Hotels are most popular searches in Newbury

It's not really surprising that search terms that relate to obtaining information about hotels is top of the list in Newbury. Do a similar search for other towns and cities and it is likely to be at the top for each one. That said, Newbury does have some uniques. The racecourse, the Newbury floods last August are still being searched for, Newbury bypass the list goes on.

What I am interested in looking into for this post is whether it is better for a hotel to optimise for the term (or related) "Newbury hotels" or to market their own name and brand. As you can see from our first list below, Newbury Manor Hotel is in the top 10. They are the only named hotel to show in the top 10, why is this? It's possible that one of the reasons is that they have branded themselves very well. People are away of them and know their name.

This is a great position to be in, if you are searching for a hotel and use the name of that hotel to search; as a visitor you are much more highly targeted. If the same visitor searches for "Newbury Hotels" then your hotel is in a list with 10 others. Indeed, more than 10 because in Google they have local search results.

Interestingly, they have also benefited because of their name and I guess their own SEO efforts. Their title tags are "Newbury Manor Hotel Discover a hidden treasure", this helps them for both "Newbury Hotel" and "Newbury Manor Hotel" searches, two of the most popular search terms that relate to Newbury.

If you compare this with their sister hotel, The Crab which is based 5 miles up the road in Chieveley their title is "The Crab at Chieveley award winning UK seafood restaurant". They are missing out on any hotel in Newbury type traffic. Yes, I know this is an exclusive restaurant first and foremost, however none of us would give away free search traffic on purpose. I'm just saying that they're missing out on some free traffic.

In summary, I think hotels in Newbury should have a two pronged attack. Certainly, they should be trying to optimise for all of the phrases that relate to "hotels Newbury" type searches. They should also be trying to build their online brand and trying to encourage their customers and potential customers to search for their hotel brand directly. This can be achieved through traditional marketing techniques. The next step (Which the Crab do very well at) is to incorporate the most popular searches with the next most popular searches "Newbury Races".

If a Newbury based hotel was to optimise for both of these phrases, they will be widening the net even further. Especially if they are creating special offers for those weary race fans to stay.