An Expedia survey found that nearly 75% of travelers use search engines to plan their trips. Another 2026 survey found that 74% use AI.
Bottom line: you need travel SEO as part of your destination marketing strategy.
As a leading SEO marketing agency based in Philadelphia, Forge Apollo has helped boutique, regional, and international travel brands alike drive more bookings. Today, we’re sharing the bases your travel SEO strategy should cover.
Do You Still Need SEO in the Age of AI?
Yes, you absolutely do, for a few reasons.
- People are using AI and search engines. One recent study found a 95% overlap between ChatGPT and Google use.
- Organic search is still one of the biggest traffic referrers, at just over 25% of all traffic as of September 2026 (AI search is less than 1%).
- SEO and GEO (or AEO) have a lot of overlap in methodology. You really can’t do one without doing the other.
Big picture: people are always going to be searching. An SEO strategy helps your brand stay in front of them on search engines and AI platforms.
What Your Travel SEO Strategy Should Include
Website Optimization
Your website provides the base of your SEO strategy. There are two types of SEO for travel websites to keep in mind here.
- On-Page: elements like headings, internal links, alt text, and readability.
- Site-Wide: elements like structure, navigation, loading speeds, and user-friendliness.
We always recommend starting with an optimized website to drive visibility and direct bookings.
We created an optimized website as part of Oceana by the Sea’s hotel launch, and within four months of launching, organic traffic was their leading traffic source.
“Our direct website bookings are now outperforming the OTAs, which is a huge win for our business and exactly what we were hoping to achieve,” they said in a review of Forge Apollo’s services.
Local Listing Optimization
To be visible, search and AI engines need to understand who you are, where you are, and what you have to offer. Travelers need a convenient way to understand this, as well.
The most effective way to establish this authoritative information is to create optimized local listing profiles on platforms such as Google Maps and TripAdvisor and keep your information consistent across them. When these details match, it tells every type of engine that that information is reliable.
One 2025 report showed that 20% of consumers search for brands directly in maps apps, like Google Maps or Apple Maps. Another study found that when users make a local search, like “hotel in Philadelphia,” 42% of them click on a map pack result. You don’t want to miss out on that visibility.
A Detailed Review Generation Strategy
Reviews signal credibility for travelers, search engines, and AI engines. Put a strategy in place to request reviews after a stay across multiple platforms.
Ask guests to write detailed reviews about the experiences, location, and services they enjoyed.
Search and AI engines don’t want to just believe what you tell them. They want third parties to confirm that it’s true. Seeing reviews mentioning specific details helps them confirm that those offerings are accurate, so they’re more likely to associate them with your brand.
Blogging
Organic traffic to blogs is declining, as we’ve seen across multiple clients and the industry as a whole. However, blogs are still instrumental for online visibility.
Our clients with blogs have 14x higher visibility in AI engines than those without. The majority of their visibility in Google’s generative AI features comes from blog pages. And declining traffic isn’t the same as none. Many of our clients still see significant blog traffic.
So, why blog?
Blogging helps your brand build authority in your local market and among your specific target audiences. Topics can include local activity guides or trip-planning advice.
In a three-month period, the blog posts we wrote for the regional New Jersey hotel brand ICONA Resorts received 156,000 impressions from Google Generative AI features alone and 543,000 from traditional search.
Bonus: PR
Remember when I said that search and AI engines trust what third parties say about you more than what you say about you? That’s where PR comes in. While not a requirement for a solid SEO strategy, PR can definitely help. Mentions of your name and links back to your website provide another sense of credibility.
Get More Revenue from Your Travel Marketing Strategy with SEO
If you don’t include SEO in your tourism marketing strategy, you’re leaving revenue on the table. Covering the bases we discussed here today is the best place to start.
If you need more help, Forge Apollo has worked with boutique, regional, and international travel brands. We can tailor our travel SEO services for your audience to drive more direct bookings. Reach out today to explore our pricing.
