes. I run my own online shops, and I know from the inside what makes a visitor complete an order or give up. A booking path follows the same principles: few steps, a clear price, a page that loads fast.
Should I translate the website?
If a real share of your guests come from abroad, yes, for the pages used to book: home, rooms, access, booking. A translation reviewed by a native speaker is worth more than ten machine-translated pages.
See also
Other industries
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Support services
SEO consultant in Charente
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