How to Write Travel Content for Search Engines & AI: A Case Study
Writing fantastic content is important for many reasons; conversion, engagement, brand loyalty, SEO, GEO and more.
Key Takeaways
- Writing travel content that ranks now requires balancing classic SEO principles with how AI interprets topics, intent and structure.
- Start with strong topic selection and keyword research, then build content that answers real user questions in depth.
- AI-driven search engines prioritise pages that are well-structured, easy to understand and rich in semantically related information.
- Clear headings, a concise intro, internal links and a logical structure help both users and AI models interpret your content.
- High-quality multimedia, fast page speed and strong user experience signals all contribute to better visibility.
- Keyword density is no longer relevant — what matters is topical completeness, clarity and helpfulness.
- When applied consistently, this process can drive major organic growth, even for small travel businesses.
If you’ve been trying to get away with cheap and nasty content just for the sake of hitting a word count, then it’s time to reassess why you’re creating content in the first place.
In the travel industry, people want to be wowed. They’re looking for stories that excite and entice them. ‘Good’ content simply won’t cut it if you want to be found by your audience, and then truly engage them when they do. With the rise of AI in search, crafting content that not only captures attention but also aligns with how AI evaluates and ranks pages is now more important than ever.
In this post, I am going to run you through the exact process we use when writing new content for ourselves and our clients. This approach ensures the best possible chance of performing well, ranking higher in search results, being pulled into AI summaries, and attracting in new visits and potential customers.
NEARLY 30,000 VISITS WITH ONE PAGE
Proof of the pudding is in the eating, as they say. To illustrate how well this approach works, I’ll use an example we created for our client Roma Experience around Palatine Hill, a major attraction in Rome.
This single piece of content attracted 29,072 organic visits in 2018 alone and ranked highly for a variety of competitive search terms.
What’s especially interesting now is how this kind of in-depth, useful content still aligns perfectly in today’s AI-driven search world. Modern AI-powered algorithms favour pages that genuinely answer user intent, offer strong topical coverage, and provide clarity – all elements our content strategy was encompassing even before AI became central to search.
While this post was originally written before the major updates to AI in search results, it continues to perform exceptionally well. As of now (2025), it ranks for 181 keywords on page 1, with some of the top-performing keywords including:
- Palatine Hill – Position 5
- What is Palatine Hill – Position 3
- Palatine Hill Ancient Rome – Position 3
These rankings are a testament to the quality and relevance of the content, which has been consistently driving results. Over time, the post has also attracted over 80 backlinks, further strengthening its authority and visibility.
This success demonstrates that despite the evolving landscape of search and the rise of AI-driven results, high-quality, well-researched content can still thrive and deliver substantial value in the long term.
So, how did we do it? Buckle up, make yourself a nice brew and get ready to make notes…
1. DECIDING ON A TOPIC
The first step is always deciding on the topic you want to focus on. Before you dive into keyword research, it’s important to have a clear direction. What is it you want to answer, inform or educate your audience about?
For example, if you’re creating content around visiting Rome, your main topic might be something broad like “Top Attractions in Rome” or something more niche like “The Ultimate Guide to Palatine Hill”.
2. CHOOSE THE RIGHT PHRASES TO TARGET
Once you have your topic, you can start to narrow down what the most relevant keywords and subtopics will be. That’s where keyword research comes in.
Plug your chosen topic into a keyword research tool to see which phrases people are actually searching for. These will form the basis of many key elements on your page, like the URL, headings, and general structure.
But with AI tweaking how travellers search – and how search engines interpret those queries – keyword research isn’t as simple as just finding high-volume phrases anymore. It’s also about understanding intent, context and the wider topics AI expects to see covered.
This means you should also consider related phrases, long-tail queries, and variations of your main term. For example, when targeting “Palatine Hill”, think beyond the phrase itself and include questions like:
- What is the best time to visit Palatine Hill?
- How does Palatine Hill compare with the Colosseum?
- Is Palatine Hill worth seeing?
- Is Palatine Hill free to enter?
- Is it hard to climb Palatine Hill?
This ensures your content aligns with both search engines and user intent, increasing your chances of ranking in both traditional search and AI-driven responses.
There are a variety of ways of coming up with ideas for keywords to target. Some of my favourites are:
- Analyse competitors to see what phrases they rank for
- Input head terms into a keyword tool and see which variations and related topics it suggests
- Use AI tools to identify question-based searches
Want to know more? Read our guide to how we conduct keyword research.
These are also fantastic keyword research resources:
- Backlinko – Keyword Research for SEO (see the Creating Niche Topic List section in particular)
- Keyword Research with Ahrefs
AI has made it even more important to put yourself in the mind of your audience and consider all the possible topics they might search for. AI-powered search engines now connect queries semantically, meaning they’re looking for content that covers a topic in-depth – not just a single keyword. Thinking outside the box helps you target terms and subtopics your competitors aren’t even considering.
3. PICK YOUR URL
Choosing the right URL is still a critical element in SEO. Your URL should reflect your main target phrase while also providing clear context about what your page is about. For example, we found that the simplest variation, “Palatine Hill”, was the phrase variation with the most search volume, so we chose it as the URL for the page:
https://www.romaexperience.com/post/palatine-hill
For traditional SEO, your URL is a key ranking factor – we consistently see a strong correlation between ranking performance and the URL of the page. Today, though, AI-driven tools also place significant emphasis on user intent and context. A clear, relevant URL helps search engines and users quickly understand what the page is about, improving both visibility and user experience.
SEO Best Practices for URLs:
- Keep it simple and descriptive: Your URL should accurately describe the content on the page without being overly complex.
- Include the target keyword: Ensure your primary keyword (e.g. “Palatine Hill”) is included in the URL to signal relevance to search engines.
- Avoid keyword stuffing: Don’t overload the URL with unnecessary keywords.
- Use hyphens, not underscores: Search engines treat hyphens as space, making your URL easier to read.
4. PLAN YOUR STRUCTURE
While you’re conducting your keyword research, identifying your high-volume phrases, make sure you’re also paying close attention to the modifiers of that main phrase.
These modifiers help inform how you should structure your page and what subheadings should be used throughout the content.
For example, we found that people were searching for phrases like “alatine Hill tickets”, “alatine Hill facts” and “what is Palatine Hill”. These became sections of the page when we created it, ensuring that we answered common, relevant queries that align with user intent
AI-driven search engines increasingly prioritise content that addresses a wide range of related topics within a given subject. So, identifying semantic relationships and user queries around your main keyword ensures your content aligns with modern search intent. This is particularly true for question-based queries, which now make up a larger portion of search results.
You can also use Google’s predictive search for ideas of sections you should include in your content. These suggestions are based on semantically related phrases that Google’s AI predicts are relevant to your topic. These suggestions give you strong insights into the kinds of questions and content Google believes users are looking for.
Additionally, analysing pages that are already ranking highly for your target phrase can serve as a valuable guide on what sections you should build into your structure. Look for content gaps, common structures, and common questions being addressed. While examining these pages, take note of the header structure and the sections that appear most frequently.
Top Tip: Wikipedia is an excellent source for structured content. Their pages are consistently well-organised, with clear, easy-to-navigate headers that align with both user intent and AI expectations.
When we examined high-ranking pages for “Palatine Hill”, we found headers like What to See on Palatine Hill” and “How to get to Palatine Hill”. We incorporated these same sections into our page, ensuring we aligned with both SE best practices and expectations of AI-driven algorithms.
5. ON PAGE FEATURES
So we know what we are targeting, we know the sections we are going to use, it’s time to start writing.
But there’s more to a great page than just reams of prose.
To give your page the best chance of ranking, you need to make sure you include certain features that illustrate to Google and AI that the content is structured well and includes everything it would expect to find. Here are the key on-page elements to focus on:
Header Tags
A clear and logical header tag structure is critical for both travel SEO and AI-driven search engines. This illustrates how the content is formatted and how the page flows.
- Headings within those sections should be H3 tags.
- Your main title should be an H1 tag (this is typically reserved for your page’s main topic).
- Sub-headers that break up your sections should be H2 tags.
Too often, we see header structure all over the place, because headers are being used for styling instead of structure. That’s a bad habit that many web designers use and you need to get fixed if you’ve been lumbered with it.
(If you’re interested in web design which avoids those bad habits we might be able to help )
Intro Paragraph
You should start your page with a quick summary of the topic and what the page is about.
This allows search engines to immediately identify relevant keywords early on – great for trying to gain featured snippets in the position 0 spot. AI also appreciates content that gets straight to the point, so doing this in your intro paragraph is a great start.
Keep it concise, but ensure it includes your main target keyword. Search engines – and AI – pay close attention to this part of the page, as it helps determine the page’s relevance for specific queries. If anything the intro paragraph is a little long on our Palatine Hill page.
Table of Contents
For longer, in-depth pages, a table of contents (ToC) is a must. A ToC is essentially made up of links that jump to the relevant section on the page.
This is especially true for AI-driven search engines, as it provides a clear view of your page’s structure and makes it easier for Google to crawl and index.
The ToC also improves user experience (UX) by allowing visitors to jump directly to the section they’re most interested in.
Images and Other Media
Good content is not just made up of text, it relates to everything that makes up the page, such as images, video, tables, bullet points and more.
AI-powered search engines are now prioritising content that provides a complete and engaging user experience. Media not only improves UX by making the page more visually appealing, but it also signals to search engines that your content is diverse and well-rounded. This can increase time spent on the page – another ranking factor.
However, this comes with the caveat of ensuring that using images and video doesn’t slow the page down too much. Images should be compressed and optimised for fast loading, while videos should be embedded from platforms like YouTube or Vimeo to ensure they load quickly.
Internal Links
You should always link to other relevant pages on your site from your content. Internal links help Google understand the structure of your website and highlight content that is closely related.
For AI, this is also important as it shows the breadth of content you cover on a particular topic, reinforcing your authority in the field. A strong internal linking strategy builds a “content silo” that search engines use to gauge your site’s depth of knowledge, proving that you’re not just a one-trick pony.
External Links
As above, it makes sense that if you’re an authority on a topic then you’ll reference other good quality sources and authorities.
Google and AI uses links as its key way of indexing the internet, so it follows that they will like pages which help them carry out that job in an effective way.
We often use a further reading section to incorporate this, which also brings with it an added bonus of providing outreach opportunities to tell those people they featured on your page (which may lead to shares and links coming your way).
AI and User Engagement Signals
Finally, in the age of AI, it’s not just about ranking anymore – it’s also about keeping users engaged in your content. Signals such as time on page, scroll depth, and engagement metrics (such as likes or comments on embedded media) can indicate to AI systems that your content is truly valuable and worth ranking.
So, while all the traditional SEO elements like header tags and media are important, ensuring the content resonates with users will ultimately determine how AI evaluates your page’s relevance and authority.
6. PAGE SPEED
Once you’ve written your content, created the page, and uploaded your media, you need to make sure the page loads quickly.
Page speed has always been important, but with AI-driven search models and Google’s Core Web Vitals now influencing rankings, it’s become a critical part of any content performance in SEO.
A slow page – anything that feels sluggish or takes several seconds to load – creates a poor user experience. Users won’t hang around, and search engines and AI tools won’t be interested in delivering it to their users.
High bounce rates, low engagement and poor interaction signals can all hurt your visibility, especially as AI models increasingly use these metrics to determine whether your page satisfies user intent.
To keep your page running smoothly:
- Compress and optimise images so they load quickly without sacrificing quality.
- Lazy-load images and media further down the page to prioritise above-the-fold content.
- Host videos externally (YouTube, Vimeo, etc.) rather than uploading them directly to your site.,
- Enable browser caching and a CDN, especially if your audience is global.
- Minimise heavy scripts, animations and unnecessary page elements that slow things down.
If you’re not happy with it then remove some images or dial back some of the formatting on the page to help make it quicker. Fast-loading, responsive pages are an absolute must now. They directly influence how search engines and AI algorithms view your content’s overall quality, relevance and ability to satisfy users.
BUT WHAT ABOUT KEYWORD DENSITY?
You’ll notice I haven’t talked about keyword density, TF:IDF, LSI, or any of the old-school formulas about how many times a particular phrase should appear on the page. And with good reason.
Modern search engines and AI-driven systems don’t rank content based on how often a keyword is repeated. They interpret intent, meaning a topical relevance using advanced language models. So your focus should always be on writing for users first: creating content that reads naturally, answers real questions, and covers the topic in depth.
If you do that, combined with the guidance in this post, you will naturally end up with a page that has the right phrases included a sufficient amount of times. You don’t need to force it.
There is no magic number that will suddenly make you rank. What matters is whether your content:
- Clearly answers the query
- Covers the wider semantic topic
- Includes the words, concepts and questions AI expects to find
- Demonstrates expertise and relevance
That’s not to say there won’t be some tweaks and honing to do once the page is live, but you’ll be 95% of the way there by following the tips above, without needing to get too technical or aggressive with keyword placement.
FINAL TIPS
There are no guarantees in SEO, so even if you follow all the advice above it’s almost certain some of the content you create will struggle to get anywhere near page 1, and some will flop altogether
Don’t despair.
Different keywords have different levels of difficulty. Sometimes you need supporting content to attract links. Sometimes there are things going on in the search results that we can’t understand. Sometimes AI-driven search prioritises things we can’t fully control. Even as people who spend every day analysing search results, there are still elements that are unpredictable.
What you can control is your process. If you follow this process time after time – choosing the right topics, aligning with search intent, structuring content well, writing for humans first and giving AI everything it needs to understand your page – you will undoubtedly end up with some pages that do hit the mark. And it only takes one or two successful pages to bring you a significant amount of visits from your target audience and gain top rankings.
As you can see with this example, a small independent tour operator has had 30,000 more people become aware of their brand in 2018 because of one well-planned, well-written piece of content.
The best bit? It wasn’t a one-off. The St Peter’s Basilica page brought in more than 18,000 visits, the Colosseum page more than 14,000, and several other pages continue to drive visibility upwards. If you follow the process here for enough pieces of content it will drive more visitors to your site who are interested in what you offer – whether that’s through traditional search or AI results.
In today’s landscape, those pages don’t just perform in “classic” blue-link results – they can also feed into featured snippets, AI Overviews and other answer formats where users first encounter you.
It takes a bit more time and a bit more effort, but if you do it right there is no doubt you can grow your business significantly and sustainably with this approach.
So next time you’re thinking about rushing out a 500-word blog post about the first topic that pops into your head (because you haven’t published anything for a week), nip that thought in the bud. Go back to your keyword research, think carefully about the topic, start some proper planning, and take a strategic approach that actually deserves to rank and be recommended by AI systems to the people who will buy from you.
FAQs
How long should a piece of travel content be?
There’s no perfect word count, but most high-performing travel pages are long enough to fully answer the user’s questions. That usually means 1,500-3,000 words for in-depth guides. Focus on covering the topic properly rather than hitting a number – AI and search engines reward completeness, not length.
How do I make my travel content appear in AI Overviews?
To increase your chances of appearing in AI Overviews, answer questions clearly, structure your page with logical headings, include a short summary at the top and cover all the subtopics people commonly ask. AI Overviews pull from content that’s comprehensive, well-structured and easy to interpret.
How often should I update my travel content?
We’d recommend aiming to review your top pages every 6-12 months. Update facts, prices, opening times, hotel or attraction details, and anything that changes seasonally. Freshness matters even more in an AI-driven search landscape, as AI models prioritise pages that appear current and well-maintained.
Should every travel business write blog posts, or just focus on landing pages?
Both matter. Landing pages target core commercial terms, while well-researched blog posts help you appear for informational queries, build authority and support your main pages with internal links. This mix is even more important with AI shaping search journeys, because people now ask broader, more conversational questions.
About The Author...
Tom is here to steer the ship in the right direction, to ensure what we offer is best in class, and to keep clients and the team happy! Naturally, he loves to travel, but Honduras is a favourite destination after having spent a year there teaching after finishing school.
