Hotel SEO has become an essential tool for accommodations to generate bookings. In fact, over 65% of hotel reservations now come from online bookings. If you’re not optimizing your hotel website for search engines, you’re missing out on a huge chunk of potential bookings.
So, how do you make sure your website shows up for your ideal guests? It all starts with keywords.
Keywords are the backbone of any SEO campaign. They’re the queries you want your hotel to appear for in search engine results. These include the obvious ones, like “Best Hotels in [Destination]” and “Where to Stay in [Destination],” but those are just the tip of the iceberg.
Through effective hotel content marketing campaigns, you can broaden your online marketing funnel to include a wide range of keywords that target audiences throughout their travel planning process.
From the early research phase to the moment they’re ready to book, this guide will explore how to identify hotel keywords for each stage of the funnel and provide a few of the most common ones to help get you started.
What is Keyword Research and Why is it Important for Hotels?
When starting out in content marketing, many hoteliers assume it’s enough to simply write a blog post and publish it on their website. Well, it’s not.
If you’re lucky, you might rank for a few keywords—but it’s nothing compared to a strategy powered by keyword research.
Keyword research gives you insight into the exact words and phrases your potential guests are typing into search engines. And once you’ve identified those terms, you can optimize your content to target them directly—allowing you to reach the widest audience for the lowest investment.
But it’s not just about driving traffic.
The right keywords help search engines understand what your website is about. They also help you build topical authority as a premier accommodation in your destination, making it more likely that your site will rank higher for related searches over time.
Whether you run a boutique inn, a resort, or an independent hotel, choosing the right keywords is crucial to your hotels seo strategy. It’s the first step to cementing your online presence and connecting your property with the right audience—people who are actively searching for a place like yours.
How to Conduct Keyword Research for Your Hotel
Now that we have established why you need to conduct keyword research, let’s take a look at a few ways you can begin generating a list of SEO keywords for hotels you should target.
1. Think Like Your Guests
Start by putting yourself in the shoes of your ideal guests.
Ask yourself what your target audiences are searching for and why.
This is where search intent comes into play. Every keyword has a purpose behind it: Are they looking for inspiration? Comparing hotel options? Ready to book? Your content needs to match that intent.
When your content aligns with user intent, you’re far more likely to attract qualified traffic and boost conversions. But when it’s misaligned—like targeting booking-related keywords with a general travel guide—it can actually hurt your SEO performance.
To make sure you’re thinking in the right direction, consider your accommodation type. A family-friendly resort, for example, attracts different search terms than a boutique hotel catering to couples or business travellers.
So ask yourself: What would my guests be searching for at each stage of their journey?
By thinking like your guests, you’ll uncover relevant keywords that go beyond the basics and help guide your entire content strategy.
2. Start Broad
When beginning your keyword research, it helps to start with broad, high-level terms related to your hotel and location—phrases like “hotels in [City]” or “places to stay in [Destination].”
These broad keywords tend to have high search volume but also very high competition, which can make it difficult for smaller or independent hotels to rank—especially in major cities or popular tourist destinations.
That’s why these broad terms are just a starting point.
A smart keyword strategy begins with broad ideas and gradually builds out into more specific, lower-competition phrases. These could include things like “boutique hotels near [Landmark]” or “family-friendly resorts in [Neighbourhood],” which better target your niche and offer a higher chance of ranking well.
By starting broad and narrowing your focus over time, you’ll build a keyword list that captures both visibility and relevance—positioning your hotel to reach guests no matter where they are in their search journey.
3. Expand Your List
Once you’ve identified your broad keywords, it’s time to dig deeper and build a more robust list. This means targeting a mix of branded and non-branded keywords that reflect both commercial and informational intent.
Let’s start with branded keywords. These are search terms that mention your hotel name directly, like “[Hotel Name] reviews” or “[Hotel Name] location.” They’re important for capturing users who are already familiar with your brand and ready to book.
Non-branded keywords, on the other hand, help attract new visitors who may not know your hotel yet but are actively searching for accommodations in your area. These can include commercial intent keywords, like “pet-friendly hotels in [City],” and informational intent keywords, like “Top Attractions in [City].”
By creating landing pages around commercial keywords and blog posts around informational keywords, you can improve your site’s visibility and drive highly relevant, targeted traffic to your website.
The more comprehensive and relevant your keyword list, the more opportunities you’ll have to appear in front of potential guests—at every stage of their travel planning process.
4. Research Competitors and SERPs
Another smart way to grow your keyword list is by analyzing what’s already working for your competitors. This is known as a content gap analysis.
Start by searching some of the broad and niche keywords you’ve already identified. Then, take note of which hotel websites are currently ranking on the first page. These are your competitors.
With that list in hand, plug each one into an SEO tool that offers content gap features, such as SEMrush or Ahrefs. These audits will show you which keywords your competitors rank for that you don’t, giving you a clear roadmap for competing in your market.
As you add new keywords to your list, be mindful of who you’re up against in search rankings. Focus on keywords where your competitors have a Domain Authority (DA) similar to your own. You can use tools like Moz’s DA checker to compare your site against theirs.
Start by targeting the lower-competition, easier-to-rank keywords first. You can always build your domain authority over time by earning backlinks—making it possible to compete for more competitive keywords down the road.
What to Look for in Hotel Keyword Analysis: Key Factors to Consider
If you’ve been following the steps above, you should now have a comprehensive list of keywords relevant to your hotel and destination. But not all keywords are created equal.
Before you start building pages or writing content, it’s important to analyze your list and prioritize the terms that will have the greatest impact on your SEO strategy.
Here are a few key factors to help you evaluate which SEO keywords are worth targeting:
1. Search Intent
The first thing you need to look for is search intent. We’ve touched on it briefly already, but it’s arguably the most important aspect of keyword targeting.
Search intent is all about understanding why someone is searching for a particular term.
Are they in the early stages of planning a trip? Actively comparing accommodations? Ready to book? Each stage of the travel journey comes with different search behaviours. The better your content aligns with that intent and incorporates the appropriate target keyword, the more likely it is to perform well in search results.
Search engines prioritize content that directly matches what users are looking for, so targeting the wrong type of intent—like offering a booking page when someone’s just seeking information—can hurt your visibility.
To keep your keyword strategy intent-driven, group keywords based on the buyer’s journey:
- Informational intent: “Things to do in [City]”
- Commercial intent: “Pet-friendly hotels in [City]”
- Transactional intent: “Book [Hotel Name]”
Finally, keep in mind that even when a keyword matches the right intent, it still might not be worth targeting if it’s too competitive and your site lacks the authority to rank. But we’ll cover keyword difficulty in just a bit.
2. Search Volume
Once you’ve confirmed the intent behind a keyword, the next factor to consider is search volume—the number of times a keyword is searched each month.
Search volume helps you understand how popular a keyword is and how much potential traffic it could bring to your site. Naturally, keywords with higher search volumes tend to offer more visibility. But they often come with more competition.
That said, don’t be tempted to chase high-volume keywords blindly.
A lower-volume keyword with strong intent and low competition can often drive more qualified traffic than a broader, high-volume term that’s too competitive or vague.
Ultimately, understanding the search volume helps you prioritize which target keywords are worth focusing on now and which ones might be better to keep in your back pocket for future content as your site authority grows.
3. Keyword Difficulty
Next up is keyword difficulty—a metric that tells you how hard it will be to rank for a particular keyword based on the current competition.
Most SEO tools assign a keyword difficulty score, which helps you gauge whether your site has a realistic chance of ranking for that term. The higher the score, the more competitive the keyword.
As a general rule, new or lower-authority hotel websites should focus on keywords with lower difficulty scores. These “low-hanging fruit” keywords might not bring massive traffic individually, but they’re often easier to rank for and can drive steady, qualified traffic over time.
As your site grows and gains authority, you can begin targeting more competitive keywords to expand your reach even further.
4. Relevance
Another key factor in keyword analysis is relevance—how closely a keyword aligns with your hotel’s offerings, location, and target audience.
Take a keyword like “hotels in [City] with a pool.” It might show strong intent, high search volume, and low competition, but if your property doesn’t actually have a pool, there’s no reason you should be trying to rank for it.
In fact, the worst-case scenario is that someone books your hotel expecting a specific feature, finds out it doesn’t exist, and leaves a negative review. Your property’s reputation should always come before the desire to rank for any keyword.
Two common types of keywords that demand a high level of relevancy are amenity-based and location-specific keywords. Phrases like “hotels near [Landmark]” or “[City] hotels with kitchenettes” are highly effective for attracting the right guests, but only if they accurately reflect your property.
Beyond location and amenities, your content should also match the type of experience you’re offering, whether that’s luxury, family-friendly, pet-friendly, or budget-friendly.
Creating content that aligns with the keywords you target ensures visitors land on pages that meet their expectations. This, in turn, leads to higher engagement, more positive experiences, and, ultimately, more bookings.
5. Branded Keywords
Branded keywords are search terms that include your hotel’s name—like “[Hotel Name] reviews” or “[Hotel Name] location.”
These searches typically come from users who are already familiar with your property and are close to making a booking decision. They’re often easier to rank for, but they’re also easy to overlook—and many hotel marketers make that mistake.
Don’t fall into that trap.
If you’re not actively monitoring and optimizing for your branded keywords, you run the risk of being outranked by third-party booking sites—or worse, competitors. And that could mean losing a reservation right at the bottom of the funnel, when the guest is ready to book.
While branded keywords won’t necessarily bring in new visitors, they’re crucial for capturing high-intent traffic and converting it into bookings.
Every hotel’s keyword strategy should include a healthy mix of branded and non-branded terms. Branded keywords reinforce your credibility and visibility, while non-branded keywords help expand your reach to travellers who haven’t heard of you… yet.
6. Long-Tail Keywords
If you’re just starting a new hotel content marketing campaign, the best keywords to target are often long-tail keywords.
These are longer, more specific search phrases—typically three or more words—that usually come with less competition than broader, high-volume searches.
Examples include terms like “family-friendly hotel near [Attraction]” or “pet-friendly boutique hotel in [Neighbourhood].” These keywords may not generate massive search traffic, but when relevance and intent are aligned, they often lead to highly qualified leads and more bookings.
That’s because long-tail terms reflect clear, specific search intent. Travellers using these phrases usually know exactly what they’re looking for, which makes them far more likely to convert once they land on your site.
They also offer a big bonus: lower competition. While fewer people may be searching for a phrase like “eco-friendly hotels near [Hiking Trail],” the ones who are will be easier to reach—and far more likely to book.
Common Keyword Categories for Hotels
It’s not realistic for every hotel to rank well for broad keywords like “best hotel in [Location].” That’s why it’s important to broaden your content marketing strategy to include keyword-rich pages and blog posts that focus on your hotel’s unique features and offer travel advice relevant to your destination.
When it comes to hotel SEO, most keywords fall into one of four main categories:
Location-Based Keywords
(e.g. city, neighbourhood, region)
These are the bread and butter of hotel SEO. Travellers almost always include some form of location in their searches, whether it’s “hotels in downtown [City]” or “places to stay near [Landmark].”
Location keywords are essential for helping search engines—and potential guests—understand where your hotel is based. They’re also valuable for showing up in map results, local packs, and destination-based travel content.
Amenities-Based Keywords
(e.g. pool, restaurant, spa)
Many guests filter their accommodation choices based on specific features. Think of searches like “hotels in [City] with a rooftop bar” or “pet-friendly hotels with free parking.”
By optimizing pages and blog posts for these types of amenity-driven keywords, you can attract travellers who are actively searching for hotels that offer exactly what you do.
Travel Experience-Based Keywords
(e.g. romantic getaway, family vacation, solo travel)
These keywords reflect the type of trip a guest is planning—like “romantic getaways in [Destination],” “solo travel tips for [City],” or “girls’ weekend ideas.”
They help you attract specific traveller segments by aligning your content with the experiences they’re searching for—whether it’s adventure, relaxation, or family-friendly fun—and then promoting your property as the perfect base for their trip.
Seasonal and Event-Based Keywords
(e.g. holidays, local events, festivals, school breaks)
Timing plays a huge role in travel. Many travellers search with events or seasons in mind—like “hotels near [Festival Name],” “Christmas getaways in [City],” or “places to stay for [Sporting Event].”
Creating seasonal landing pages or blog posts tied to major local events or travel windows can help you capture traffic from guests planning timely trips and experiences.
50 Top Hotel Keywords to Get You Started
By now, we’ve covered how to conduct keyword research and how to build a content strategy that aligns with your market. But if you’re still feeling stuck or need inspiration to get started, here are 50 commonly searched hotel-related keywords—organized by category—to help kickstart your content marketing efforts.
Best SEO Keyword Research Tools for Hotels
You don’t need dozens of tools to do effective keyword research—just the right ones. Here are a few trusted options to help you get started:
- Google Keyword Planner – Free and reliable for identifying search volume and new keyword ideas.
- SEMrush – Great for content gap analysis, keyword difficulty, and tracking competitor rankings.
- Moz Keyword Explorer – User-friendly with solid keyword suggestions, SERP analysis, and prioritization tools.
- KeySearch – A budget-friendly tool with robust features, ideal for small businesses and independent hotels doing their own SEO.
No matter which tool you choose, the process remains the same: find relevant, intent-driven keywords that align with your hotel’s offerings—and build content around them strategically.
Final Tips for Hotel Keyword Research
Mastering hotel SEO isn’t about chasing every keyword—it’s about targeting the right ones with a focused, strategic approach. Here are a few final tips to help you get the most from your keyword research:
- Focus on long-tail keywords with lower competition and higher conversion potential—especially effective for independent hotels.
- Use tools like Google Keyword Planner and Google Search Console to discover opportunities and track performance.
- Test high-value keywords through paid campaigns before committing to long-form content.
- Keep your on-page SEO sharp, from meta tags to headings, and align each page with a specific keyword and user intent.
- Measure your Domain Rating to gauge competitiveness and choose keywords that match your authority level.
- Update your content regularly to stay relevant and improve rankings over time.
- Include strong calls-to-action on landing pages to guide visitors toward booking.
- Be patient—SEO results take time, often 2–3 months, to gain traction, but the long-term value is worth the wait.
No matter your hotel type, the process is the same: research, optimize, and create valuable content that meets your guests where they are in their search journey.
Attract the Right Bookings With Kurt’sCopy
It’s one thing to build a list of keywords. It’s another to know which ones are the best fit for your hotel—let alone actually rank for them.
At Kurt’sCopy, we help hotels of all sizes stand out in search results, attract the right audience, and convert clicks into bookings.
Tap into proven strategies that deliver a steady stream of hotel guests. Contact us today for a free consultation.
Kurt Norris is the founder of Kurt’sCopy, where he helps B2B, e-commerce, SaaS, and local businesses craft compelling content and SEO strategies that deliver measurable results. With over six years of experience, Kurt specializes in creating data-driven campaigns that drive traffic, increase conversions, and establish brand authority.
