organic traffic
Tour operator SEO that grew direct bookings away from marketplaces
Marketplace commissions on almost every booking made tour operator SEO the priority for this business. Rebuilding the site for international search, writing destination guides travellers actually wanted and simplifying direct booking lifted organic traffic 112% and direct bookings 46%.
Illustrative example. Client details are anonymised and representative of the work we do.
- Industry
- Travel
- Services
- International SEO Services + more
- Platforms
- WordPress
- Duration
- 9 months
Where they started
Almost every booking came through third-party marketplaces that took a large commission.
The approachWhat we changed
We rebuilt the site for international search, created destination guides travellers actually wanted, and made booking direct simpler.
What other businesses can take from this
Tour operators often start on marketplaces because that is where travellers browse, and the commission feels like a fair price for demand. Over time it becomes the only channel. The operator's own site is usually built for one country, with thin destination pages, so it never ranks against marketplaces and large travel publishers in the markets that matter.
Depth is how an operator competes with marketplaces. Destination guides that answer real travel questions earn rankings that a marketplace listing cannot. Setting the site up properly for international search helped it reach six new markets, and a simpler booking path meant that traffic converted direct instead of drifting back to a marketplace.
This suits operators with a distinctive product and the patience for a programme that runs several months.
What moved
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