How To Use Local SEO To Increase Your San Diego B&B Bookings

Is your San Diego bed and breakfast (B&B) business struggling to attract bookings and rank among bigger, branded accommodations? If yes, you need a local boost.

This guide focuses on local SEO strategies, which any San Diego local SEO agency would say are effective means to increase B&B bookings. This guide covers:

• Managing Google Business Profile (GBP)
• Using complete UNAP
• Managing listing attributes
• Placing your business in citations and directories

Ready to improve your B&B bookings? Let's go!

Watch this video to learn about the Digital Authority Partners approach to local SEO!

Verify and Manage Your Google Business Profile

To increase your B&B bookings, put your San Diego small business on the map. With more and more people using Google to book their local accommodations, your B&B should have a complete Google Business Profile (GBP).

GBP is your free Google listing on SERPs, featuring your business name, address, phone number, and website. Your GBP also shows photos of your business, your social media profiles, and attributes that make your business unique (more on this later).

Your B&B GBP is also where your customers can glance at your rates. Your profile has a "Compare Prices" section with options from accommodation booking sites like Booking.com, Priceline, and Agoda. Aside from checking your rates, people can also book their stay through these sites.

Google Maps also connects to GBP to help your customers find the best route to your location. Because GBP is crucial to recognizing and finding your business online and offline, verify and manage your profile ASAP. Also, update your GBP info in case of any changes. Remember the following tips to optimize your GBP:

• Create an engaging business description. Remember that the description field is limited to 750 characters, so maximize it by introducing your business with unique details like an ethnic restaurant, a beachfront view, a free breakfast buffet, etc.
• Use the correct category. The bed and breakfast category (guest hours or pension house) means that the owner or manager is present, and there is a shared kitchen in the location or that home-cooked meals are provided. Remember, a bed and breakfast differs from other categories like an inn, extended stay hotel, camping cabin, and lodge.
• Add photos and videos. Upload as many photos of your business as possible. Include the latest pictures of your building, parking area, concierge, rooms, amenities, staff, menu, etc. Your customers likely upload their photos, so check these for relevance. You can have a picture removed from your profile by sending Google a request.

Use Your Complete UNAP Info

Ensure your UNAP (URL, name, address, and phone number) is correct, complete, and appears on all customer access points, such as on your official B&B website, blogs, directory sites, and social media.

Use your correct business name and display your logo prominently on all your pages. If your correct B&B business name is "The Sunny B&B," be sure it is the same everywhere and not "Sunny B&B" or "The Sunny B and B." Any mistake in your UNAP could make your visitors lose trust in your business. These techniques should help you optimize your UNAP.

• Use a local business phone number. This boosts your presence in your city or community and shows that you are accessible. Also, people can verify your exact location using your local business number.
• Display your contact details prominently on your site. Make connecting with your business easy by displaying your phone number, address, and email address on all your pages. Also, add a customer contact form in case people want to ask questions without having to exit your site.
• Add a chatbot. This is one of the best ways to provide 24/7 customer service. People can get answers and book their stay fast with a chatbot. Also, there's no need to hire an agent to assist your customers because an AI can handle bookings and inquiries, provide price quotations, etc.
• Include your business name in your URL. Using your business name as your domain name helps establish your business identity and represent your hospitality brand. Also, your customers can easily find you online with your name in your URL.

Manage Listing Attributes

Improve your GBP profile by using attributes. Think of this as small information about your business that helps people decide if they would book your services. Attributes of unique local activities such as hang-gliding, also help you stand out from similar companies. Therefore, you should always consider managing them when optimizing your GBP.

Attributes vary depending on your country, business, or industry and could be subjective or objective. It is essential to choose the right one so your customers can make well-informed decisions when booking their stay.

Categorize attributes related to hotels according to property and room details, which you should group further into general features and food-related features.

• Select from Property Details. Choose from Health & Safety, Internet, Food & drink, Policies & payments, Activities, Services, Children, Pools, Parking & Transportation, Wellness, Accessibility, Business & events, and Pets.
• Choose the correct general room features. Select from with or without A/C, bathtub, shower, and if there is a private bathroom or shared bathroom.
• Pick food-related room features. Add if there is a kitchen, microwave, refrigerator, minibar, and coffee maker.

You can always edit your attributes. Contact Google if you need help changing your attributes or with other issues related to setting up your hotel features. During the COVID-19 pandemic, new features were added, like contactless payment and a COVID-19 responder policy.

Place Your Business in Directories and Citations

Another way to increase your B&B bookings is to add your business to general directories and local citations. General directories include the Yellow Pages, Yelp, and Bing Places. Local directory pages for San Diego are Sandiego.gov, San Diego Magazine, Time Out San Diego, and Oldtown Sandiego.org.

Register your business with online hotel booking sites like Trivago.com, Booking.com, Agoda.com, Expedia.com, and Hotels.com. As you sign your business, complete your profile and make your business information identical for all citations and directories. Here are a few tips to make your listing management easier.

• Use a listing or citation tool. Examples are Yext, Moz Local, SEMrush, and BrightLocal. These tools save you time when managing your local listings. All your pages are guaranteed to be updated and consistent across the web.
• Find all mentions of your business manually. Use Google search to find websites, blogs, and social media pages that mention your B&B business. Correct any errors by sending the site an email, calling them, or using their contact form.
• Announce changes in social media. Post any significant update to your NAP on social media. This applies to moving your business, changing your phone number, or using a new name, logo, or slogan.

Summing Up

Local SEO can promote your San Diego B&B and increase bookings. Optimize your local presence by managing GBP, using complete UNAP, managing listing attributes, and adding your business to citations and directories.

Enhancing your local presence puts your B&B business on the map. To find out more about local SEO, call Digital Authority Partners today.