Different Types of Travel Keywords and Modifiers Explained

Intro

In recent years, travel keywords for SEO have become an increasingly important aspect of a successful blog or business. Knowing what keywords to focus on and how to incorporate them into your SEO strategy is no easy feat.

Identifying the different types of travel keywords and modifiers for your niche is the first step to success. But how does one do this? It's time to discover what keywords and modifiers are and how to create a powerful keyword strategy.

With this newfound knowledge, get ready to see your travel business soar to new heights.

What are travel SEO keywords?

While you can easily let our travel SEO company do all the hard work, knowing what keywords are is an essential tool. Keywords are phrases, queries, and words that people search for. Identifying topics from these keywords is an essential skill for any successful SEO strategy.

There are two notable types of keywords, broad or short-tail and long-tail.

Short-tail keywords are generally broad topics covering popular terms that are hard to rank for. Examples of this in the travel industry might be "Spain travel" or "Spain hotels."

Long-tail keywords are specific topics within a broader field. For instance, "cities in Spain" would be a long-tail keyword for the more general topic "Spain. Another example of a long-tail keyword might be “Best luxury Spain hotels” for “Spain hotels."

Why it's crucial to find top-of-the-funnel keywords for your niche

Identifying top-funnel keywords or short-tail topics is extremely important as they help guide your business.

Let's say you have a travel site that is focused explicitly on tours in Spain. First, you'll want to start by identifying your top-of-the-funnel keywords, such as popular cities in Spain, which would be Barcelona, Madrid, etc.

You can then use these short-tail keywords as pillar pages from which your long-tail topics branch off. For instance, under the broader topic of "Barcelona," you may have "things to do in Barcelona" and "hotels in Barcelona."

How a powerful keyword funnel strategy can improve your site

Identifying your top funnel keywords will help create a web-like structure for your website. This structure helps Google understand your site and makes navigation easy for your visitors.

What are modifiers?

Modifiers usually form a part of a long-tail keyword. In short, these are words added to core keywords to make them more specific or answer a particular question. Finding modifiers isn't too hard either, as your target audience hands them over to you on a silver platter, quite literally.

The most popular search terms often have strong modifiers that target a specific query, making ranking higher in the SERPs easier.

Why are modifiers essential for ranking?

There are many reasons you should focus on modifiers. One such reason is that a geo modifier (location specific) can help you identify specific information and topics about a particular area. Another great reason is that modifiers show you what your audience wants to know.

Simply put, modifiers and long-tail keywords can improve your SEO significantly.

The different types of keywords for a travel blogger to consider

Now that you know the fundamentals of modifiers and keywords for a travel blog, it's time to identify the different types of keywords. Understanding the search intent for your niche and what to target should be one of the first things on everyone's SEO checklist.

Navigational intent

These are usually keywords that users inquire about with the intention of visiting a particular site. Regarding travel, these keywords are best targeted by tour websites.

For example, if someone searches the term "tours in Madrid," a Spain-based website that offers tours has the best chance of ranking for this keyword type. Another example could be from a WWII-focused travel agency, targeting keywords such as Band of Brothers Tours for its tours of Normandy.

Informational intent

Information keyword types usually answer a question and primarily serve to bring traffic to the site. These answer questions like "What to do in Spain?" or "How to get from Madrid to Spain."

Although these are primarily informational blog posts, they also serve as powerful opportunities to link to money-making pages on your site.

Commercial intent

This keyword type is one of the easiest ways to tempt visitors to purchase. Although these keyword types are strongly linked to transactional intent — due to purchase potential — these visitors are usually looking to educate themselves or browse deals.

An example keyword for this type of content would be "Best boat cruises in Barcelona." The content you offer can be informative and include money-making opportunities.

Transactional intent

Transactional keywords target users with the intention of making a purchase. As you can see, this is strongly linked to commercial keywords, as the content or topics can often overlap.

For your Spanish tour website, having targeted keyword topics such as "Skip-the-line La Sagrada Familia tickets" is one of the best ways to increase revenue potential.

How to identify the best keywords for travel

There are many steps you need to take in order to find the top keywords related to travel for your specific niche. To simplify things a little, here's a step-by-step guide on identifying powerful keywords for your site.

Step #1: Identify your niche with a travel keywords list

First and foremost, knowing your niche is a must. It makes no sense to have a site on traveling Spain, but the content is about exploring the USA.

Each travel niche will have a list of broad topics one can cover. If you're looking for a ready-made list of the top searched terms for travel, you can find them here. You can use these topics as a starting point to find high-traffic, easy-ranking keywords.

Step #2: Identify popular long-tail keywords and modifiers

The next step is all about identifying popular long-tail keywords and modifiers that can help you target your keyword list. As you know, modifiers can help us identify keywords with high traffic and easier ranking potential.

One of the easiest ways to find popular keywords is by utilizing Google. It's a free tool, after all. Simply search your target keyword, and scroll to the "People also ask" section.

This is a treasure trove of related keywords, which you can then do further analysis on using the keyword finder tool.

This can be easily done using the keyword finder tool. The example below shows how the target keyword "Hotels in Spain" has recurring modifiers such as Barcelona, Madrid, Malaga, and Valencia.

Using the modifiers to your benefit, you can go a step further and search terms such as "Hotels in Barcelona" and find easier keywords to rank for.

Tip: To help you identify keywords that are easy to rank for, view the KD column. This stands for Keyword Difficulty.

Step #3: Finalize your travel-related keywords list

As you use the keyword finder tool to find your keywords, don't forget to add them to your list. The best way to do this is by exporting the list of identified keywords and starting to prioritize them in a sheet.

Here is a basic example of how you can prioritize your keywords based on their difficulty and traffic potential.

Step #4: Start writing your keyword-rich content and watch the magic unfold

Once you've identified your topic keywords, it's simply about writing keyword-rich content. When doing this part of the process, ensure the content is still reader-friendly, as you want your audience to have the best possible experience.

Remember, you won't see immediate results after posting your keyword-rich content. You'll need to give it a few months before you start seeing the magic happen, so it's important you trust the process.

Techniques to find new keywords for travel and tourism

Knowing the keyword types is one thing, but finding them is an entirely different process. Here are a few ways to find the top-performing keywords for your niche.

Topic mine

One of the most popular ways to find easy-ranking keywords is by performing a topic mine. These are best done if you have a broad topic, such as "Spain travel," from which you can find long-tail keywords.

The topic mine then allows you to identify easy-to-rank, high-traffic keywords that can easily help your site grow.

Competitor mine

A competitor mine allows you to find high-traffic keywords that your competitors are ranking for. One of the first steps you'll want to do is identify your top competitors, which can be done using the SERP checker or by performing a simple site search.

This process allows you to find all the untapped keywords that competitors are ranking for. The best topics to cover should correlate with your site's domain ranking, which you can discover using the rank tracker tool.

Tips on how to include your keywords

Identifying the different types of keywords and modifiers for your niche is one thing, but knowing how to use them is another. This is where so many website owners fall short.

So here's a quick guide on how to add your keyword for the best possible results.

Title

As a rule of thumb, it's always best to include the target keyword within the title of your post. For example, if you identified "Hotels in Barcelona, Spain" as your target keyword, this should be in the title.

Here are a few things to remember when creating your title:

• Ensure the title is no more than 580 px long, or 50 to 60 characters.
• Try and include the target keyword as close to the start of the title as possible.
• Make sure it's enticing. After all, it's a human clicking on the page, not a robot.
• Lastly, include modifiers in the title wherever possible. You have 580 px space, so try to match what readers are looking for.
• Avoid using keywords multiple times in your title, as this can be viewed as “keyword stuffing”.

A good heading example is "Best Hotels in Barcelona, Spain | 10 Options for Every Budget", especially if the recurring modifiers are best and budget.

Meta Description

Much like the page title, it's always a good idea to include the target keyword in the meta description. As this pops up as a snippet of your content within the SERPs, creating an enticing meta description can increase your traffic significantly.

Keep the following in mind when creating a meta description:

• Try to include the target keyword within the first sentence of your meta description.
• Keep it above 400 px and below 920 px in length, or 50 to 160 characters. Anything below 400 px won't be added, and anything beyond 920 px will be cut off.
• Engaging meta descriptions are always best. Also, try to add modifiers wherever possible.

A good meta description example is something like, "Are you looking for the best hotels in Barcelona, Spain? Get ready to discover 10 perfect lodgings that suit every budget."

URL

Another essential part of any successful web page is an SEO-friendly URL. While it's enticing to just make your URL identical to the title, this won't contribute positively to the site.

Consider the following when making your URL:

• Keep the URL as just the target keyword. This way, it tells the reader what to expect and makes it easier for the search engine to understand what the page entails.
• Try to avoid using any additional words, numbers, or symbols. Remember, simple is best.

You can also use the SERP checker to see examples of competitor URLs, titles, and meta descriptions.

Text

Last but certainly not least, you'll want to include keywords within the text of your page. Try and space out the use of your keywords throughout the content. Sites are getting flagged for keyword stuffing, which is affecting their rankings in SERPs, so it's best to avoid this.

Rather incorporate the keywords you found during your keyword research naturally. This not only provides the reader with a good experience but also increases the quality of your page.

Tip: Including secondary keywords in headings throughout your posts also increases the likelihood of you ranking for that secondary keyword.

A wrap-up on how the top travel keywords can help you grow

So there you have it, an in-depth guide on the different types of travel keywords and how they can improve your site. Incorporating keyword research into everyday SEO can be an effective inbound marketing strategy to increase traffic potential to your website.

Whether you are a small travel blogger or a large corporation within the tourism industry, there is always space to grow.