Coastal Thrills Adventures runs jet ski tours, kayak expeditions, and whale watching experiences from Main Beach on the Gold Coast. The business had excellent TripAdvisor reviews and strong word-of-mouth among hotel concierge desks, but organic search was an afterthought. When travellers searched for “Gold Coast jet ski tour” or “whale watching Main Beach,” larger aggregators and OTAs captured most clicks.
Coastal Thrills’ website was functional but thin on authority. Their domain rating was 19. Backlinks came mostly from tourism directory submissions and a few hotel partner pages that linked without consistent anchor text. Paid Google Ads kept bookings steady in peak season, but margin eroded as click costs rose year on year.
The owner wanted to own more of the discovery journey, especially for high-margin direct bookings that avoided OTA commission fees.
The Brief
Coastal Thrills engaged us for a six-month programme aligned with the whale watching season and spring school holidays. Targets included increasing direct organic bookings by 100%, ranking in the local three-pack for three core experience queries, and earning links from travel publications that influenced itinerary planning.
We scoped seasonal digital PR, local tourism board partnerships, and resource link building around safety and marine wildlife education.
Strategy
Tourism SEO is seasonal and competitive. OTAs spend heavily on ads and have enormous domain authority. Competing on broad terms alone was not viable. We focused on experience-specific long-tail queries and local intent where a specialised operator could win on relevance and proximity.
Our plan included:
- Seasonal travel editor outreach pitching whale migration stories, family adventure guides, and Gold Coast itinerary content
- Tourism Queensland and regional council listings with corrected links and optimised descriptions
- Marine education content linkable by schools, environmental groups, and travel bloggers covering responsible tourism
- Hotel and accommodation partner pages ensuring concierge recommendations linked to the correct tour landing pages
- User-generated content amplification turning customer photos and reviews into pitch assets for lifestyle publications
We improved tour landing pages with clearer booking CTAs and FAQ schema, but the primary focus remained earning travel-relevant authority.
Execution Timeline
Month 1 to 2: Pre-Season Foundation
We updated twelve tourism directory listings with consistent NAP data and unique descriptions per experience type. Outreach to Gold Coast hotels secured follow links from four concierge recommendation pages. A humpback whale migration guide, written with input from Coastal Thrills’ senior skippers, went live as a linkable resource.
Month 3 to 4: Whale Season Digital PR
We pitched whale watching season previews to Queensland travel writers, resulting in features on two regional tourism blogs and a mention in a national travel magazine’s winter escape roundup. A local news segment on responsible whale watching practices linked to the company’s marine education page. School holiday family activity guides on suburban council sites included Coastal Thrills for kayak tours.
Month 5 to 6: Spring Push and Consolidation
Spring outreach focused on jet ski and adventure experience listicles. We earned placements on three “things to do on the Gold Coast” articles and a travel influencer’s editorial site with genuine domain authority. Broken link building on outdated Gold Coast activity guides replaced dead links with Coastal Thrills tour pages.
Results
Direct organic bookings, tracked through UTM-free form submissions and booking engine source data, grew from 94 per month to 228 per month. OTA commission savings on equivalent booking volume were estimated at $14,600 AUD per month during peak whale season.
Traffic and Bookings
| Metric | Before (Baseline) | After (Month 6) | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly organic sessions | 5,340 | 12,870 | +141% |
| Direct organic bookings | 94 | 228 | +143% |
| Google Business Profile booking clicks | 620 | 1,480 | +139% |
| Mobile organic session share | 71% | 78% | +7 pts |
Rankings
| Keyword | Starting Position | Final Position | Monthly Volume |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold Coast jet ski tour | 18 | 3 | 1,400 |
| whale watching Main Beach | 22 | 2 | 2,200 |
| kayak tour Gold Coast | 15 | 4 | 880 |
| family activities Gold Coast | 34 | 9 | 3,600 |
| adventure tours Queensland | 41 | 11 | 1,900 |
Local and Backlink Metrics
| Metric | Before | After | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Referring domains | 58 | 134 | +131% |
| Domain Rating (Ahrefs) | 19 | 31 | +12 |
| Travel and tourism editorial links | 7 | 36 | +414% |
| Hotel and partner referral links | 9 | 24 | +167% |
| Map pack visibility (core queries) | 1 of 3 | 3 of 3 | Full coverage |
What Made the Difference
Coastal Thrills had authentic stories that travel editors wanted during whale season. The marine education angle differentiated them from generic activity aggregators and earned links that pure promotional content could not.
Hotel concierge links drove both SEO value and direct referral traffic. Several bookings came through partner pages before organic rankings fully reflected the new authority.
The owner extended the programme through the following summer season with a focus on international travel publications targeting Japanese and Korean tourists, two growing visitor segments for the Gold Coast. Early outreach has already secured two travel guide inclusions ahead of the next peak period.