When I was doing my Digital Marketing internship, our team had a client – Globaleventstravels.com. The client needed help with SEO and ads to improve their website visibility and reach more travellers online.
One of my key roles was to optimise trek-related blog posts and pages. This included destinations such as the Manali Kasol Trek, which I successfully ranked on the second page of Google search results, a big improvement from its earlier low visibility.
With a planned strategy and consistent work, I was able to rank many of their trek pages higher on Google. In this SEO case study blog, I’ll share step-by-step what I did, the tools I used, the challenges I faced, and the results we achieved. If you’re wondering how to rank a travel blog, this real-world travel blog SEO guide will help you get started.
1. Understanding the Client and Project Goals
The first step of any SEO project is understanding the client’s business.
Globaleventstravels.com is a travel company offering treks, expeditions, and custom travel experiences. Their website already had a blog section and trek pages, but many were not ranking well.
The project goals were:
- Improve search rankings for priority trek pages and blogs.
Increase organic traffic from Google. - Make the blog content useful and engaging for travellers.
Over my six-month internship, I worked on 30+ SEO-optimised blog posts and optimised multiple trek pages.
2. Researching Competitors – Learning from Others
When learning how to rank a travel blog, analysing competitors is one of the best starting points. I began by checking travel websites that were already ranking for our target trek keywords, such as “Manali Kasol Trek”.
Where I studied about:
- Blog writing styles.
- The keywords they targeted.
- How they structured content and headings.
- Their use of images and internal links.
From this, I identified content gaps and opportunities. I then created blog posts that would answer more traveller queries and provide better value than our competitors.
3. Keyword Research – Finding the Right Words to Rank
The next step in my travel blog SEO guide was keyword research — understanding what travellers type into Google.
I used:
- Google Keyword Planner – to find keyword search volumes.
- Soovle – to collect ideas from multiple platforms.
- Ahrefs – to check keyword difficulty.
- SEO Quake – to analyse on-page SEO of competitors.
I targeted keywords with a high search volume which were not very competitive.
4. Writing and Optimising the Blog Posts
Once I had my keywords, I ensured each blog post followed a clear optimisation process:
- Keyword-rich, catchy title
- Introduction that tells readers exactly what they’ll learn
- Content divided with H2 and H3 headings
- Images with relevant alt text containing keywords
- Internal links to other trek blogs and pages
- Incorporating keywords in meta title and description
- Usage of Yoast SEO plugin in WordPress to monitor on-page SEO and readability.
With the Manali Kasol Trek page, I made sure the keyword appeared naturally in: - The headline
- First paragraph
- Subheadings
- Image alt tags
- Meta description
In addition to on-page SEO, I also worked on off-page SEO by creating a few quality backlinks for important trek pages. These backlinks assisted in gaining domain authority and in improved google rankings.
5. Indexing and Monitoring Performance
After publishing each post, I:
- Submitted the URL to Google Search Console.
- Checked indexing status.
- Monitored rankings.
- The consistent analysis of SEO by pagespeed insights and screaming frog allowed me to correct the lack of alt tags, broken connections, and poor performing keywords.
6. Reporting to the Client
I provided monthly SEO reports showing:
- Which pages had improved rankings.
- Keyword positions.
- Growth in organic visitors.
- Recommendations for priority content focus.
These reports made it clear to the client which strategies worked best.
7. The Results – Ranking Trek Pages on Google
After a few months of consistent SEO work, the results were clear:
- Organic blog traffic increased steadily.
- Several trek pages reached the first and second pages of Google search results.
- Ranking the page of the “Manali Kasol Trek” on the second page of the Google search results was one of the biggest achievements. It was due to the keywords research, effective content optimisation and by adding the quality backlinks.
8. Key Tips from My SEO Case Study
Here’s a simplified travel blog SEO guide based on my learnings:
- Know your audience – Understand what travellers search for before writing.
- Do competitor analysis – See what’s working for others, improve it.
- Target the right keywords – Avoid overly broad or highly competitive ones.
- Write valuable content – Answer real traveller questions.
- Optimise SEO – Utilise keywords but in a natural manner; employ internal linking, optimise photos and add quality backlinks
- Track your performance – by monitoring work on it using Search Console.
- Be patient and consistent – SEO is a gradual process.
Final Thoughts – How to Rank a Travel Blog
Ranking a travel blog takes patience, research, and quality content. This case study proves that consistent optimisation works .Our trek pages improved steadily, and the Manali Kasol Trek even reached the second page of Google.
When you know your audience and select appropriate keywords, and continuously improve your content, your blog will automatically increase its reach.