Top Tips for maximising the benefits of .travel

All businesses/organizations need to develop a strong brand and online presence. To achieve this, they need to stand out, be memorable and use “smart” strategies. Having a .travel ending name is one way of achieving this and should be used in conjunction with other online best practices.

Here are some tips which we hope will help you maximise the benefits of .travel.

Choosing and Using your Domain Name

Background

To maximize your Web presence with the right online name, you should try to think like a Web user. People frequently type in generic or descriptive domains expecting to find services related to that subject. A person searching the Web for a particular product/service may bypass a search engine and use direct navigation by typing a URL into a Web browser.

Keep your Name Short and Simple

Your domain name(s) can influence your ranking on search engines. Whatever name you choose, we recommend that you keep it short and simple. Shorter domain names reduce the risk of typing errors and are more easily remembered by users. They also give you more flexibility when it comes to promoting the name.

Do not Dilute Your Name

A .travel ending name enables you to stand out and be recognised as a genuine travel and tourism business. Moreover, search engines also recognize this by assigning a value to .travel, which they do not give to more generic Top Level Domain Names (TLDs) such as .com.  This enhances your ranking in search engines, whilst also enabling you to retain a short, punchy and original name with a core message.  The Egypt Tourism Board, for example, uses “Egypt” as its domain name, followed by .travel.  It is worth noting that Egypt.travel consistently achieves top search engine ranking.

Obtain Variations on Your Company’s Name

You should obtain variations on your company’s name, because Web users often mistype. For example, if your business name ends in an “s,” it makes sense to also register the domain name without the “s.”  This will provide more regular traffic to your site, meaning less advertising cost to promote your products and services.

Register your .travel domain name for several years

One of the criteria used by search engines such as Google to value a domain name is the length of the domain registration. We recommend that you register the main domain name for your website several years in advance to show search engines that you are serious about your site and that you have long term plans for your business.  .travel holders typically register their domain names for 3 or even 5 years.  Make sure that your web site is hosted by a reputable hosting company to maximise your chances of getting good ranking.

Online Best Practice

In addition to using the right name or combination of domain names, you should always ensure that your web page content is optimized for search engines.  If you fail to optimize it, all other ranking factors, including the benefits of having a .travel ending name, will be rendered obsolete.

Choosing the right Keywords

Choose your keywords carefully. Incorrectly targeting phrases can result in traffic that is not interested in your product. Try not to use too many generic words and focus on specific travel or tourism products, services and experiences that your business/organisation specialises in.  For example, if you sell cruises, using “cruises” in your phrases will not necessarily result in additional traffic. You should try to include terms relating to specific types of ships or itineraries that are part of your product offering.

Site Set up/ Structure

The structure of your web site is very important. It must be both easily spidered by the search engines yet appealing to visitors. Since a search engine spider reads your web page from the top left, then reads across and finally moves down, you must ensure that the top of your home page contains the most compelling message and key information about your business.

Web Site Content

Before you start your website/pages optimisation, you must ensure that your website offers relevant and “quality” travel and tourism related content, with a number of web pages. A site with a single web page – and therefore little content – will not be ranked highly by search engines.

Optimization

Now that you have your keyword targets in place, your web site content created and your site structure set up, you can start the optimization of your content.  Since a spider places importance on what it reads highest on the page, it makes sense to begin with a sentence that includes your targeted phrase. However, you must bear in mind that, adding in lots of keywords will not necessarily add weight to your page.  Choose your heading carefully: Use <h1> tag to specify the heading of your content. This tag is given additional weight and is also a key indicator to the search engine of where your actual content begins. Make sure to use your keywords in the heading.

Internal Linking

Make sure that your website gets fully indexed. This means facilitating the path of the spider. You can do this by creating text links, which you can place on the bottom of your homepage to all your main internal pages. You can also create a sitemap to all your internal pages and link to it from your homepage.

Link Building

Key search engines give weight to sites that have a number of quality links pointing to them. We recommend that you identify links in travel and tourism specific directories – specifically offering similar products and services or/and common destinations – and set up reciprocal link building. You should look for websites that your own visitors would probably be interested in.

Monitoring your Traffics Stats

Running a successful online business means monitoring how your website is performing and making the relevant changes/enhancements according to the results. You must monitor the main search engines for your targeted phrases and review your stats on a regular basis to see where your traffic is coming from and what search terms are being used to find you.

If you have any questions about the benefits of using a .travel name or/and how to maximise its benefits, please contact us at rdwangyel@abto.org.bt