Keyword research made simple: A guide for tour operators

Picture a traveler searching online for “kayak tours near me” or “best zipline in Costa Rica.” If your business doesn’t show up in those results, you’re missing out on bookings. That’s where keyword research comes in.

By understanding the exact words and phrases travelers use, you can optimize your website, reach the right audience, and get in front of people ready to book. In this guide, you’ll learn what keyword research is, why it matters, common pitfalls to avoid, and how to use tools to find the right keywords for growth.

What is keyword research? 

Keyword research is a core part of search engine optimization (SEO), although it has greatly evolved over the years. Moz.com defines it best: “Keyword research is the process of identifying popular phrases or words that people search in search engines in an attempt to optimize for those phrases.” 

For your tour business, this means identifying the keywords travelers search for in connection with your experiences. Think keywords like “sunset kayak tour” or “historic walking tour in Boston”.

You can then use those phrases on your website and other channels to attract qualified traffic.

Why do I need keyword research to help my SEO? 

Keyword research helps you understand what people are searching for, how high the competition is for the keywords you want to target, and what your chances are of ranking for certain keywords. 

This helps you optimize your website and marketing efforts, increasing your chances of showing up in organic search results. The result: more visitors actively looking to book the tours and activities you offer.

How to Perform Keyword Research 

There is a wide variety of tools and tactics you can use to perform keyword research, and the method can vary for each one. Here we offer some examples of popular tools you can use, along with the steps to find the best keywords for your business. 

Google’s Related Searches

Google’s “Related searches” section of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) is a favorite among the SEO community. It can give you different combinations of the types of searches people are performing and keyword variation ideas that you can use in your SEO efforts. Bonus for using Google? It’s free.

To perform keyword research using this tactic: 

1. Enter the main keyword you want to target. 
2. Scroll to the bottom of the SERP and take a look at the keywords there. You can click on these variations to see what types of pages rank well for these keywords. 
3. Choose the keywords that are most relevant to your business and identify the right pages to optimize for these keywords. 

Use these variations to discover specific keywords travelers use to find your tours and activities.

Google’s People Also Ask

Google’s “People also ask” feature is another crowd favorite. This section, which usually appears under the first few sites in the SERP, gives you ideas on what types of questions searchers are asking about the specific keyword or query you’re researching. 

To use this feature as part of your keyword research: 

1. Google the main keyword you’re looking to target. 
2. Scroll down to the “People also ask” section. 
3. Explore the queries that appear here and check out the sites that rank well for each query. 
4. Identify the queries that would be most relevant to your site and the pages you should optimize for these keywords. This is a great way to find blog post topics or common questions that you can add to your FAQ page.

 

Writing a blog post around this query can drive traffic and highlight your tours. By doing a bit of competitor research, you can see how others have formatted similar articles, giving you an idea of what readers are searching for. Just be sure to add even more relevant and valuable information to your blog post to give you a leg up.

SEMrush

SEMrush is a leading SEO tool, offering both a free version and a paid version. You can use it to find the keywords you’re already ranking for, as well as what your competitors are ranking for, to help you improve your SEO. 

To perform keyword research with SEMrush:

1. Plug your own domain into the All Reports field to see what keywords you currently rank for.
2. Scroll down to Top Organic Keywords and click on View Full Report.
3. Analyze the keywords based on traffic, volume, current position in the SERP, and more to find the best keyword opportunities for your site. 
4. Repeat this process with a competitor’s website to get an idea of keywords they’re ranking for that you could target on your own site.

Pro tip: Rather than going straight for the highest volume keywords (which will also have the highest competition), start with the keywords where you already rank in the second or third page of the SERP and optimize those pages to rank higher. 

Also, remember that it takes time to rank, especially for new websites or pages, so be patient and don’t get discouraged!

 

Keysearch

Keysearch is an affordable, beginner-friendly SEO tool that makes keyword research easy to understand. It offers detailed data on keyword volume, competition, and difficulty, plus suggestions for related keywords you may not have thought of.

To analyze a keyword using Keysearch:

1. Enter the keyword you want to target and click Search.
2. Review the results to see monthly search volume, keyword difficulty scores, and top-ranking pages.
3. Explore the list of related and long-tail keywords to find variations that may be a better fit for your business.
4. Click on the ranking URLs to see what kind of content is performing well and how you might structure your own page to compete.

Pro tip: Keysearch is especially useful for finding long-tail keywords with lower competition — like “family-friendly snorkeling in Maui” instead of just “snorkel tours in Maui.” These more specific phrases can be easier to rank for and often bring in travelers who are ready to book.

Common Keyword Misconceptions & Mistakes

Keyword Stuffing 

Keyword stuffing meant cramming the same phrases into your titles, descriptions, and page content as often as possible.

This technique is now outdated, and Google has become very familiar with it. The search engine has evolved to focus on the relevance of keywords over the number of times they appear on a page, valuing quality over quantity. 

We recommend writing for humans and not search engines, sprinkling keywords and their combinations naturally throughout your site when they’re relevant. Google can and will penalize you for any suspected keyword stuffing, so just avoid it altogether.

Keyword Intent 

It’s not enough to just find a general keyword that relates to your business and add it to your website. It is important to target the actual intent of the keyword to give searchers the exact information they’re looking for, which in turn tells the search engine that your page is relevant to this keyword. 

The best way to find the intent behind a keyword is to Google the keyword you want to optimize on your site to see what kind of search results show up, i.e. homepages, long-form content like blog posts and articles, or category pages. 

For example, say your business wants to target the phrase “the best tours in Hawaii” on the homepage, and you want to figure out whether that’s a good fit. 

We mostly see articles and blog posts featuring the top tours in Hawaii, and they’re all formatted as numbered lists. That means that people typing this query want to know more information about the types of tours available and aren’t quite ready to settle on one tour or one tour company to book with just yet. That’s why Google shows mostly long-form articles, not homepages.. 

Now you know that even if you add the keyword “the best tours in Hawaii” to your homepage, it’s not likely to appear in the search results because a homepage doesn’t satisfy the search intent. 

To optimize for this keyword on your website, it would make more sense to write a blog post with a list of some of the best tours on the island, giving you a better chance to rank and giving the reader plenty of options to consider while also exposing them to your brand and what your company has to offer. 

Turning research into results

Keyword research is invaluable to your SEO strategy, but that doesn’t mean it has to be complicated. You have a variety of tools for keyword research at your disposal right in the Google SERP. 

With these useful and intuitive tools, you can find the right keywords for your business and optimize your pages for relevance and keyword intent. 

Ready to put your keywords to work? Check out our guide on how to effectively optimize your tour or activity website for SEO to take the next step.