Maintaining a successful campground or RV park requires a lot of effort on every front; From utilizing well-trained staff, properly maintaining your property, to maximizing bookings, a ton of effort goes into creating a fantastic experience for your guests. 

Another key component of campground management to consider is establishing your campground’s online presence with a booking-optimized website. However, writing daily posts on your website or even paying for advertisements may not necessarily expose your campground to potential campers. In order for your online content to have a positive impact on your reservations, your target audience needs to see your content amidst the hundreds of other campground websites out there. 

This can be done by applying search engine optimization (SEO) techniques. Read on to learn about a few campground SEO tips that will take your outdoor property to the next level.

1. Make Sure Your Campground’s Website Is Responsive

If your website doesn’t work for a viewer’s device, they may give up and find what they need somewhere else. A responsive web design (RWD) accommodates for all the different ways users can access and use your website, taking into account the screen sizes and tech capabilities of various devices. 

The pathway from when your audience first views your website to when your audience books a reservation should be professional in appearance and straightforward in action. Responsive design techniques will allow your site to match the sizes of different devices and allow your property to make a good first impression. 

Have a Mobile-First Web Design in Mind

Traditional websites designed for a desktop computer are not the future. As of January 2022, studies showed that half of all internet traffic comes from users on mobile phones. Having your website designed for mobile use is crucial for increasing your website traffic — and your bookings — now and in the future.

Consider tailoring features of your website to the capabilities of a smartphone. For example, to maximize your campground SEO for mobile, you can:

• Add click-to-call This is a button only displayed on mobile devices, which allows the user to instantly dial the phone number listed for your property.
• Eliminate pop-ups Since a mobile screen is smaller, a giant pop-up window can be very displeasing to your mobile users and could even hide the information they were looking for on your website.
• Adjust the font size and content A larger font size paired with less content per page will make it easier for your website visitors to quickly find the information they need.

If you ensure a good mobile user experience, you can increase your bookings and enhance your campground’s professionalism simultaneously. In fact, 61% of mobile searchers are more likely to contact a local business if the website was easily accessed on their device.

2. Site Speed Is Everything

Your website response speed is factored into Google’s algorithm for page rankings. In other words, if you want your campground to be visible when potential campers are searching to make a reservation, your website must be optimized to load quickly. 

In fact, longer load times have a direct negative impact on “conversions.” A conversion is the time when a user performs a desired action such as clicking through to your reservation page and is a key metric when evaluating the performance of your website.

To improve your site speed, make sure you compress images before uploading them. You may also want to resize or reformat your images and video content to increase your page loading speed.

Additionally, consistently run site speed tests and address any found issues to help improve SEO for your site and make it more convenient for your future campers to book with you.

3. Campground SEO and Blogging

When it comes to local SEO tips, blogging is a great opportunity to rank higher on Google searches and therefore increase your website traffic. Blogging allows your site content to match parts of the user’s search, which Google values as a “relevancy” connection and thus places your website as a priority on the search engine results page (SERP). This is ideal because as many as 90% of users click on the first set of search result links.

To attract campers to your website by improving SEO, consider:

• Professional blogging As the local expert about camping topics and trends, you can increase your website’s authority and reputation when you use your blogs to answer common questions and provide insight.
• Update your blogs consistently Check for outdated content, broken links, and opportunities to link internally to your other blogs.
• Use relevant keywords For SEO, a keyword is a word that Google users search for specifically. If you use that same word in your blog content, your website link is more likely to land higher up on the SERP.

To increase your SERP ranking, increase the amount and quality of your website content as it applies to relevant search queries.

RMS Knows Campground SEO

Adding the digital world to your campground can feel challenging, but with the right SEO tips and support, you can make your website and your campground stand out from the competition. 

At RMS, we are dedicated to helping campground owners make the most of their websites to increase bookings and improve the guest experience. From website design to additional local SEO tips, we have you covered. 

To discover how to take your outdoor property’s website to the next level, download our guide today.