149% more sales and 14 times more organic clicks for a travel tickets website in ten months

• +149%increase in sales
• 14×organic clicks from Google, starting month to peak month
• 5×impressions in Google Search

The challenge

The website sells tour and attraction tickets in Rome. It had good tours to sell but was getting fewer than 200 clicks a month from Google. Five things stood in the way.

• Very large competitorsTicket searches for famous attractions are dominated by international booking marketplaces and by the official sites of the attractions. A small specialist cannot win by copying them.
• Pages did not answer what travellers askBefore booking, people search for specifics: price, opening hours, how long the visit takes, where to meet, whether they skip the queue. Tour pages that only describe the tour miss these searches.
• The booking system sits outside the websiteBookings run through a separate booking system, so Google cannot read the tour details there. Everything Google needs has to be on the website's own pages.
• Strongly seasonal demandTravel searches rise and fall with the season. Work has to be finished before demand rises, not during it.
• Trust before paymentTravellers check reviews and the business itself before they pay a company they do not know.

What we did, step by step

1. Audited the websiteWe checked every page for technical problems, speed and missing information, and read the Search Console reports to see which searches the site already appeared for.Why it matters: An audit shows which pages already have some visibility. Those pages are the cheapest to grow.
2. Mapped searches attraction by attractionFor each attraction we separated the different searches (tickets, guided tour, skip the line, combined tours) and gave each one its own page, so pages do not compete with each other.Why it matters: Someone looking for a guided tour and someone looking for a ticket want different pages. One page cannot serve both well.
3. Rewrote the tour and ticket pagesEach page now states what is included, the price, how long it takes, the meeting point and the cancellation terms, and answers the common questions in plain words.Why it matters: Google tends to rank the page that answers the question fully, and a traveller with no open questions is more likely to book.
4. Chose searches a specialist can winInstead of the broadest ticket searches, we worked first on the specific ones where a detailed, expert page can beat a large marketplace.Why it matters: A small website that wins specific searches earns visitors and trust, and that helps later with the broader searches.
5. Added guides for the main attractionsPractical guides on visiting each attraction, linked to the matching ticket pages, so visitors who are still planning can find the site and move on to booking.Why it matters: Most travellers research first and book later. Guides let them find the business while they are still planning.
6. Fixed speed and mobile problemsMost travellers book on a phone, often while travelling. Pages were made lighter and easier to use on small screens.Why it matters: On a slow mobile connection, every extra second of loading loses bookings.
7. Managed the Google Business ProfileKept the profile complete and up to date and replied to customer reviews, so the business looks active and trustworthy in Google Search and Maps.Why it matters: For a local experience, the profile and its reviews are often the first thing a traveller sees.
8. Measured every month and adjustedClicks, impressions and position were checked in Search Console every month, with the heaviest work done before the high season.Why it matters: In a seasonal market, timing decides the result. Pages need to rank before the season starts.

The result

Organic clicks from Google grew to 14 times the starting level in ten months, and impressions grew about five times. Over the same period sales grew 149%.

How we measured this

• Clicks and impressions come from the client's own Google Search Console account.
• The sales figure comes from our project records, not from Search Console.
• The chart is an index. The starting month is 100, and each later month is shown against it. An index of 200 means twice the starting month.
• Growth figures compare the starting month with the peak month.
• Only organic search is counted. Ads, email and social media traffic are not included.

Check this on your own website

• Search Google for a question your customers ask before they book, such as the price or the opening hours. If your page does not answer it, another website does.
• Open your main tour or ticket page on a phone using mobile data, and count the seconds until you can press the booking button.
• Open your Google Business Profile. Check the opening hours and photos, and see whether your last five reviews have a reply.

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What you can take from this

• Here growth built up month after month for ten months. SEO for a booking website is steady work, not a single change.
• Measure sales and bookings as well as clicks. More visitors only matter when they book.
• Write each tour or ticket page for the search a visitor makes before booking, not for the name you use inside the company.

Results differ from one website to another. This page describes one project and is not a promise of the same result.

Client name withheld at the client's request. Clicks and impressions from Google Search Console. Sales figure from project records.

Maqsood RahmanFounder and CEO, SEO Agency Inc. 25 years in search. The agency has worked since 2018 from Dhaka and New York, for more than 250 SEO clients. He led this project. About the agency