Place
holiday cottages whitbyWon by the sites with the most listings.
Hard to win outright, but a page for the property and its area, with real local detail, can appear alongside them.
Holiday lets & self-catering · York & Yorkshire
SEO for holiday lets: be booked direct, not through a listing site.
Every booking through a listing site costs commission. Guests who find you directly cost nothing, and they come back. We help holiday-let owners in York, on the coast and in the Dales be found by the people who have already decided where to go.
- Direct bookings instead of commission on every stay
- Found for the place, the dates and the kind of trip
- Works alongside the listing sites, not instead of them
Free · human-reviewed
Show us where you are now.
Send your website and a person will look at how you appear when people search for holiday lets and self-catering owners, and what to fix first.
Thank you, that is with us.
A person will read it and reply during office hours. (Mon–Sat · 09:30–18:00)
Need us sooner? Call +44 7435 755127.
Typical searches we work on
holiday cottages whitbydog friendly holiday lets yorkself catering york city centrecottages near scarborough with hot tubholiday lets north york moors
Guests search for the place first and the property second.
Nobody searches for the name of a cottage they have never heard of. They search for “holiday cottages Whitby”, “dog friendly lets York” or “cottage with a hot tub near Scarborough”, and the big listing sites dominate those results because they have thousands of pages. An owner with one property cannot out-list them; an owner with a well-built site can be found for the specific trip the property suits.
The work is to describe the property the way guests search, the place, the features, the kind of trip, and to make booking direct as easy as booking through the sites, with the same calendar and the same prices.
How your customers search
Four searches worth winning.
Examples of what people type, and what decides who gets the enquiry.
Feature
dog friendly holiday lets yorkA specific need, less competition.
Dog-friendly, hot tub, accessible, sleeps ten: pages written for the feature that decides the booking.
Trip
cottage for a walking holiday north york moorsThe trip, not the bed.
Walks from the door, the pub nearby, the drying room: content a listing site cannot write about your property.
Return
the cottage we stayed in near maltonThe returning guest.
Your name, found instantly, with a direct-booking calendar. The cheapest booking you will ever take.
See how you compare with the firms you compete with. Free.
What makes the difference
Where the work goes first.
What we would usually put right for holiday lets and self-catering owners, in order.
01
A website that takes bookings
A live calendar, instant quotes and payment, synchronised with the listing sites so the dates are never double-booked.
02
The property described as guests search
Sleeps, bedrooms, dog policy, parking, hot tub, step-free access, stated plainly, not buried in a paragraph.
03
Area pages worth reading
What to do within a mile, where to eat, where to walk. Written by someone who knows, which is you.
04
A Google Business Profile for the property
Holiday lets can have one. Photographs, the right category and reviews from guests put you on the map for your village.
05
Reviews that live on your site
Guests who book direct can review you on Google. Ask after every stay.
06
Honest listings everywhere
Photographs and descriptions that match the property. The law on fair trading applies to holiday listings, and so does the guest who arrives.
Worth knowing. The furnished holiday lettings tax regime ended in April 2025, and councils in some areas are tightening the rules on short-term lets. We write marketing, not tax or planning advice, check your own position with an accountant and the council.
What we usually combine
The services behind the work.
Questions
Holiday lets & self-catering: straight answers.
Something we have not covered? Ask us directly, a person will answer.
Should I leave the listing sites?
No. Keep them for the bookings they bring and use your own site to take the rest without commission. Many owners end up with the majority of bookings direct, but it takes time to build.
I have one cottage. Is it worth having a website at all?
If the property is worth more than a few thousand pounds a year in commission, yes. A simple site with a booking calendar pays for itself quickly.
Can a holiday let be on Google Maps?
Yes. A holiday let can have a Google Business Profile, which puts it on the map for its area. Fill it in fully and ask guests for reviews.
We manage several properties. Does the approach change?
It scales: a page per property, pages for the areas and the features, and a booking system across all of them. See our page for hotels and guest houses for the larger end of the market.
Start with the search moment
Find out where you stand. Free.
Share your website and what you want more of. A person will look at how you appear when customers search for holiday lets and self-catering owners, and tell you where the clearest opportunities are.
- 01You send the website and what you want search to do.
- 02A person inspects how you appear today, no automated score.
- 03You get the clearest opportunities, and an honest view on whether we are the right team.
Thank you, that is with us.
A person will read it and reply during office hours. (Mon–Sat · 09:30–18:00)
Need us sooner? Call +44 7435 755127.
Where we work
SEO for holiday lets and self-catering owners across York and Yorkshire.
We are based in York and work with businesses across the city, North Yorkshire and the rest of the county, from Harrogate, Selby and Malton to Leeds, Hull and the coast. One team and one office, wherever you are.