SEO is Changing: Why Motels, Hotels & Accommodation Providers Must Adapt to the New AI-Powered Search Era
The way people find accommodation online is changing fast. With AI tools like ChatGPT, Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE), and voice-based search assistants growing in popularity, traditional SEO methods are no longer enough. If you're running a holiday park, motel, hotel, or anything in-between it’s time to rethink your online strategy.
Here’s what’s changing—and what you need to do to stay visible, relevant, and bookable.
Keywords Are Dead. Content is King (Again).
Once upon a time, getting found online meant stuffing your page with keywords like “cheap motel in Rotorua” or “accommodation near Queenstown.” That world is gone.
Today’s AI-driven search engines don’t just look for exact keywords—they’re looking for context, credibility, and content that truly answers user intent. In other words, AI is reading your website like a human would.
Example:
If someone types or asks, “What’s the best motel for families near Hanmer Springs with a kitchenette and mountain views?” — AI tools won’t just list the page with the most keywords. They’ll rank content that clearly describes family-friendly features, views, and amenities in a trustworthy tone.
Enter: EEAT – The New Rules of Trust
Google (and AI tools built on web content) are now following something called EEAT:
- Experience
- Expertise
- Authoritativeness
- Trustworthiness
If your property's website has thin content, no real story, and looks like it hasn’t been updated in years, you’re sending a signal that you’re not credible.
The content is considered thin or weak - it’s like arriving at a motel and only finding a one-sentence brochure with no photos, no pricing, no location info, and no answers to your questions — you’d probably leave, right? Google does the same.
But by adding real, useful information, you’re not only improving SEO… you’re also helping travellers feel confident enough to book.
Instead, here’s what helps build EEAT:
- Real photos of your rooms and facilities (not just stock photos)
- Clear information about the owners or operators
- Google reviews and guest testimonials
- Blog posts or updates about local events or your area
- Descriptions that sound like you know and love your region
Note: Something you may not know is that we also build websites. Many of our customers have Seekom-built, self managed websites with full control, backed by our expert setup and support. If you’re interested in finding out more, please get in touch.
AI Is Changing the Booking Funnel
AI tools are becoming the "concierge before the booking". People are no longer jumping straight to booking engines. They’re asking tools like ChatGPT or Google’s AI:
- “Where’s a quiet place to stay near the Bay of Islands in July?”
- “Which motels near Fox Glacier have late check-out?”
- “What are the best pet-friendly stays near Taupō?”
These tools scrape the web and summarise results. If your website doesn’t clearly provide useful, human-sounding answers, you’ll be invisible—even if you’re on a third-party booking site (e.g. booking.com, expedia.com etc).
At Seekom, we’ve started to see real traffic and leads coming from AI tools like ChatGPT and other generative engines. Travellers are no longer just Googling — they’re asking questions directly to AI and acting on those answers.
Example:
User:
What’s a good family-friendly holiday park near Rotorua with a playground and thermal pools?
ChatGPT:
For a family-friendly stay in Rotorua, consider Cosy Cottage Thermal Holiday Park. It offers family-friendly cabins and campgrounds, a children’s playground, swimming pool and thermal hot pools. The property also features on-site BBQ facilities.
- Suitable for families
- On site thermal attractions
Visit Cosy Cottage Thermal Holiday Park (A link to the website Cosy Cottage Booking Screen)
Why was this holiday park recommended?
Because their website clearly mentions:
- Family-friendly units, campgrounds and facilities
- Geothermal hot pools
- Guest-focused content
AI Is Not the Future — It's Now
If you’re not already showing up in AI results, your competitors are. The new digital front desk is not just Google—it’s ChatGPT, voice assistants, and AI-generated summaries that travellers trust more and more.
How Seekom Is Helping Properties Get GEO-Ready
At Seekom, we’ve been preparing for this shift to AI-powered search and Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) for some time. Our in-house SEO and GEO specialists understand how AI tools interpret and recommend content — and we’re already helping motels, hotels, and holiday parks across the globe adapt to this new reality. Whether it’s auditing your website content, updating your listings, or rewriting your property descriptions to better serve AI and voice search, we have the tools, data, and experience to future-proof your online presence. From content strategy to implementation, we make sure your property gets found — not just on Google, but across the new generation of AI-driven platforms.
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Accommodation marketing spring clean checklist
Spring is nature's reminder that everything works in cycles. You wouldn’t let dust settle in your guest rooms, so make sure your accommodation’s promotions, communications and rates are up to date and spick and span.
A thorough marketing spring clean can boost guest bookings at your property and set you up for success throughout the season. That’s why we’ve created a checklist to help you brush away the digital cobwebs, polish your guest communications, and fine-tune every touchpoint to prepare them to convert browsers into bookers.
Time to roll up your sleeves and get your accommodation marketing strategy humming – here’s how!
Consider using Seekom’s promo codes feature to create targeted discounts over limited periods to draw guests out of hibernation. Use different codes for last-minute deals or limited time special offers so you can track which marketing approaches are working best.
Review all your guest SMS messages (texts) and email templates in Seekom to ensure they accurately represent your services, match your brand design and speak in your authentic voice. Spring’s also a great time to make sure that contact details, Wi-Fi passwords, local-attraction information and check-in procedures are all current and correct at your place.
Review any online booking screens you have set up on your website via Seekom to ensure all room descriptions are accurate, attractive and consistent in style. Check that amenity lists are complete and unique selling points are highlighted, especially if you’ve recently done some renovations. Finally, make sure photos showcase your property in the best possible light – literally. Dimly lit or outdated images could cost you bookings.
Audit your list of optional extras like breakfast, luxury upgrades, equipment hire, tours and early check-in or late check-out. Seekom’s online booking screens let you make these available for guests to book before they arrive, so make sure they have exciting descriptions and interesting images to make them more attractive.
Guests increasingly value the opportunity to contribute positively to destinations they visit, so consider facilitating ‘give back’ opportunities. This is easy using Seekom’s online booking screens – charity contributions can be set up as an optional extra for guests when they book a room online on your website. Read about our Trees That Count partnership for inspiration, or consider adding other environmental or charity options you and your guests care about.
Get onboard with our integrated payment solution and save time and money while providing guests with a seamless payment experience. Join scores of Seekom clients who are enjoying the peace of mind of full PCI compliance and safe credit card storage, plus the convenience of next-day depositing of payments.
Make your room rate structure sparkle by updating legacy seasonal rates, expired promotions or anything that doesn’t support your current profit strategy.
Maximise revenue and automatically adjust room rates based on demand by adding dynamic pricing to your Seekom plan. Check your minimum and maximum rates make sense, any planned seasonal adjustments are programmed in, and special event periods are captured – make your system work smarter, not harder.
Review your channel manager set up and online travel agency presence to make sure your property appears on channels that connect with your target demographic. Remember to explore Seekom's Premium OTA features that can give you competitive advantages over other properties in your area, by offering more than 70 extra OTA options including listing options on global distribution systems (GDS) used by travel agents and corporate travel bookers.
Streamline your accounting system by making sure Seekom and Xero are on the same page – save time, eliminate double-handling and reduce administration overheads.
Want to spring clean your website so it shines at converting lookers into bookers? Seekom offers comprehensive website design, SEO and support services to take care of all that head-scratchy techy stuff so you don’t have to.
Note: Something you may not know is that we also build websites. Many of our customers have Seekom-built, self managed websites with full control, backed by our expert setup and support. If you’re interested in finding out more, please get in touch.
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What is organic website traffic and why is it the holy grail for accommodation businesses?
Organic traffic to your website is considered the gold dust of digital interactions. While the term might sound fancy, it refers to a visit to your website or app by somebody who has searched and found it by using a search engine like Google or Bing.
When it comes to accommodation businesses, people who visit your website in this way are actively seeking a place to stay, making them likely to book your accommodation if they like what they see.
After a deep dive into data for the websites we managed for accommodation businesses in 2024, we found that just over half of the visits came from organic traffic. That’s well above the travel and hospitality industry average of 31% – a result we’re proud of. Organic traffic doesn’t involve paid advertising, but it does require an investment in effort to
ensure your website’s online presence is powerful enough to pull in the traffic you’re angling for.
In this month’s article, we explain why organic traffic matters and how to boost the number of people finding your website via organic search.
What makes organic website traffic so important to the success of your business?
Our data reveals that organic traffic not only makes up the lion’s share of visits to the websites we manage, but the people arriving in this way are 23% more likely than other visitors to view photos, check room availability, make a booking or submit an enquiry.
These are the visitors you really want because they are more likely than others – including those arriving at your site by clicking a link from another website or arriving via paid advertising – to interact deeply and to make a booking to stay at your accommodation.
Out of the 290,838 total number of visits to the websites we managed in the year to November 2024, the number of new users was 224,620 – a whopping 77%. Organic traffic brought in a significant portion of these new users, helping to make potential guests aware of accommodation offerings and creating opportunities for them to book.
According to the 2024 Organic Search Traffic Benchmarks Report, organic traffic makes up 31% of website activity in the travel and hospitality sector, while organic traffic for websites Seekom manages sits at a significantly higher 50.4%.
This is a result we are thrilled with – by funnelling unpaid, high-intent traffic to client websites, we can be sure we are delivering real value to their businesses.
How do you generate more organic traffic to an accommodation website?
Our approach to improving website search results focuses on key areas that help businesses show up more often when people search online. If you manage an accommodation website, there’s no reason why you can’t use the same techniques to your advantage.
Creating great content
We write helpful, interesting content that relates to what people are searching for. This means when someone looks for information about travel, accommodation, or services, the content is easy to find and appears in the right place.
Making your website easy to use
We design websites that are simple to navigate, work well on phones and tablets, and help search engines understand how everything connects. Think of it like creating clear road signs that guide both customers and search engines smoothly through your website.
Taking care of the technical stuff
We make sure websites load quickly, have clean and professional behind-the-scenes coding, and are set up in a way that search engines like Google or Bing can easily read and understand. Slow load speeds, messy code or poor website architecture can result in a website appearing lower down in the search results – often outside of the first page – which makes finding it more difficult. There are some important online tools you can use to achieve this including schema markup, Google Business Profile and similar platforms.
What is schema markup and how can it help you?
Imagine giving search engines a cheat sheet about your business. Schema markup is like that – it helps search engines show interesting and relevant information about your property when people search online. Instead of just seeing a boring website link, potential guests can see your business name, photos, ratings, or special offers in their search results, making people more likely to click on your listing. We’ve previously written about the value of schema markup in our blog – have a read if you want to harness it for your website.
Spreading the word online about your accommodation
We use several online tools to help people find your business more easily including, Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Webmaster Tools and IndexNow. These platforms help us share your website and information across the internet, making sure you show up prominently in search results, including local ones.
The goal: Maximising your position on search engine results pages
When someone types "affordable motels near me" into Google or Bing, the page of results they see is a search engine results page (SERP). The higher your business appears on this page, the more likely people are to notice you and have a closer look at your accommodation offerings. It’s like having a well-presented shop in a prime location on the main road of a city – everyone’s going to notice you.
By focusing on the actions mentioned above for the websites we manage for accommodation providers, we help them show up more often in search results, thereby nurturing organic growth to attract more potential customers, and boost their business through online bookings.
Need help?
If you’re thinking that doing all this yourself sounds a bit too technical, why not let us handle the heavy lifting? Our team offers tailored strategies that combine content, structural, and technical expertise to drive organic traffic to your website and lift online engagement.
A growing number of accommodation businesses around the world trust us to take care of their websites with fully-managed search-engine-optimisation plans. Find out how you can too by contacting us today. We’d love to help.
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Why EEAT Standards Matter to Your Motel, Hotel, or Campground
A Simple Guide
Running a motel, hotel, or campground in today’s world means you’re not just managing your property—you’re also navigating the online landscape. With so many travellers relying on Google to find their next stay, how your business shows up in search results can have a big impact. That's where Google’s EEAT standards come into play. These standards help make sure your website doesn’t just get seen but is also trusted by potential guests.
In this post, we’ll break down what EEAT means and why it matters to your business. We’ll also show you how using these standards can help you create content that connects with your customers and ultimately drives more bookings.
What are EEAT Standards?
EEAT stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. These are the key factors Google considers when deciding how to rank websites. In simple terms, the better your website content meets these standards, the higher it could appear in search results.
Let’s break it down:
1. Experience
Does your content demonstrate that you have firsthand experience in the subject you’re talking about? For motels, hotels, or campgrounds, this could mean showcasing your personal knowledge of hospitality, guest care, or location-specific advice.
2. Expertise
Are you a knowledgeable authority in your field? For example, if you run a campground, content that reflects your deep understanding of the local area, camping tips, or eco-friendly practices can show your expertise.
3. Authoritativeness
Do others see you as a reliable source? Reviews, testimonials, partnerships with trusted travel websites, and mentions from well-known sources can establish your authority.
4. Trustworthiness
Can customers trust the information you’re providing? Honest reviews, clear policies, secure transactions, and up-to-date contact information build trust with your audience and with Google.
Why EEAT is Important for Your Business?
So, why should motels, hotels, and campgrounds care about EEAT standards? Simply put, it helps you get noticed online. By adhering to these guidelines, your website is more likely to rank higher on Google, which means more potential guests will see your business when they search for accommodation.
Key Benefits:
1. Better Search Engine Rankings
The higher your website ranks in search results, the more traffic it can receive. EEAT content helps Google recognise your website as a credible source, boosting its visibility.
2. Increased Bookings
When potential guests find you quickly and trust your website, they are more likely to make a booking. Trustworthiness and expertise in your content encourage them to choose your property.
3. Stronger Brand Reputation
Content that reflects experience and expertise builds a positive image for your motel, hotel, or campground. It positions your business as knowledgeable and reliable, which can lead to more word-of-mouth referrals and returning customers.
4. Customer Trust
In the short term rental industry, trust is everything. Guests need to know they are booking with a reliable business. By focusing on transparency and authority in your content, you make it easier for customers to trust you before they even step through the door.
How to Use EEAT to Build Great Content
Creating content that follows EEAT principles is not as complicated as it sounds.
Here are a few practical steps:
1. Share Your Experience
Write blog posts, guides, or videos sharing personal experiences that relate to your property. For example, talk about the best local attractions or how your team goes the extra mile to ensure guest comfort.
2. Showcase Your Expertise
Provide tips or advice that shows you know your field. If you run a campground, write about the best camping gear, local wildlife, or safety tips. If you manage a hotel, highlight your experience with managing guest services, cleanliness, or luxury amenities.
3. Gain Authoritative Links and Reviews
Encourage guests to leave positive reviews on trusted sites like TripAdvisor or Google Reviews. Partner with local tourism boards or collaborate with travel bloggers to get mentions and backlinks to your website.
4. Be Transparent and Honest
Clearly list your prices, policies, and contact details. Make it easy for visitors to find everything they need and feel secure when booking with you.
Conclusion
Incorporating EEAT standards into your online content may seem like an extra step, but it’s a powerful way to boost your business. Whether you’re running a small motel, a bustling hotel, or a serene campground, aligning your website with Google’s EEAT principles can bring long-term benefits—more bookings, better reputation, and increased visibility.
So, take some time to ensure your online content reflects your experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness. In the digital age, this small investment in your content can pay off in a big way!
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Unlock the Power of Ecommerce Reporting in GA4 with Seekom
At Seekom, we’re always striving to make managing your accommodations easier and more efficient. One of the latest enhancements we’ve integrated into your setup is the Ecommerce report feature in Google Analytics 4 (GA4). If your website is part of our managed service, you’ll want to pay attention—this new feature can provide valuable insights into your booking performance.
What Is the Ecommerce Report in GA4?
The Ecommerce report in GA4 is a powerful tool that allows you to see how many bookings were made directly from your website and their total dollar value. It tracks all online transactions, so you can monitor your performance at a glance. You’ll get real-time data on your revenue, the number of transactions, and even which accommodations are performing the best.
This report helps you understand your business’s sales trends, allowing you to make informed decisions that could boost your bookings and revenue. Think of it as a bird’s-eye view of your website’s sales activity, all in one convenient place.
This link will help you understand important metrics.
Why Is This Important for Your Accommodation?
With this data at your fingertips, you can:
- Track Performance: See how many bookings are made and their total value.
- Identify Trends: Understand which accommodations are most popular and when.
- Optimise Your Website: Use insights to tweak your marketing strategies and boost bookings.
By keeping an eye on these metrics, you can make smart, data-driven decisions that enhance your business's overall performance.
Introducing the Google Analytics App
To make things even more accessible, Google has launched a new mobile app for Google Analytics. This app gives you real-time access to your data, no matter where you are. It’s perfect for checking in on your business performance while on the go. Whether you want a quick overview or detailed insights, the app lets you stay on top of things with just a few taps.
How to Get Started with the App
For our fully managed website's customers, we’ve already integrated the Ecommerce report, and now we’re excited to offer you access to the real-time Google Analytics app. All you need to do is download the app and provide us with your email address. We’ll add your email to your GA4 account, and voila! You’ll be able to see your live data directly on your phone.
Here’s what to do:
Download the Google Analytics app from the App Store or Google Play Store.
Send us your email address so we can give you access or talk to Support.
Once added, you’ll be able to log in and start tracking your bookings and revenue in real time.
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4/234 Wakefield Street, Te Aro, Wellington 6011
Phone (NZ) : +64 4 974 9588
Phone (UK) : +44 20 3835 5939
Support: support@seekom.com
Websites: webhelp@seekom.com
Connect With Us
Copyright 2025 © Seekom Limited (NZ owned)