Best Web-site Structure/ SEO Strategy for an online travel agency?

[qualistay]

Dear Experts!

I need your help with pointing me in the right direction. So far I have found scattered tips around the Internet but it's hard to make a full picture with all these bits and pieces of information without a professional advice. My primary goal is to understand how I should build my online travel agency web-site’s (https://qualistay.com) structure, so that I target my keywords on correct pages and do not create a duplicate content.

In my particular case I have very similar properties in similar locations in Tenerife. Many of them are located in the same villa or apartment complex, thus, it is very hard to come up with the unique description for each of them. Not speaking of amenities and pricing blocks, which are standard and almost identical (I don’t know if Google sees it as a duplicate content).

From what I have read so far, it’s better to target archive pages rather than every single property. At the moment my archive pages are:

• all properties (includes all property types and locations),
• a page for each location (includes all property types).

Does it make sense adding archive pages by property type in addition OR in stead of the location ones if I, for instance, target separate keywords like 'villas costa adeje' and 'apartments costa adeje'? At the moment, the title of the respective archive page "Properties to rent in costa adeje: villas, apartments" in principle targets both keywords...

Does using the same keyword in a single property listing cannibalize archive page ranking it is linking back to? Or not, unless Google specifically identifies this as a duplicate content, which one can see in Google Search Console under HTML Improvements and/or archive page has more incoming links than a single property?

If targeting only archive pages, how should I optimize them in such a way that they stay user-friendly. I have created (though, not yet fully optimized) descriptions for each archive page just below the main header. But I have them partially hidden (collapsible) using a JS in order to keep visitors’ focus on the properties. I know that Google does not rank hidden content high, at least at the moment, but since there is a new algorithm Mobile First coming up in the near future, they promise not to punish mobile sites for a collapsible content and will use mobile version to rate desktop one. Does this mean I should not worry about hidden content anymore or should I move the descirption to the bottom of the page and make it fully visible?

Your feedback will be highly appreciated!

Thank you!

Dmitry

[NgEF]

Hi,

Cool question! I previously ran a startup that was essentially an aggregator, something similar to an OTA, but we were aggregating classes instead of properties/homestays. I found that the best way to structure the site was some thing like this:

1. Home (Targeting the biggest, baddest keyword you can find)
https://qualistay.com/

1.2 Category pages
Broad keywords in each category (in your case, 'tenerife south apartments for rent' etc)
You currently have this as https://qualistay.com/properties/tenerife/ 
I'd have gone with creating multiple 'category' pages like 
https://qualistay.com/tenerife-south/apartments
https://qualistay.com/tenerife-south/villas
https://qualistay.com/tenerife-north/apartments
https://qualistay.com/tenerife-north/villas

1.2.1 Sub-Category pages
Still relatively broad, but more specific keywords
You didn't choose to sub-categorize these pages even more, but here's what I would have done:
https://qualistay.com/tenerife-south/apartments/adeje
https://qualistay.com/tenerife-south/villas/adeje
https://qualistay.com/tenerife-south/apartments/arico
https://qualistay.com/tenerife-south/villas/arico
https://qualistay.com/tenerife-south/apartments/granadilla-de-abona

1.2.1.1 Property pages
Specific keywords
https://qualistay.com/tenerife-south/villas/playa-de-las-americas/villa-victoria
These pages would tend be targeting the so-called 'brand keyword' of each individual property.

Structuring your site this was enables you to include the targeted keywords in your URLs and enables you to rank almost every single page efficiently based purely on the location of each property. In this manner, you would be able to rank for the top tier keywords which I'm guessing is 'tenerife villas' and 'tenerife apartments', the 2nd tier keywords which would be 'tenerife south villas for rent', 'tenerife south apartments for rent' and the 3rd tier keywords which would be 'playa de las americas villas for rent'. You also get the benefit of ranking for each individual property's 'brand name' like 'villa victora tenerife south'.

If the property happens to fall on the same building, then you can sub-categorize it even further like 
https://qualistay.com/tenerife-south/villas/playa-de-las-americas/villa-victoria/level-1
https://qualistay.com/tenerife-south/villas/playa-de-las-americas/villa-victoria/level-2

Hope this helps!