Average Search Engine Optimization scores by US region. — Source: three&six

When measured against SEO best practice metrics, US hotel direct websites score just 58.3% on average. The results, equivalent to a US High School Grade F, are the headline findings from our recent white paper titled "A Wake-Up Call: The State of SEO in the USA Hotel Industry".

Although the poor performance grabs the attention, it didn’t come as a total surprise to our team at three&six. For quite some time, we suspected that direct hotel websites were underperforming, especially compared to other industry sectors, but had no real proof. So, we spent the first half of 2023 surveying 14,000 properties across 32 cities and destinations analyzing over 100 SEO data points to create an industry benchmark.

Anecdotally, we sensed hotel websites had been relegated to a box-ticking exercise behind OTAs and other third-party channels. From the data we found, the findings point to wider issues in both website performance and quality of content.

While many of the statistics in the white paper may not come as a surprise, it is crucial to address the current situation. Fortunately, most of the SEO errors identified are relatively easy to fix and there are detailed explanations of the top issues along with practical recommendations for improvement.

Even the smallest of changes could offer significant improvements in online visibility that will push a hotel website up the rankings and ahead of competition.

You can download the SEO white paper for free (no email sign-up necessary).

If you want to know how your site benchmarks, you can also audit your hotel website for free. Simply enter your URL, and you’ll receive a personalized report with tailored recommendations straight to your inbox.

Tristan Heaword
Co-Founder

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