Is SEO the Secret to Creating Viral Travel Content?

A traveler on their phone waiting for a train.
Makayla Keely in a gondola on a canal
by Makayla Keely
Content Manager

Social media can often feel like a race without a finish line. One month you’re resonating with your audience, and the next your performance dips. In a landscape dominated by hashtags, mentions and TikTok dance trends, what’s the secret to going viral and remaining relevant in the travel and hospitality space? 

Read on to discover how our team harnesses the power of SEO to convert profile visitors into travelers. 

What is Social Media SEO?

Until recently, social media SEO primarily focused on optimizing content for enhanced visibility on specific platforms. However, with the rapid advancements in AI and the evolving search experience on Google, the boundaries between social media and search engines are blurring. Travel and hospitality marketers now have the opportunity to appear on Google’s search engine results pages through Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Reddit and more. 

Don’t Follow Trends, Set Them

Before hopping on another viral movement, consider looking at Google Trends. This tool is free to use and provides insight into what people are actively searching for. Travel and hospitality marketers can compare follower demographics against regional search data to anticipate content interest and influence social media engagement.  

In a 90-day study conducted by the hospitality division at Miles Partnership, a resort’s Facebook reach increased by 260% by incorporating relevant Google Trend terms into captions. 

Consider this approach in action: A resort in South Padre Island, Texas, with views of the Boca Chica SpaceX location, could leverage interest around the term “space launch.” Understanding that one of their main goals is to increase mid-week bookings and that their target audience lives within driving distance, they could create a post promoting an existing resident rate.

First, they could use Google Trends to help them identify trending topics and associated search terms, allowing them to optimize their keyword selection.

Google Trends data on how trending the search term "space launch" is.
Google Trends data on how trending the search term "space launch texas" is.

Their resulting post might look something like this:

An Instagram photo of a space ship. The caption includes the trending "space launch" search query.

A data-driven approach to predicting future trends can help hospitality and travel marketers stay ahead of the curve, driving improvement in SEO.

Focus on #Keywords 

It can be tempting to use every hashtag you can think of in your posts, but that’s not the best strategy. Just as less luggage allows for more possibilities when traveling, fewer hashtags can enhance your destination's visibility. Instagram, one of the most important platforms for using hashtags, recommends adding 3-5 per post to attract the most attention. Hashtags can spotlight specific topics, trends or themes, often aligning with the search terms used in your website strategy.

Hoteliers and destinations can tap into Instagram's search feature to uncover trending hashtags that resonate with their target SEO terms. In the study conducted by our hospitality team, optimizing hashtags resulted in 6% of a resort’s total reach over 90 days.  

Consider this approach in action: Using the Texas resort example, the trending #TexasTravel (184K posts) captures a broad audience, while specific tags like #TexasBeachResort and #SpaceX engage niche interests. This strategic layering of hashtags could maximize the post's visibility to general travelers and space enthusiasts.

A list of trending hashtags related to Texas travel

You can use the "Tags" tab on Instagram to explore the popularity of specific keywords and hashtags. That way, you can feel confident that you’re getting the maximum exposure for the tags you select.

Optimize Visual Content

Alt text (alternative text) makes your content more accessible to visually impaired users and enhances your SEO efforts by providing context for search engines. It’s a win-win all around. Crafting descriptive alt text that incorporates relevant keywords and reflects the essence of your destination or post can improve your visibility in searches and engage users who may not be able to view the image directly. 

In a study completed by the hospitality division at Miles Partnership, a resort experienced a 102% increase in engagement on Instagram and a 150% increase on Facebook over 90 days by incorporating keywords into alt text and captions. 

Consider this approach in action: While it's tempting to write a detailed description, keeping alt text simple and accurate better serves both accessibility and search purposes. Using the Texas resort as an example, we could update the alt text to “SpaceX rocket ascending through blue skies.”   

Key Takeaways

Research shows that 75% of travelers look to social media to gain inspiration for their next trip. Implementing SEO tactics into your social media strategy provides an effective, measurable path to creating content that goes viral and inspires users to choose your destination over the competition.

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