For most tour operators, their top priority for their website is turning clicks into customers – in other words, having a high conversion rate. A fundamental part of driving conversions is analyzing your current performance…

In most of our SEO guides, you hear us talk about how to optimize for Google, the biggest search engine out there with around 83% of the search engine market share (Statista). But there’s another…

When you publish a new page to your website, it gets indexed by Google. The Google crawler analyzes the page for content and meaning and stores it in the index. This way it will show…

A logo represents a company and its brand identity. As with all of your marketing assets, your logo should be on brand with your chosen color scheme, fonts, and images. This will help distinguish your…

We’ve long been conditioned to equate SEO success with ranking – a website’s position on the search engine results page (SERP) for a given keyword. It’s only natural to strive for the top spot. We’ve…

There are so many different aspects to SEO, from technical considerations like schema markup to content, keywords, and local strategies. So when you’re putting together your SEO strategy, it can be difficult to know where…

Developing successful content doesn’t happen overnight. From researching your audience to analyzing search intent and choosing the right keywords, there’s always room for improvement when creating content for your website.  When you spend a lot…

You’re probably familiar with the must-have pages that ensure a great user experience on your website, like a contact page and home page. Apart from these common inclusions, there are several other pages you should…

Traveling alone is a unique and exciting experience that everyone from Baby Boomers to Gen Zers is eager to have, creating a valuable opportunity for tour and activity operators. Marketing to solo travelers is a…

An update from Google in 2021 changed how the search engine indexes and ranks web pages. Known as the Passage Ranking update, this change means that Google now ranks specific passages of content in addition…

If you’ve spent some time perusing FareHarbor Compass, you’ve likely noticed us using anchor text. Anchor text is the text used in a link. It might say “learn more,” “our favorite kayak routes,” or “find…

Reporting can feel like a very daunting task. Updating sheets every month and pulling out important insights takes up a lot of time. If you identify with those statements, we encourage you to start using…

You’ve heard us say many times that your website is your number one sales tool. When a user lands on your website, you have a chance to convert them into a customer through great copy,…

If you’ve been working on a link building strategy, you know it takes time to gain quality backlinks to your website. But inevitably, some backlinks will become broken over time, either because the page doesn’t…

After putting the time and effort into improving your site’s SEO, you’ll surely want to know how your site is performing! Has your site moved up in position on the SERP for your target keyword?…

On-page SEO covers the content on your individual web pages as well as the HTML source code of a page. While off-page SEO refers to technical topics like links and other external signals, on-page SEO…

There are so many different categories of search engine optimization – hopefully, you’ve checked out part one of our Ultimate SEO Guide that covers on-page SEO – and technical SEO is one of the most important…

Web accessibility can feel overwhelming if you’re just learning about it for the first time, especially as you parse out laws, guidelines, and misconceptions. You may think it’s too complicated, time-consuming, or just not that…

Understanding how your content is performing in the search engine results page (SERP) isn’t always a straightforward process. Whether you’re new to tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console or you’ve just mastered the…

Many tour operators — and all types of business owners — base business decisions off of metrics such as weekly sales accruals, customer feedback, and gut feelings. But when you’re looking to build your bottom…

One of the most important steps of link building is finding websites or bloggers whose content resonates with you – or better yet, with your audience. But before you take the leap and reach out…

Another Google algorithm update? That’s right! While Google typically does not share what changes to expect from algorithm updates, SEO experts believe that the June and July Core Updates, like most others, focused on quality…

If you do any tracking on your website or social media profiles (using tools like Google Analytics and Facebook Pixel), you’re probably familiar with tags. These snippets of code help you collect data by specifying…

Your tour or activity website is your time to shine — it’s where you get to show the world what’s fun and unique about the experiences you offer — and you’ve probably spent a lot…

Keeping users engaged on your website for longer sessions is essential for boosting conversions and improving user experience. If you’ve read our guide on bounce rate and engagement rate in Google Analytics, you know that…

Have you noticed a high bounce rate when analyzing your website data on Google Analytics? If so, you might be wondering how important this metric really is and what it means for your website traffic.…

Misinformation is unfortunately common in the world of SEO. From buying backlinks to using exact-match keywords, SEO misconceptions can be confusing and distract you from the main goal of SEO – to drive more visitors…

It’s common in our industry for businesses to be multilingual. A tour operator in Puerto Rico often speaks both Spanish and English, while an operator in the Netherlands might speak Dutch, English, and German (among…

In the tourism industry, it’s common for businesses to have websites in more than one language. For example, if you run a sightseeing tour business in England, you may have English, French, and Spanish versions…

Google Analytics 4 is a new type of property that will give you a more complete understanding of your customers across devices, as well as essential insights to prepare for future marketing decisions. The new…

A big change came to Google in 2021, with additional updates on the way – specifically, the search engine’s growing emphasis on user experience. In May 2020, Google announced Page Experience, an update to search…

A redirect allows you to send users and search engines to a URL that is different from the one they originally requested. For example, if you’ve moved your website to a new domain, you don’t…

We’ve all visited a site that takes too long to load and when that happens we navigate away to another site in the SERP. That is a bad experience for the user, and is detrimental…

If you’ve read our introductory guide on the importance of mobile-first indexing you already know why it is a critical part of your website and online strategy. The next step is to thoroughly vet your…

It’s been a while for many of us, but think back to your most recent vacation. Did you bring your laptop along with you? And if you did, did you lug it around with you…

The FareHarbor Lightframe – where online customers browse and complete their booking – offers many benefits to users. From the Lightframe users can see the entire booking process on a single page, and can complete…

After browsing our search engine optimization guides, you’ve probably noticed that the term SERP – Search Engine Results Page – comes up somewhat frequently. That’s because an important part of any successful SEO strategy requires…

You’re within striking distance of the coveted first page of Google – you’ve been running periodic SEO audits, creating quality content, and targeting keywords that fit your business – but your site is still hovering…

No matter what kind of tours or activities you provide, it’s essential to know who your competitors are and to be able to identify what makes your business stand out from the competition. Knowing these…

When you run a small business, you often find yourself wearing many hats, including designer and marketer. This can be especially stressful when you don’t have the funds to purchase expensive software or the time…

One of the top benefits of writing detailed tour/activity descriptions is that it reduces the number of people calling with questions about the experience, freeing up more time for you to manage other aspects of…

On its own, Google Ads is an excellent platform to manage your paid advertising campaigns and gain visibility in the SERPs. When paired with Google Analytics you gain new insight into how searchers interact with…

Your website is the first impression of your business, and conducting a web search is a common first step for those looking to make a tour or activity booking. If your website is properly optimized…

Your ‘About Us’ page is one of your first chances to make a good impression on visitors to your website. Potential bookers read your About page to learn who you are, what matters to you,…

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by Google Analytics to the point you just don’t bother with it? Or perhaps you have GA set up, but you’re not sure the best ways to use it or…

Google is the gold standard for search engines, and although they don’t reveal their algorithm secrets, their many free tools provide important indicators and resources to help improve your rankings. Because of this, using Google’s…

You know that the experiences you provide are fun, exciting, and memorable, but your potential customers don’t know that unless you write an impactful tour description that compels them to hit that book button. Writing…

You’ve heard us say that your website is one of your best sales tools, and it certainly is. In a time where virtual communication is more important than ever your website is a window into…

Communicating health and safety standards for your tours and activities is a crucial aspect of the new normal for our industry. People want to get back to doing the activities they love, and they want…

The ease of online booking has helped to transform the way people learn about and plan travel, tours, and activities. But sometimes a potential guest could have a last-minute question that just can’t wait, or…

When a potential customer finds your company on Google, they will most likely land on your homepage first. Once they click on your company in the SERP (search engine results page) and your homepage starts…

Having a website is an essential component of any business, large or small, and it’s particularly important for tour and activity operators. Travelers today are looking for ease and convenience when they’re making their travel…

Schema markup, a structured data vocabulary, is a semantic vocabulary of tags or microdata you can add to your site’s HTML to tell search engines how you want them to display your pages in the…

In addition to website best practices for SEO, user experience, and online sales, accessibility is another essential component of your website. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was created in 1990 to ensure that people…

Link building is a combination of creating quality content, understanding what your audience wants to see, and getting a sense of how your competitors rank for similar keywords and content. If you’ve read our guide…

Word of mouth and referrals have always been a cornerstone of the tours and activities industry, and while they are some of the best ways to create loyalty and foster trust, they don’t have as…

When you’ve put a lot of time and energy into search engine optimization, it can feel frustrating when your website doesn’t rank well on the search engine results page (SERP). Although it can take three…

Tour operators love guests who book and plan their trip well in advance, but not all travelers are planners. Last-minute and in-destination bookings are inevitable as travelers go with the flow and decide to book…

There are a lot of how-to’s on navigating Google Analytics, including what each report means and how to properly set up various filters, custom segments, referral exclusions, and just about every feature that’s available on…

If you’ve been reading our SEO guides, you know there are plenty of tools out there that business owners can use to refine their SEO strategy. But especially for small businesses, paid premium tools can…

Duplicate content is just what it sounds like — content that appears on the internet in more than one place. Since that “one place” is defined as any location with a unique URL, duplicate content…

Booking vacations is an exciting experience, but it also requires a lot of research from the traveler’s perspective. Customer journey maps are a great tool to visually represent your customers’ experiences from beginning to end,…

This is a question that every business owner with a website will ask themselves at some point. You’ve worked on making your new website the best it can be or refreshed your existing site, and…

When it comes to your online presence and SEO, your domain name is one of the most important factors to consider. Your domain should reflect your brand, help you rank in SEO searches, and be…

If you stay on top of SEO news, you’re probably familiar with the dreaded algorithm update. But what does an algorithm update mean for your website? As Google learns more about how users interact with…

Your company’s website should have two main goals: to make your business and activities discoverable in search engines and to convert visitors into customers. Optimizing your website helps you achieve these goals by giving your…

Google Analytics is one of the most popular and useful digital marketing tools you should have in your arsenal – and it’s free to use! Google Analytics has an abundance of uses but broadly speaking…

Historically, tour and activity operators were able to rely on word of mouth and in-destination bookings such as walk-ups or concierge desks. However, due to the rise of online search engines and social media, the…

Imagine you’re planning a trip to Puerto Rico and you’ve been browsing the web for tour and activity ideas. You’ve found a couple of tours that take guests to popular waterfalls in El Yunque Rainforest…

A call to action, or CTA, is a statement that directs readers to take a single action by prompting them or telling them exactly what to do next. If you have a website, you already…

Why Electronic Waivers Are Important Electronic waivers – just like traditional paper waivers –  are a useful tool for protecting tour and activity operators from negligence liability. Whether a company offers high-adrenaline zip line rides…

Writing killer content is one of the most important parts of digital marketing, and it’s a great tool to rank organically in search engines and to establish you as an industry expert. Getting started with…

Keywords are the terms and phrases that describe the content of a page, and they’re what searchers type into search engines to find the content they’re looking for. Skillful use of keywords is one of…

No matter how big or small your company is, it’s important to have a secure website. You’ve probably read about data and website security and the rise of online fraud, from phishing breaches to data…

What is SEO? SEO stands for search engine optimization. It’s the process of improving your website so that it attracts quality traffic and enjoys prime visibility on the search engine results pages (SERPs). Most people…