As more travel brands invest in answer engine optimisation (AEO), we're seeing patterns emerge – not just in what works, but in what doesn't. After working with travel companies implementing AEO strategies, we've identified recurring mistakes that undermine visibility, waste resources, and delay results.
The good news? Most of these mistakes are entirely fixable. Here are the most common AEO errors we see travel brands make, and more importantly, how to correct them.
Mistake 1: Treating AEO like SEO with a different name
This is perhaps the most fundamental misunderstanding. Travel brands often approach AEO by simply taking their existing SEO content and adding a few conversational headings, assuming that's sufficient.
Why it's a problem
SEO content is optimised for discovery and clicks. It's designed to rank for specific keywords and persuade users to click through from search results. AEO content needs to be comprehensive enough that AI systems can extract complete, accurate answers. If your content requires users to click through to understand the full context, it won't be cited by AI tools.
How to fix it
Audit your content with a different lens. Instead of asking "Does this target the right keywords?", ask "Could an AI system use this content to completely answer a traveller's question?"
For example, a blog post titled "Best Time to Visit Botswana" that's optimised for SEO might be 600 words covering seasonal highlights. The same topic optimised for AEO would be 2000+ words covering month-by-month weather patterns, wildlife viewing specifics, pricing variations, crowd levels, malaria risk by season, what to pack for each period, and booking lead times. The AEO version provides everything an AI needs to give a complete answer.
Restructure your key content to be genuinely comprehensive. Add seasonal pricing details, specific logistics information, and contextual advice that makes your content the definitive source on the topic.
Mistake 2: Inconsistent entity information across platforms
We consistently see travel brands with slightly different names, addresses, or descriptions across various platforms. "Serengeti Luxury Lodge" on their website becomes "The Serengeti Lodge" on Booking.com and "Serengeti Luxury Safari Lodge" on TripAdvisor.
Why it's a problem
AI systems build confidence about entities through pattern recognition across multiple sources. When your business information is inconsistent, AI tools can't confidently determine whether these references are all the same entity or different businesses. This weakens your entity signals dramatically and reduces the likelihood of being cited.
How to fix it
Conduct a comprehensive entity audit. Create a spreadsheet listing every platform where your business appears: your website, Google Business Profile, social media, OTAs, review sites, travel directories, press mentions, and any other digital presence.
Document exactly how your business name, address, phone number, and description appear on each platform. Identify inconsistencies and systematically update every listing to use identical information. This is tedious work, but it's foundational.
Going forward, create a brand guidelines document that specifies exactly how your entity information should appear everywhere. Make this the single source of truth for anyone managing or working on your digital presence.
Mistake 3: Implementing structured data incorrectly (or not at all)
Many travel brands either skip structured data entirely, assuming it's too technical, or implement it incorrectly, often using outdated schema types or incomplete markup.
Why it's a problem
Structured data is how you directly tell AI systems what your content is about. Without it, AI tools must interpret your content from unstructured text, which is less reliable. Incorrectly structured data can actually harm your visibility by providing AI systems with wrong or conflicting information.
How to fix it
Start by using tools like Google's Rich Results Test to check which pages have structured data and whether it's valid. For travel brands, priority schema types include:
- LocalBusiness or Hotel schema for your main property pages
- FAQPage schema for FAQ sections
- Review schema to markup guest reviews
- Event schema if you offer tours or experiences
- Article schema for blog content
Consider hiring a web developer to implement schema correctly on your most important pages first. If budget or resources are tight, don't try to markup everything at once – focus on your homepage, main property/destination pages, and top-performing blog posts.
Importantly, ensure your structured data accurately reflects your content. Don't claim a 5-star rating in your schema if your actual average is 4.2 stars. AI systems cross-reference structured data against page content and will deprioritise sites with mismatched information.
Mistake 4: Creating generic, surface-level content
Travel brands often publish numerous short blog posts covering broad topics: "Things to Do in Cape Town" or "Planning Your Safari”. These posts typically offer generic advice that could apply to any destination or experience.
Why it's a problem
AI systems prioritise sources that demonstrate genuine expertise and provide unique insights. Generic content that aggregates information available everywhere else online won't be cited when AI tools have access to more authoritative, detailed sources.
How to fix it
Shift from content quantity to content authority. Instead of publishing ten 500-word posts, create two or three 2000-word comprehensive guides that show genuine destination or experience expertise.
Include insights only you can provide: specific seasonal variations you've observed, exact pricing based on your bookings data, detailed logistics advice based on your operational experience, or insider tips from your guides and staff.
For example, instead of a generic "What to Pack for Safari" post, create "What to Pack for Mobile Safari in Botswana: A Month-by-Month Guide from Our Head Guide with 15 Years in the Delta”. The specificity and demonstrated expertise make it citable.
Mistake 5: Neglecting your Google Business Profile
We see travel brands investing heavily in their website while their Google Business Profile remains incomplete, outdated, or poorly optimised.
Why it's a problem
Google Business Profile is one of the strongest entity signals available. It feeds directly into Google's knowledge graph, which AI systems, particularly Google's own AI Overviews and Gemini, rely on heavily. An incomplete or inconsistent profile weakens your entire entity foundation.
How to fix it
Treat your Google Business Profile with the same importance as your website homepage. Ensure every field is completed:
- Accurate business name, category, and attributes
- Complete address and service areas
- Current hours and seasonal variations
- High-quality photos (at least 20-30 images showing rooms, views, amenities, experiences)
- Detailed business description (up to the character limit)
- Menu or services list where applicable
Most importantly, populate your FAQ section with actual questions travellers ask about your property or services. Respond to every review, positive and negative, within 48 hours. Update your profile whenever anything changes, including temporary closures, seasonal hours, or new offerings.
The great thing about your Google Business Profile is that you can likely manage it yourself, making this an easy step for travel brands with limited resources.
Mistake 6: Ignoring the questions travellers actually ask
Travel brands often create content around topics they think are important rather than questions travellers actually ask. This disconnect means their content doesn't align with real search behaviour.
Why it's a problem
AEO is fundamentally about answering questions. If your content doesn't address the specific questions travellers pose to AI tools, it won't be cited, regardless of how well-written or authoritative it is.
How to fix it
Mine real questions from multiple sources:
- Google Search Console: Review the actual queries driving traffic to your site
- AnswerThePublic: Identify question-based queries around your destinations and services
- Reddit travel forums: Note recurring questions about your destination or experience type
- TikTok and Instagram comments: Look at what people ask in response to travel content
- Your own email inbox: What do prospective guests repeatedly ask?
- Review sites: What concerns or questions appear frequently in reviews?
Create a question bank categorised by traveller intent: planning questions, logistics questions, seasonal questions, budgeting questions, safety questions. Build your content calendar around directly answering these questions using natural language headings that mirror how people actually ask.
Mistake 7: Measuring success with the wrong metrics
Travel brands often evaluate AEO success using traditional SEO metrics like rankings, organic traffic, and click-through rates. When these metrics don't immediately improve, they assume AEO isn't working.
Why it's a problem
AEO success doesn't always correlate with increased website traffic. Your brand can be cited frequently in AI answers without generating clicks. Measuring only traditional metrics means missing the actual impact of your AEO efforts.
How to fix it
Implement AEO-specific measurement frameworks:
- Track AI visibility: Periodically ask AI tools the same relevant questions you are trying to answer for prospective travellers and document when your brand appears in answers
- Monitor direct traffic: AI recommendations often drive branded searches and direct visits rather than referral traffic
- Measure conversion quality: Track conversion rates by traffic source; AI-influenced visitors often convert at higher rates
- Watch entity signals: Monitor Google Business Profile impressions, review growth, and brand mention frequency
- Track featured snippets and AI Overviews: Use Google Search Console to see when your content appears in AI-generated results
Success in AEO is often indirect: increased brand awareness, higher-quality traffic, and improved conversion rates rather than raw traffic volume.
Mistake 8: Trying to do it all in-house
Many travel brands attempt to implement comprehensive AEO strategies entirely in-house, often assigning the responsibility to existing marketing staff who already have full workloads and limited AEO expertise.
Why it's a problem
AEO sits at the intersection of technical SEO, content strategy, structured data implementation, entity management, and emerging AI platform behaviour. It requires specialised knowledge that most in-house marketing teams simply don't have.
The result is often half-implemented strategies: basic schema markup added to a few pages but not maintained, content that's somewhat conversational but not truly comprehensive, entity signals that are partially consistent but not fully optimised. These partial implementations deliver partial results, leading brands to conclude that AEO doesn't work, when in reality, it was never properly executed.
Additionally, AEO is rapidly changing. What worked six months ago may not work today, and keeping pace with changes across multiple AI platforms while running day-to-day marketing operations is unrealistic for most teams.
How to fix it
First, remember that certain AEO tasks are absolutely manageable in-house: updating your Google Business Profile, responding to reviews, maintaining content freshness, and ensuring consistent entity information across platforms are all tasks your marketing team can handle effectively once they understand what's required.
However, the technical foundation – implementing structured data correctly, conducting comprehensive entity audits, restructuring site architecture for AI comprehension, and developing measurement frameworks – typically requires specialist expertise. Getting these foundational elements wrong wastes months of effort.
You could consider a hybrid approach: bring in specialists to establish your AEO foundation, including conducting audits, implementing structured data correctly, building entity consistency, and creating your initial content framework. Once the foundation is solid, your in-house team can maintain and build on that foundation with ongoing content creation, profile updates, and monitoring.
Alternatively, work with an agency that specialises in travel brand marketing and understands both the technical requirements of AEO and the specific challenges of the travel industry. This ensures you benefit from specialised expertise without the overhead of hiring full-time AEO specialists.
At Boost Brands, we help travel companies avoid these common pitfalls and build AEO strategies that actually deliver AI visibility and qualified traffic. Let’s create a roadmap that works for your brand, no matter your size or budget.
