Google is constantly changing, and if your hotel website isn’t adapting, you risk being left behind.
With over 500 updates a year, including multiple core and spam algorithm changes, your ranking today is never guaranteed tomorrow. That means your search traffic, visibility, and direct bookings can all suffer if your website isn’t monitored, updated, and optimised on an ongoing basis.
So what’s changing and what can you do about it?
Recent Google Updates Every Hotelier Should Know
Here are just a few of the key updates that Google has released recently, and why they matter for your accommodation business.
✅ August 2025 Spam Update
Google’s latest spam update (August 26, 2025) focused on removing manipulative or low-quality content, especially content that is keyword-stuffed, AI-generated without editing, or published on spammy pages like link farms or doorway pages.
What this means for you: If your content is outdated, repetitive, unedited, or “thin,” you could see a drop in rankings even if it worked before.
✅ March 2025 Core Update
This core update refined how Google determines “helpfulness” in content, surfacing pages that offer genuinely useful, original information.
What this means for you: If your accommodation pages or blogs aren’t providing fresh, valuable, or experience-led content, your rankings could slip.
✅ December 2024 Core Update
This update focused heavily on trust signals, content authority, and “Your Money or Your Life” pages (which include travel, health, and finance).
What this means for you: Google is raising the bar on trust. Properties without updated About pages, guest reviews, credentials, or helpful FAQs could lose visibility.
✅ June 2024 Spam Update
Another routine spam update was rolled out to remove harmful link-building tactics and content manipulation.
What this means for you: Properties using outdated backlink strategies or agencies focused on quantity over quality may have taken a hit.
✅ Ongoing Micro Updates
In addition to the major updates, Google tweaks its algorithm thousands of times per year. These often fly under the radar but can still impact performance.
How This Affects Your Hotel Website
These updates might sound technical, but the real-world impact is clear:
- Sudden drops in traffic
- Fewer direct bookings
- Increased reliance on OTAs
- Missed visibility for key travel periods
- Lost revenue and missed opportunity
We see this regularly when websites are left untouched for months (or years), while competitors continue to invest in performance.
What Google Wants: Fresh, Helpful, Trustworthy Content
Across all updates, one theme is clear: Google wants content that is genuinely helpful, written by people with real expertise and experience. For hotels and resorts, that means:
- Keeping your website content up to date
- Using original photos and helpful travel info
- Maintaining accurate accommodation descriptions
- Publishing new blogs and landing pages regularly
- Following best practices in site structure and performance
- Optimising for AI-based tools like ChatGPT and Google SGE
If you want to dive deeper into how to prepare your website for the new generation of AI-powered search, we’ve written about that too:
👉 How to Optimise Your Hotel Website for AI Tools Like ChatGPT and Google SGE
How Boost Direct Helps You Stay Ahead
As part of our Boost Direct service, our team constantly monitors Google’s updates and how they affect each client’s website. Every month, we:
- Audit rankings and organic performance
- Fix any errors or drops in real time
- Adjust content and pages as needed
- Publish new blogs that meet Google’s evolving expectations
- Keep your site loading fast, mobile-friendly, and technically sound
- Optimise for visibility across both search engines and AI tools
We don’t just launch a website and walk away. We continue optimising it month after month so you stay visible, competitive, and in control of your direct bookings.
Don’t Let Updates Derail Your Visibility
If your website hasn’t been reviewed or updated in over 12 months, now is the time. A single algorithm update could wipe out years of results.
We’re here to help you stay ahead, not fall behind.
👉 Book a Strategy Session to find out how Boost Direct can help your website keep performing no matter what changes Google makes next.