Pack Your Slopes and Fill Your Lifts With

Ski Resort SEO

Written By: Joey Randazzo

Joey Randazzo is the owner and Founder of Portland SEO Growth Partners based in Portland, Oregon, near Mt. Hood Skibowl, one of the largest night skiing areas in the United States. He’s worked with hundreds of businesses to build growth-centric SEO campaigns.

Published: October 10th, 2024

Free SEO Audit For Your Ski Resort

Free audits from SEO Growth Partners are not the product of a tool that spits out a simple report. They’re intensively analyzed and customized reports generated by myself (yep, Joey Randazzo, the owner) or one of our SEO strategists. 

It’s a free ride; no attachments or lift passes needed. 

Step 1

Request a 'Free SEO Audit'

This process takes about 2 minutes.

Step 2

Check Your Email

In less than 48 hours, one of our talented SEO specialists will send you a 3-7 minute customized video analysis. It will explain opportunities for you to outperform competitors

Here’s What You Want To See With Your Ski Resort Website and SEO

When Someone Searches “Ski Resorts Near Me,” You Show Up Here…

seo for ski resorts 2

When Someone Searches “Ski Resorts Near Me,” You Show Up Here…

Consider the way people search for ski resorts on Google. They might be locals who have just taken their gear out after a few years and are ready to get back into the action. Or they might be out-of-towners looking to plan their ideal winter vacation halfway across the country. 

Either way, they head to Google and type in something like “Ski resorts near me,” only to click on the FIRST few to show up in the Maps area of Google before calling it a night. This area is called the Google Local Pack, and if our example wasn’t clear enough — it is where you want to be and where SEO can get you. 

When Someone Types “Best Ski Resorts in [City]” Into Google, You Show Up Here…

ski resort seo

When ski buffs are looking for ski resorts, they often use language such as “best ski resorts near me” or “best ski resorts in [city]” to find results.

The ski resorts that use these keywords to rank in that golden Google Local Pack area on Maps are the ones that field practically all of the bookings, phone calls, and website visitors. 

ski resort seo

When Someone Looks for “Best Ski Lessons in Breckenridge” You Show Up Here…

seo for rski resorts 3

When Someone Looks for “Best Ski Lessons in Breckenridge” You Show Up Here…

Powder hounds type tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of questions into Google daily. A lot of these questions might look a little something like this:

  • “What are the largest night ski resorts in Oregon?”
  • “Are there dog-friendly ski resorts?”
  • “Which ski resorts have the most difficult runs?”
  • “Do beginners need lessons to go on green run slopes?”

When you rank for these keywords, Google recognizes that your website has “authority” and can be trusted, therefore increasing your odds of ranking for other related keywords in the future. 

See the Common Trend? If You Want Your Ski Resort To Be the Peak Choice of Snow Sports Enthusiasts, You’ll Need to Increase Your Online and SEO Presence

How Do You Get Packed Powder Results With SEO Ski Resort Services?

Step #1: Comprehensive SEO Audit

Most SEO companies miss this most essential step. 

After all, how can you improve your SEO if you don’t know your current position or where to even start?

A comprehensive audit conducted by SEO Growth Partners includes: 

  • Analyzing your current SEO performance
  • Conducting a technical SEO performance audit
  • Determining what your local competitors are doing
  • Pinpointing your current SEO errors
  • And more

Step #2: Create a Roadmap Based on Data

Our initial SEO and local SEO visibility audit will provide us with plenty of data to determine the best, holistic strategy for your campaign. By creating an organized and detailed roadmap, we can easily outline the best SEO plan and jump into action. 

SEO for ski resorts should be strategized based on priority data.. Google’s algorithm is highly analytic in how it favors SEO endeavors. You can’t just go off a hunch in an effort to sway its indulgences. 

We recommend creating a comprehensive roadmap based on even the smallest pieces of data. For example, if the data from your audit suggests that your website is loading very slowly (which may negatively impact performance), you should probably focus on fixing that at some point. We might suggest taking a look at the size of the images on your website for some minor adjustments. 

Step #3: Implement High Priority First Changes

Here’s the kicker:

Some SEO activities are just better than others. 

You can add high-authority internal links to a blog post from 2018, but this will not have the same impact as improving the content and framework of your homepage.

To start your SEO campaign on the right foot, you should first target the ” low-hanging fruit” opportunities.

Don’t have a Google Business Profile set up for your ski resort? Create one! Don’t have an Events or Booking page? You should probably build those first before worrying about whether your page headers are perfectly formatted.

Step #4: Local SEO Best Practices and Content Creation at Scale

Local SEO for ski resorts comes down to the following:

  • Accurate, user-friendly information
  • Authority
  • Consistent information that Google trusts

Google is picky about accuracy. After all, “Google” wouldn’t have become a verb if it had not been infamous for finding reliable and unerring information with just a few convenient searches. 

So, if your business’s website has a different phone number or address than what’s on your Google My Business or Facebook page, Google might consider that a red flag. 

If Google chooses to rank your business, it can’t be certain that a user will actually get through to you if they attempt to call.

If they choose to rank your business in the Google Local Pack, they can’t trust that a user will be able to call you if the information isn’t correct. Thus potentially damaging their reputation for providing accurate search results. 

Having consistent name, address, and phone numbers (NAPs) on high-authority directories across the internet is the cornerstone to proving your company’s genuineness and reliability.

Now, regarding “authority,” that’s where content reigns supreme. Suppose you happen to create content that answers your target audience’s questions and provides valuable insight that makes you appear to be the expert on the matter. In that case, Google will see your business as far more authoritative than a ski resort that doesn’t provide the same content on its site.

Step #5: Meticulously Track Data

The goal of SEO is to have a substantial impact on your ski resort. We’re talking about an increase in website visitors and phone calls, and ultimately, those activities lead to increased revenue, such as bookings or purchased passes. 

To ensure your digital marketing campaign is performing at peak level, you have to track data. This is something we at SEO Growth Partners pride ourselves on. With our help, you can gain access to a comprehensive dashboard that gives insights into your:

  • Keyword rankings
  • Website visitors
  • Phone calls
  • And other important KPIs

Ski Resort SEO Services Shouldn't Be 🍪 Cutter - Everything Is 100% Customized To Your Business

Each type of SEO has things that will work well and things that will not. SEO for ski resorts isn’t the same as other types of SEO, like for roofing contractors or skincare brands. Unfortunately, many general SEO companies neglect to make the distinction. Using the same “song and dance” for every client regardless of industry is not the best strategy, and overall, it’s just lazy. 

Our approach to SEO is unique to each of our client’s businesses. By taking an individualized approach to each individual industry (such as ski resorts) and business, we can create a fully curated campaign tailored to your specific city or state (skiing in upstate New York is different from skiing in Oregon or Colorado) and your specific website. 

So, whether you are looking for an SEO agency in Bend for your ski resort or an SEO agency for your national business selling luxury rabbit credenzas, we promise a quality partnership complete with phenomenal content, a personalized campaign, and guaranteed results. 

5 Strategic Goals To Increase Mountain Momentum With Local SEO for Ski Resorts

Strategy 1: Google Business Profile Optimizations

Here is an example of a ski resort’s Google Business Profile:

seo for ski resorts

To be specific, this is an example of the front end of a Google Business Profile — the part that is visible to someone searching on Google.

Why do Google Business Profiles matter to SEO?

Well, Google Business Profiles are central ranking factors for a business to score that prized position in the Google Local Pack. In case you forgot what the Google Local Pack is, here’s another example:

If you successfully optimize your Google Business Profile, this is where your ski resort will live in the results. 

Remember, the Google Local Pack is the winner’s circle. Being up there in the results guarantees you more phone calls and website visitors than your competitors.

Here’s the golden question: How do you go about properly optimizing your Google Business Profile so you get placed in the Google Local Pack?

You have to be comprehensive, correct, and clear. 

There are many sections that provide ample opportunity for thorough information, such as:

  • Your categories
  • Your main description
  • Your services
  • Your products
  • Your photos

Here’s an example illustrating the difference between an ideal GBP and a not-so-ideal GBP:

For the main description, your first instinct might be to just write a sentence like, “We are a top-notch ski resort with 4,627 acres of terrain accessible via 12 lifts and accompanied with lodging.”

That sounds alright, but that’s only one sentence and doesn’t set you apart from resorts that have more or less acreage and also provide lodging. Google offers the opportunity to describe your business in 750 characters for the main description. That’s plenty to use to your advantage! 

Do you offer packages for group passes? Do you have different amenities like bars, wifi, and expansive parking? Do you host events with live music or have other cool things to do for the non-skiers of the family?

The more details you include, the more opportunities you will have to showcase your ski resort and become more valuable to your users (and, again, Google). Optimizing your GBP to the fullest extent involves providing as many details as possible within Google’s limits. 

Strategy 2: On-Page SEO for Your Homepage and Location Pages

On-page SEO for ski resorts simply refers to the content on your website.

This includes things like your:

  • Title tags
  • Meta description
  • Header tags (H1, H2, H3)
  • Internal and external links
  • Images

And pretty much anything that is relevant enough to put on your page. 

Why exactly does on-page SEO for ski resorts matter? Well, Google cares a lot about it. One, it affects how it understands what the page is about and indexes your web pages accordingly based on relevant keywords or keyword phrases. Two, it breaks up the content in a way that makes it easier for users to find what they’re looking for. 

From a local SEO perspective, the homepage is the most important page on a single-location ski resort’s website. For multi-location ski resorts, the most important pages on their websites are their location pages.

While practicing on-page SEO for this type of content, you want to implement SEO-friendly tactics through keywords. Still, your main priority should be to provide as much comprehensive information as possible to the user (and Google).

For example, instead of relying on a basic title tag like “The Ski Resort – 503.444.4444,” you can dress it up for Google and users by creating something like “Best Ski Resort in Bend – The Ski Resort.” Google loves creativity and so do prospective clients. 

Strategy 3: Website Architecture Best Practices

This is another SEO strategy for ski resorts that is way underrated. Your website architecture and your sitemap are intrinsically connected. Adding the best content with keywords is key, but it won’t help you much if your users and Google cannot navigate these pages. 

Here’s why: Google uses your sitemap to gain information about your website architecture while “crawling” it. This allows Google to understand what your website is about and what the goal of your content is. 

Here’s what a simple sitemap might look like to Google:

seo for ski resorts

Seems confusing, right? Well, don’t worry too much about it. This information is mostly important to Google and web developers. All you need to know is that when Google crawls a sitemap like this, it’s weaving together what your website is about (which is really important for local SEO and search result visibility).

What we’re trying to say here is that your website structure should be structured as a hierarchy. For example, ski resorts are a great place for someone to learn how to ski or snowboard. If you offer both of these classes, you should have them on your website in an easy-to-find and organized manner. 

But should these pages live on your site? First, you would need a “lessons” page with a URL structure similar to .com/lessons/.

Now, any specific types of lessons that you offer can live under this main lessons page, as seen below:

  • .com/lessons/skiing
  • .com/lessons/snowboarding

While this may seem obvious, many ski resort websites do this wrong (or fail to do it at all). There’s no hierarchical architecture that makes sense to Google. Instead, every page lives directly under the homepage, as shown below:

  • com/events/
  • .com/skiing-classes/
  • .com/lodging/
  • .com/tickets
  • .com/passes

Using this structure, it’s not clear to Google that “Skiing Classes” is a particular service you offer. Instead, it’s just another random page on your site. 

Strategy 4: Content Creation at Scale

Content creation centered around valuable keywords is where the main magic happens. Like we mentioned, winter sport enthusiasts search for thousands of questions on Google every day. 

Some are predominantly local:

  • Best ski resorts in Oregon
  • Best deals on ski lift passes in Mt. Hood

Others are absolutely generic:

  • Do I need to wax my skis for storage?
  • How to size a snowboard?
  • What gear do you need for backcountry skiing?
  • What type of skis are best for beginners?

If you go about answering these types of inquiries with comprehensive blog articles and landing pages on your website, two things may happen:

  1. Google ranks your article for these keywords, therefore driving traffic to your site.
  2. Google will take notice of your increased performance and think, “Woah, all of these ski and ski resort-related questions are being answered so well by this one website. It must be very valuable to users and more valuable than local competitors. I should make it so that users find this website first.”

Google is very logical about how it ranks websites. If you respond logically by providing the best content with the best SEO practices, Google will give you the best spots in the rankings.  

Strategy 5: User Experience is a Bigger Deal Than You Think - Stop the Keyword Stuffing!

The days of early SEO strategies are dead and gone (because Google killed all the pages that were still implementing those cheap strategies, sequestering them to live on the fourth and beyond result page). 

Greedy keyword stuffing… Private blog network (PBN) link building… All the stuff that used to work until Google wisened up and realized these were manipulation tactics that were spammy and overall not user-oriented.

Google is increasingly getting smarter. And that is a good thing for everyone. With Google beginning to put more emphasis on the importance of a user’s experience on a website, you can explore even more ways to exhibit how your ski resort stands out from the rest.

What does this mean for ski resorts like yours?

Well, for starters, it means you should prioritize tactics that Make it easy for users to find what they’re looking for. In the age of overnight shipping and instant streaming, no one wants to spend 5 minutes figuring out how to book a room in a ski-in ski-out resort. In fact, users are more likely to click out of your site if it takes too long to find what they want and need. 

So, make it easier for users to contact you by having easy access to booking and scheduling. Provide clear information on pricing for day passes, lessons, etc. Show them what their rooms will look like with a galley. Do everything in your power to make the user’s experience easier than a bunny hill during a non-holiday weekday. 

You should actually offer value to the reader when writing content. Long gone (and good riddance) are the days of outsourcing copywriters who produce low-quality, keyword-stuffed articles that never really answer any of the questions you’re looking for. Your content needs to shine by answering questions users have to a tee and always providing a little more valuable, engaging content just to top it off. 

On Average, Our Ski Resort SEO Services Cost

31% Less Than Other SEO Companies

Compared to Other SEO Companies That Average Between $1.5k and $3k Per Month.

FAQs on Ski Resort SEO Services

What Is Ski Resort SEO?

SEO for ski resorts is a type of digital marketing designed to help ski resorts increase their visibility in search engines, generally Google (because, let’s be honest, who uses Bing?)

There are different forms of SEO strategies for ski resorts that vastly vary, and like a Patagonia vest bought from a REI vs. one bought off of Amazon, not all are created equal. 

Common strategies we rely on to get our clients ranking and ranking in conversions include:

  • Content creation
  • Keyword research
  • Google Maps optimizations
  • Landing page creation
  • Local SEO
  • Off-page SEO
  • On-page SEO
  • PR 
  • And more

Strategies you will want to avoid and may run into from lower-quality SEO companies include:

  • AI-generated content
  • Blog spam
  • Cloaking
  • Duplicate content
  • Keyword stuffing
  • Harmful backlinks
  • Spamming links
  • And more

Many of our clients come to us after already pouring money into an SEO company that just did not yield results or, worse, angered the algorithm and tanked their ranking. 

So, if bad SEO practices have gotten your digital presence in a tree hole, SEO Growth Partners will be the ones to successfully dig you out!

Why Is SEO Important for Ski Resorts?

SEO for ski resorts is important because it lets you get in front of your target audience at the most convenient time. People looking for ski resorts on Google aren’t searching just for fun; they’re actively planning a trip and want to find a resort just like yours to attend. Whether they’re new to skiing or experienced ski and snowboard fanatics, your SEO campaign can comprehensively target both to increase your clientele. 

Consider how social media marketing for ski resorts works: People often scroll through social media, maybe after or before work or during a break. Maybe they’ve been thinking about planning a trip to the mountains, or perhaps they haven’t even begun planning their usual winter vacation. They stumble upon an advertisement for a ski resort or a new line of snowboards and skis. They may have been actively looking for a ski resort, but it’s pretty unlikely. 

On one hand, this is how modern advertising works. The algorithm just so happens to read your mind and put what you didn’t even know you wanted right in front of you. On the other hand, SEO allows you to leverage this by placing you in front of motivated clients who will see those advertisements and search for ski resorts on Google. 

Because, how often do you see an advertisement on Instagram or Facebook and actually click the advertisement link? Like you, most people see something they like or may be interested in and head straight to Google to type “ski resorts in Bend” or “best ski resorts in Utah.” Ranking for those keywords will often result in a much higher conversion than people scrolling through Instagram. 

How Long Does SEO for Ski Resorts Take To Work?

It depends. Ski resort SEO can take anywhere from one week to six months until you start seeing results. This depends on a variety of factors, including:

  • How big of a city you’re in
  • How long your website has been around for
  • How high your website’s “domain authority” is
  • How your current SEO is performing
  • And much more

Some of our clients have seen phone calls two to three times within a month of beginning their SEO campaign, while others don’t see noticeable increases for two to three months.

We often explain SEO as farming, not hunting. It takes time to plow and fertilize the fields, but once this is done correctly, your online presence will thrive. 

Consider this:

If every ski resort in the state of Colorado could make a couple of tweaks on their website and Google Business Profile only to be ranking overnight for the HIGHEST value keywords out there, like “best ski resort in Colorado,” then the internet would be more chaotic than a ski lift line the week after Christmas.

Seeing overnight success with your SEO for ski resorts is not feasible. These things take time because Google built their algorithms that way on purpose.

What Ski Resort KPIs Should Be Tracked?

SEO for ski resorts should be closely and consistently tracked. 

Investing in your digital marketing is not a cheap endeavor; you’ll want to be certain that the money you are investing will be worthwhile and make you money.  

Because of this, you need to track specific metrics to guarantee that your campaign is working, metrics, such as:

  • Keyword rankings: How are your keywords ranking? Are the most important keywords ranking on Page 1 of Google? How are your keyword rankings changing weekly and monthly?
  • Organic website traffic: Is your organic website traffic from Google increasing or decreasing? Which keywords are driving the most traffic to your site?
  • Online lead submissions: Are you seeing more online leads during your campaign? How are these trends changing month over month?
  • Phone calls: When a potential client calls to ask questions or make a reservation, be sure to ask them how they found you. Is your resort getting more phone calls from people searching on Google? How are phone calls changing over time? Are you seeing more phone calls from Google than your other marketing methods?

What Type of SEO Content Should Be Featured on Ski Resort Websites?

Ski resort SEO should include robust and valuable content that your target audience is consistently searching for on Google:

So, how do we know precisely what keywords and content will target your ideal audience? We use one of the many data-rich, advanced software and tools that provide us with insider information and data. For example, we can find out how many people are searching for “ski lessons Colorado” and know that that number is 210 people per month (on average).

With that being said, we don’t just cherry-pick a few interesting keywords and say, “That’s it. We have all we need.” We perform extensive keyword research and competitor analysis to determine which keywords are the most valuable. 

Our research might dig up high-quality questions, such as:

  • “What size skis do I need?”
  • “How long is ski season in Oregon?”
  • “Is snowboarding or skiing easier?”

If you create content centered around answering these questions, then you can climb the mountain of hundreds of results and potentially rank in Google when people search for these queries.

If you properly leverage these keywords with high-quality and user-friendly content, Google will favor your site more than competitors because you will appear to be the authority on the matter. 

What Are the Most Valuable Ski Resort Keywords for SEO?

Curious to see what keywords your potential clients are searching for in your industry? Good thing we did a quick search and found that the following keywords may help increase your rankings and improve your ski resort SEO tactics. 

Turn Your Ski Resort SEO From a Green Run To a Black Run With the Help of SEO Growth Partners

First of all, we don’t work with just any ski resorts. We are the best of the best, and we are here to get serious results for clients who are serious about long-term growth and success.

We only work with ski resorts that:

  • Are eager to expand their business and see a soar in clientele.
  • Have the bandwidth to take on the growth associated with partnering with us.
  • Treat their employees and their customers as well as they treat their favorite board or set of skis.

If that sounds like you, we invite you to follow the process below so we can begin a beautiful partnership and rocket your business into success. 

Even though Portland is in our name, we specialize in local and nationwide SEO practices. Whether you are in Bend, Oregon, searching for SEO for ski resorts, or in Ski Country, New York looking for something similar, we understand how to analyze your market and run a successful digital marketing campaign.

Step 1

Request a 'Free SEO Audit'

This process takes about 2 minutes.

Step 2

Check Your Email

In less than 24 hours, one of our talented SEO specialists will send you a 3-5 minute customized video analysis. It will explain opportunities for you to outperform competitors.

Step 3

Sit Back And Watch Your SEO Skyrocket

Just look at our case studies of the success that other Portland businesses have seen. You can have the same results.

Searching for SEO services for ski resorts? We’d be more than happy to help. Give us a call or email us today to learn more about our pricing and availability.

Let's Take Your Ski Resort From the "best kept secret" to the "most sought after brand"