Local SEO
Local SEO for Holiday Lets and Glamping Sites
Guests decide where to stay with a local search. Here is how to show up when they do.
Someone has told you to “do local SEO” for your holiday let, and nobody said where to start. Local SEO for holiday lets is about showing up when a guest searches for a stay in your area. It comes down to four things. A Google Business Profile, a page for each place you want to rank for, steady reviews, and a few local links. Most owners can do the basics themselves.
What local SEO for holiday lets means
Local SEO means helping Google match your unit to searches that include a place. That might be “glamping in Herefordshire”, “shepherd’s hut near Hay-on-Wye” or just “glamping near me”. Google looks at how well you match the search, how close you are, and how well known and trusted you seem.
Those three ideas are relevance, distance and prominence. You can’t change distance, but you can work on the other two. Relevance comes from clear information about what you offer and where. Prominence comes from reviews, mentions and links from other sites.
How guests search locally
Guests use a few kinds of local search, and each one is won in a different place. The table shows where to put your effort.
| Type of search | Example | What helps most |
|---|---|---|
| Area or county | “glamping in Powys” | A page on your site about that area |
| Nearest town or landmark | “glamping near Hay-on-Wye” | Location pages and local links |
| Near me | “glamping near me” | Google profile, reviews, accurate address |
| Your name | “Millie the Hut” | Your own site and profile showing first |
Rural owners often miss one thing. Few guests search for a tiny village. They tend to search for the nearest market town, a national park or a landmark. Your pages should name those places, not just your own postal address.
Set up your Google Business Profile
A Google Business Profile is the free listing that can put you on Google Maps and in the local results beside normal search. It is the most direct route to appearing for “near me” searches, so it deserves an hour of proper care.
Fill in everything. Use your real business name, the right category, a clear description, your opening details and a link to your own booking page rather than the homepage. Add good photos of the unit, the view and the approach. Check the address pin is exactly where guests arrive.
If a profile isn’t possible, you aren’t stuck. Your website, your pages and the other steps below still do the job in normal search results.
Build location pages that earn their place
A location page is a page on your site about one area guests search for, such as the nearest town or a national park. It works when it answers the guest’s real questions, and it fails when it is a copy of another page with the town name swapped.
Good location pages include real, checkable detail.
- How far you are from the town, the station and the nearest shop, with drive times
- What is nearby, such as walks, pubs, farm shops and attractions
- Which of your units suit that kind of trip
- A clear link to check dates and book
Three or four strong pages are plenty for a small site. Thirty thin ones look like padding and give a guest no reason to stay. This also needs a site with room to grow, which is where a site built for holiday lets beats a single page listing everything.
We built the whole site for Millie the Hut, a shepherd’s hut near Presteigne, and it brought 42 direct bookings in its first year.
Make your own site say where you are
Your site needs to state plainly where you are, in the places Google and guests both read first. Put the nearest town or area in your page titles, your main headings and the first paragraph of your homepage, in natural wording.
Add your full address, a map and directions on the contact page. Then check the same details match your profile word for word. Many sites also add LocalBusiness or LodgingBusiness schema, which is hidden code that spells out your name, address and phone number for search engines. It is worth asking whoever built your site whether it is there.
Mobile speed matters here as well, because many local searches happen on a phone. A page that loads slowly on a weak rural signal loses the guest before they see your dates.
Collect reviews that guests can see
Reviews are one of the clearest signals of prominence, and they also help a guest decide. Ask every guest, and make it easy. Send a short message after checkout with a direct link to your Google review page.
Reply to every review, good or bad, in a calm and friendly way. Mention the place naturally where it fits, such as “we hope you enjoy the Black Mountains walks next time”. Don’t offer discounts or gifts in return for reviews, as Google doesn’t allow incentivised reviews.
Keep your details consistent and earn local links
Citations are mentions of your business name, address and phone number on other sites. Links are mentions that point to your website. Both tell Google you are a real business in a real place.
Local links beat bulk links. One link from a respected local tourism site is worth more than a dozen from directories nobody visits. Think of who a guest would trust when planning a trip to your area, and aim to be mentioned there.
Remember guests look for you directly
Listing sites such as Canopy & Stars, CoolStays and Airbnb bring guests, and they are worth having. But a guest who finds you there often searches for your own site afterwards. They hope for a better deal, or they know the owner keeps more of the money.
That is local SEO working in your favour. When someone searches your unit name or your area, your site and profile should come up first, with a clear way to book. If they land on a dated or slow page, the booking can slip back to the listing, with commission attached.
A guest who finds you on a listing site will often go looking for your own site next.
A simple monthly routine
Local SEO is steady work, not a one-off job. Fifteen minutes a month keeps it moving.
Seasonal changes matter too. Update opening dates, minimum stays and any new rules before the season starts, and keep the same details on your website and your profile.
FAQs
Can a holiday let rank on Google Maps?
Yes, if it has a verified Google Business Profile and meets Google’s eligibility rules. Maps results lean on relevance, distance and prominence, so a complete profile, steady reviews and consistent details all help. Unstaffed rentals can be refused, so read Google’s guidelines first. If you can’t get a profile, your own website can still rank in normal results.
How do I rank for glamping near me?
You can’t target it with a phrase, because Google uses the searcher’s location. What you can do is be a clear match for glamping in your area. Keep your profile complete, collect reviews, name your nearest town and landmarks on your site, and make sure your address and details match everywhere they appear.
Do I need a page for every village nearby?
No. Write a page only where you can say something useful and true, such as drive times, what is nearby and how to get there. A few strong pages for the places guests actually search for beat thirty near-identical ones with the town name swapped. Thin copies add little and make the site feel padded.
How long does local SEO take to work?
It usually builds over months rather than days. A new profile and a few reviews can help quickly, but pages and links take longer to be picked up and trusted. Nobody can promise a ranking or a booking number. Doing the basics steadily and keeping them up to date is what counts.
Find out what is holding your site back
Send us your website and we’ll tell you, for free, what’s stopping it getting bookings.