SEO is the real game changer in the hospitality industry these days. Since the hospitality industry is veritably competitive, having a strong online presence is pivotal for bars to attract new guests. It’s a lot of work, setting up the right atmosphere, selecting the perfect menu, and training your staff to give excellent service. But despite putting in so much sweat, it can be frustrating if your online presence is still falling flat.
We’re here to guide you on the common SEO mistakes bars make, from website to social media handles. And we will also give you practical tips and expert advice on how to fix those mistakes. So what are you staying for? Get started so you can serve up amazing drinks and experiences at your bar!
Keyword Stuffing
A big NO!
One of the major SEO mistakes bars make is using excessive keywords in their content, meta tags, or titles to manipulate search engine rankings.
For example, using keywords like, “best bar in London, London bar.” This tactic causes more harm than good. It affects your website’s credibility and user experience.
How to Use the Right Keywords?
To make the best use of keywords, first, you need to identify your target audience and what search terms they would look for. Then, conduct thorough research, aiming for a keyword density of around 1-2%. Analyze search volume and keyword difficulty. Try to incorporate keywords naturally. This approach will not only improve your bar’s search engine rankings, but also provide value to the customers.
Pro Tip: Analyze for gaps to see where you can differentiate yourself and your target keywords from your competitors!
Poor Mobile Responsiveness
One major mistake bars make is having a website that is not optimized for mobile devices. With the majority of users accessing websites through their phones, it is essential to have a website design that is responsive and easy to navigate on smaller screens. Imagine going through a website with elements cut off, text size too small, and buttons being unresponsive, you will not want to go back to it.
How to Optimize Website for Mobile Devices?
Bars should make sure that the elements on the website are not cut off, and menus and other features are easy to use on a mobile phone. Website content should be easy to read, with the right size and font, and easy to navigate to provide a smooth user experience.
Pro tip: You can also test it out on different mobile devices, so you can be sure!
Having Duplicate Content
Duplicate content can mean having the exact same content on your page as another website, or it can also refer to a different variation of the same content. This can damage your bar’s credibility and reputation. It is an SEO mistake many hospitality business owners make. It can lead to negative consequences such as:
- Poor page ranking
- Difficulty crawling or indexing your website
How to Fix Duplicate Content?
First of all, you need to find the duplicate content. For this, you can use tools like SEMrush where you can start your website audit. Then you can use rel= “canonical” link or 302 redirects to indicate the preferred version to the SERPs.
Always try to provide unique and authentic content on your website and social media to improve your search engine rankings and attract more customers.
Poor Internal Linking
Poor internal linking can be a frustrating experience for your customers. It negatively impacts both user experience and SEO performance. By not linking to relevant pages on their website, bars make it difficult for users and search engines to navigate.
- It reduces page crawlability
- Impacts the ranking potential
- Users explore fewer pages per visit
How to Improve Internal Linking?
It is essential to identify the broken links and orphan pages using tools like Google Search Console or Ahrefs. Monitor your website for any errors. Then, develop a linking strategy that enhances your site’s structure. Use descriptive anchor text and avoid making it generic. By improving your site’s internal linking, you can significantly improve your search engine rankings.
Slow Page Load Speed
When a website takes too long to load, users are likely to bounce, leading to a higher bounce rate and lower search engine rankings.
Let’s be honest, we have all been there. You don’t want your users to click back on the SERPs quickly and increase the bounce rate!
How to Fix Slow Page Load Speed?
First things first, you need to perform a website audit through tools like SEMrush. This will highlight all issues that are resulting in a slow page load speed. You can improve your site speed by optimizing images, minifying CSS and JavaScript files, optimizing your HTML code, and enabling browser caching.
Oversized, Broken, Not Optimized Images
When it comes to On-page SEO for bars, a lot of times, not optimizing images reduces their search engine rankings and gives a poor impression of their website structure.
- Lack of alt text, which helps users see what the picture is about, negatively impacts your rankings. It also reduces search engine crawlability for such images.
- Broken images also significantly undermine the user experience and create a poor impression of your bar.
- Oversized images, on the other hand, result in slow page load speed and also disrupt the site architecture.
How to Properly Optimize Your Images?
Site Audit comes to the rescue again! You can find missing or duplicate alt text tags. Moreover, keep in mind that you must assign alt text to every image you publish; make them descriptive and unique. Next, you need to resize the oversized images without compromising their quality.
Lastly, you can go back to your Site Audit and look for instructions regarding broken images. Once you find the broken images, you can simply change the image URL or publish another image instead.
Low Quality Content
A lot of times, bars get into the technicalities and completely forget about what truly matters. Everything is centered around your content. If you are producing low-quality content, nothing you do will help you rank better. Try to create creative, unique, and latest content that resonates with your target audience.
How to Create High-Quality Content that Matches Users’ Intent?
You need to understand the pain points of your customers.
- What is it that they are looking for?
- How can you make your content stand out among the competitors?
- What is trending these days?
If you consider all these questions in mind, you will be able to come up with content that matches users’ search intent.
Moreover, you must make sure that your content is readable, accurate, grammatically correct, relevant, and useful.
Conclusion
By avoiding these common SEO mistakes, you can get ahead of the competition and make your bar the favorite local spot in town!
Even if you have been making these mistakes, there is no need to worry. Now that you know exactly what you have been doing wrong, these technical and On-page SEO issues won’t take you down. Algorithms are constantly changing, and so is your brand. You will mess up, but soon enough, you will get the hang of it.
And if you still have any concerns, you can reach us at CJ Digital. We provide the best SEO services to help individuals like you avoid expensive SEO mistakes.
Stay connected to read more about effective SEO and PPC strategies, to increase your online reputation, and drive more sales!
FAQs
1- Is keyword stuffing affecting my bar’s online reputation?
Yes! Keyword stuffing can make your content unreadable and user-unfriendly, which Google does not favour. This negatively impacts your ranking and online reputation. Therefore, it is important to include your target keywords only a reasonable number of times.
2- How can I ensure my bar’s website is mobile-friendly?
You must focus on using a responsive design, ensuring easy navigation, and working on page load speed. You can also test your site on various mobile devices to ensure a smooth user experience.
3- What’s the impact of poor internal linking on my bar’s website SEO?
Poor internal linking can lead to crawl errors, reduced website visibility, and lower overall rankings. Moreover, it can also lead to broken links and orphan pages, which leaves a very negative impression on the users.
4- How can I improve my bar’s local SEO?
Improve your local SEO by optimizing your Google Business Profile, registering for online business directories, targeting keywords with your city, and targeting “near me” keywords.
5- What is the main content-related SEO mistake that bars make and how to fix it?
The major content-related mistake that is so common in the hospitality industry is not focusing on user intent. It can cause poor rankings and low user engagement. The users don’t feel satisfied as the content does not align with their needs. To fix this issue, you must analyze the SERPs, focus on the user intent, understand your target audience, and then optimize your website accordingly.