SEO Best Practices

Below are some general best practices when it comes to SEO. While some of these examples are more specific to FareHarbor sites they can be applied to any tourism or activity related website.

For a more advanced keyword research tips resource click here.

Optimized URLs

Here are some general guidelines for optimized URL:

• No trailing .html, .css, etc.
• No stop words (and, or, the)

• The more nesting and page levels deep it is, the harder it is for Google to find
• If you have an all activities page, then sort by location, and then by activity try removing the single activity from underneath the all activities page

Pulling Key Words for Optimized Titles and Headings

If you need to see what keywords a domain or page is currently ranking for you can follow these steps in SEMRush to pull the report.

1. Log in to SEMRush using the company account
2. Once you are logged in, enter in the domain or page you are pulling organic keywords for.
3. Click Search
4. Navigate to the “Organic Research” item on the left hand menu
5. Navigate to the Positions tab. This tab will list all keywords that the domain and its subpages are currently ranking for.

Choosing Keywords per page

Homepage: Select 4 keywords, one for the branding and name of the company then 3 additional keywords. These 3 additional keywords should be evaluated with the company’s overall activities in mind. They generally can be more broad but must include the [activity+location].

Segmentation Pages: Select 1 keyword that can be used here. Make sure that the keyword chosen represents the segmentation that is occurring. Also more broad but should be specific to the segmentation you are targeting.

Activity Pages: Select 1 Keyword for each activity. These should be specific to the activity that the page represents and should include the specific location the activity is in. (not all activities are in the same place or they are in a much more specific location than the overall company, review the activity page if you are unsure what location or activity to use when selecting your keyword.)

Optimized Title Tags

Optimized title tags should be approximately 55 – 60 characters in length, this ensures the entire title will show on the search engine results page (SERP). When optimizing title tags use location keywords in addition to keywords that were pulled from the SEMRush report. The title tag should always end with the company name. Here are some examples:

• Oahu Food Tours | Company Name
• Food Tours in Oahu | Company Name

Optimized Headings

For Optimized Headings try using keywords that you did not use in the title tag. This way we attract users searching for multiple terms. Example: “Food Tours in Oahu” as well as the users searching “Oahu Food Tours”.

Here is an example of the variations between an optimized heading an title tags

Optimized Meta Descriptions

Write the meta description for each page. These are the descriptions that show up in search results.

How to create effective Meta Descriptions:

• Make them unique to each page (you can use a sentence or two from the page as a starting point). Example: ‘experience’ shouldn’t be used to start every meta description.

• Make them clear and enticing.

• The ideal length is 155 – 160 characters (remember it gets cut off after 160)!

• Include a CTA (Book now! Reserve today. Learn more. Book today before it sells out!).

• Include keywords!

Tips:

• Consider if the current information matches up to the selected keyword if not the information should be changed to include the keyword phrase.

• Review the page if you need to familiarize yourself with new activities (this will become easier the more you do it).