Overview of AI and Google AI Mode are now dominating the conversation throughout the SEO community. One trend is already prominent: Search is evolving from an information retrieval tool to a recommendation tool.
For travel products, this changes the rules of online discovery. The challenge is no longer just helping search engines understand your website. It helps AI systems understand when your business should be recommended.
How AI search has changed travel planning
Many users now spend a lot of time each week interacting with large language models (LLMs). With LLMs, they can organize discussions about the project and create folders for future trips. They can also build on previous conversations that have already identified their interests, travel preferences, and demographic profiles.
This is a departure from the normal search process. Historically, travel planning began with a Google search for topics like:
- “Porto Hotels”
- Things to do in Rome
- “The best restaurants in Barcelona”
Today, this process speaks volumes.
Rather than writing a string of disconnected searches, a traveler might create a new folder called “Summer 2026” in ChatGPT and start with a broad query that gradually evolves into a complete itinerary. For example:
- “Where should I stay in Porto for a quiet weekend within walking distance of the historic center?”
- “Which area of Rome is best for families with small children?”
What follows is an ongoing conversation that may expand into restaurant recommendations, attractions, lodging options, transportation advice, and day-to-day planning.
When travelers ask AI assistants these questions, they don’t want a list of websites. Instead, they want a recommendation.
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An overview of how AI is impacting the travel search experience
AI overviews combine information from multiple sources and present users with curated recommendations rather than a collection of links. As a result, trust, consistency, and understanding of content become essential properties.
A hotel may influence a traveler’s decision with AI-generated feedback without leading to immediate website visits. A traveler’s next action may be to search by name, visit a travel review site, or book through an online travel agency (OTA).
To get recommendations from AI models, your product first needs to be clearly defined. AI should be confident in who you are, what you offer, who you work for, and when your product is relevant.
To do this, choose a main category and one clear area for your product. Invest in digital PR and gain exposure beyond your website. Target postings on travel articles that cover topics relevant to your category.
Most importantly, make sure your business information is accurate, consistent, and easy to interpret across your website, Google Business Profile, TripAdvisor, OTA listings, and social media.
Zero clicks does not mean zero impact
The way we measure search performance is changing. Traditional SEO metrics are still important. However, travel marketers must begin to broaden the way they measure visibility.
One of the biggest mistakes is thinking that fewer clicks means less visibility.
A traveler can find your property through an AI-generated answer, search for it later, visit a TripAdvisor profile, or book through another channel.
This is why the growth of keyword searches is an important signal of AI visibility. Travel marketers should also monitor AI mentions, citations, and assisted conversions.
Assisted conversion identifies the channels and touchpoints that influence the booking, even if they are not the final source of the conversion. You can monitor this conversion in Google Analytics 4 by navigating to it Advertising > Attribution > Conversion Methods and Attribution Reports.
Why TripAdvisor and OTA listings provide semantic context for AI recommendations
TripAdvisor has become a review platform. OTAs are more than just booking platforms.
When a user asks for recommendations, AI systems rarely rely on a single source. Instead, they build understanding by integrating knowledge from multiple fields.
Your website is only one part of the ecosystem.
AI systems build confidence in recommendations by validating information from all sources. What others say about your product in reviews, travel guides, media mentions, OTA listings, or local citations is increasingly important. In many ways, this is just an online shadow at scale.
This added context helps AI models determine when a location is suitable for specific traveler needs, such as:
- It’s family friendly.
- Popular with business travelers.
- It is located in a walkable area.
- It is known for its special food.
- It is best suited for luxury or budget travelers.
How to differentiate your travel product
A family-friendly hotel should always highlight family rooms, children’s activities, children’s pools, and family-oriented reviews. A romantic hotel should reinforce signals such as couples’ stays, intimate atmosphere, spa experiences, and special occasion packages.
Similarly, a business hotel should emphasize meeting rooms, workspaces, fast Wi-Fi, and proximity to business locations. A restaurant known for exceptional food must earn reviews, media coverage, and third-party recommendations that consistently refer to its food, chef, or culinary experience.
Most businesses naturally fall into more than one category. However, the simpler your main site is, the easier it is for search engines to see that your product is important and worth recommending.
The same principle applies to destinations. Productive search engines rely on signals from all review forums, travel guides, destination listings, and publisher content when recommending where travelers should stay, visit, or explore.
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3 effective ways to strengthen business signals on all platforms
As AI systems rely more on organizations than on individual web pages, tourism businesses need to focus on creating a clear and consistent digital footprint.
1. Use structured data to specify business attributes
Structured data helps search engines and AI models interpret valuable business information. For travel products, this type of data includes location types, services, locations, and other business information.
Highlight the features that set your property apart. That might include family-friendly places, lifestyle experiences, specialty foods, pet-friendly accommodations, or proximity to major attractions.
The clarity and organization of your information, becomes easier with an AI-powered experience to expose your business to the right recommendations.
2. Eliminate business ambiguity across platforms
Review what third-party sources are saying about your product across the web. Check for conflicting information. The AI search experience pulls information from multiple sources, and inconsistencies can reduce trust in your brand.
Imagine a hotel with different phone numbers, outdated descriptions, inconsistent categories, or conflicting entertainment information across various platforms. This is exactly the kind of ambiguity that AI systems struggle with.
Keep information consistent across your website, Google Business Profile, TripAdvisor listings, and OTA profiles to reduce ambiguity and strengthen confidence in your business data.
3. Prioritize operational business knowledge
Start by checking the reviews of your existing customers.
- What do they enjoy most about their stay?
- What made their experience memorable?
- What would they develop?
Positive feedback is a quick and easy way to identify what really sets your product apart from your competitors. Details such as amenities, accessibility features, opening hours, parking, and pet policies help AI systems answer specific travel questions.
Google Business Profile is another important source of performance information. The categories, attributes, amenities, and opening hours listed in your profile help AI models answer travel questions with greater confidence.
If you need to provide more context, Google Business Profile allows you to publish posts that link back to related content on your website. Regularly publishing Google Business Profile posts can help drive engagement, profile visits, and customer engagement while keeping your listing updated with new content about your products, services, events, and offers.
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Build trust in AI systems
Generative search is more democratic than traditional search. AI models recommend businesses, not websites. Visibility is no longer shaped solely by what happens on your website. It’s designed for a comprehensive digital approach that builds your brand across the web.
For travel products, that means thinking beyond rankings and clicks. Reviews, OTA listings, travel guides, media mentions, and business profiles all influence how AI systems understand your product and when it recommends it.
It’s time to innovate, explore, and build partnerships with complementary businesses. Most importantly, it’s time to build signals for trusted AI systems.
Contributing writers are invited to create content for Search Engine Land and are selected for their expertise and contribution to the search community. Our contributors work under the supervision of editorial staff and contributions are assessed for quality and relevance to our students. Search Engine Land is owned by Semrush. The contributor has not been asked to speak directly or indirectly about Semrush. The opinions they express are their own.
