Not only that, each relevant link to your website is a strong vote as to how important your website is in Google’s eyes. And this helps boost your search engine rankings overall.

We have written Things to Do in XYZ articles for quite a few clients. We do this because they provide really useful information to potential visitors.

And you might consider writing one for yourself to help with earning links.

This is how it works.

If you are an accommodation provider in Brisbane, you might write a Things to Do in Brisbane article.

Do your research and find out about the tours that will interest the kind of travelers that stay in your accommodation. You can do better than bungee jumping tours if you service grey nomads.

How to do this research? Talk to your guests. Ask them about the best tours and experiences they have had (or are looking forward to). Find out their amazing stories, feel the emotions, and (if you get permission to use them) maybe even collect a few photos.

Use the web to find out the people who run these tours. Hop on the phone and speak to the tour operator personally.

Tell them you’ve been talking to your guests, want to feature their tour on your website and want to find out a bit more about the tours. Use your local knowledge to find out about what makes this tour operator special.

Perhaps ask them to send you some brochures so you can include them on your front counter.

Now write your article and publish it on your site. Don’t forget to make it memorable – use the stories (don’t use names unless you have email or written permission), share the feelings and publish the photos (once again, where you have email or written permission).

Link to the tour operator website (and if they don’t have a website, provide their phone number).

If you run a tourism website yourself, you’ll know you appreciate it when someone links to you. By publishing an article like this, you’ve created a reason for these tour operators to consider a link to you.

Follow up the article a month or so later with a letter to the tour operators and a special offer for their guests. Maybe stay in touch.

If you are a tour operator, well, it works in reverse. Find out about the accommodation providers, and write a Places to Stay in Brisbane article.

Do you get the idea?

Things to Do in Your Destination: using articles to build links to your website

Good links to your website give you a number of benefits.

• Qualified Visitors: If your site is a Farm Stay, and you get a link from a website that talks about Farm Stays in your area, it is very likely to send qualified visitors. By qualified, I mean they are interested in what you have to offer. A link to your site that sends qualified traffic is of benefit.
• Search Engine Trust: Search engines see a link to your site from another site as a vote of confidence. So the more votes you get, the more your site is trusted and the better the chance you have of ranking well in search results.

Because a lot of websites engaged in reciprocal linking (I’ll link to you if you link to me), Google and other search engines don’t put that much trust (if any) in a reciprocal link. They don’t penalize sites for doing this, they just don’t assign trust they way they used to.

But that doesn’t mean reciprocal links aren’t worth anything. If they will deliver qualified traffic, they are worth a lot. You still want to get one-way links, but don’t dismiss reciprocals.

I’d like to give you an example. Barry Green of Western Tourist Radio has compiled an excellent resource for travellers in Western Australia. It is a well thought out guide for travellers looking for accommodation, tours and attractions. Barry has a very clear Link Policy that states “… we link to the website of any relevant tourism business that will exchange links to our site.”

The key here is relevance. Barry’s site is very relevant for someone looking for attractions and accommodation, so a link from his site is very likely to deliver qualified traffic. This is a great reason to establish a reciprocal link.

If you can see some of your competitors on a site (or can see they may be there in the future), is that a reason not to link? Definitely not. Travellers want to research destinations and providers, so the presence of links to several related operators can be an advantage, as travellers may find it a lot more useful overall.

For as long as you operate a website you should be on the lookout for good links. Blogs, paid directories, free directories, travel resources like Western Tourist Radio – look at them from the perspective of how likely they are to deliver relevant traffic. You won’t go wrong.

Finding Links for Your Website