SEO Case Study: Hotels in Siem Reap Cambodia

boutique hotel cambodia

Blog last updated on July  2019

We are continuing our SEO case study series (previous ones were about  luxury spas and restaurants)  with an analysis of the hospitality business in Siem Reap. This blog was updated in December 2021 almost 2 years into the covid-19 pandemic.

BRIEF MARKET SITUATION ANALYSIS

Siem Reap  has witnessed a explosion in the numbers of hotels in the past 20 years alternating periods of undersupply and oversupply. In 2002, only 47 hotels were registered (guesthouses not included) which at the time was not enough to accommodate the growing numbers of tourists visiting the temples of Angkor.

Fast-track to 2012, this year saw a  ”siem reap boutique hotel fever ” and the next few years  saw more constructions  leading to an oversupply and to a drop in the daily rates.

At the same time, long time established luxury hotels  like the Raffles and Amansara were faced with more  competition. Accommodations geared towards backpackers expanded as well with both private rooms and dorms.

In 2019, you could find all types of accommodations  in Siem Reap: small villa hotels, boutique hotels, container hotels, capsule hotels, private bungalows or villa, luxury tents with a price ranging  from  USD 2  in a dorm to several thousand  dollars per night in the most luxurious hotels.

In  July 2019,  hotels  are still being built but many are closing down. At the same time, the tourism is down in temple city   and this trend is expecting to continue all through the the year. At the time of writing, 728 properties were listed on Booking , 768 on Expedia, where as 3027 are available on Agoda. Many hotels are also listed on AirBnB….

Looking at the same platforms in december 2021, we found only 273 properties on Booking, 724 on Agoda which shows partially the impact of covid-19, the real number being likely lower.

 

SEO VS SOCIAL MEDIA

 

You are probably using social media like facebook, instagram or twitter to  keep your audience up to date with images and videos. You are likely to be satisfied with the many likes you have but is your social media bring you new bookinks every month.

People seeing the posts are most likely not looking to book a boutique hotel in siem reap for their holidays.

When people go on search engines like Google and are type booking boutique hotel in siem reap there is actually a search intent and they will visit only teh webpages which are on the page of results. This is where SEO works and give you visibility on many keywords on the first page of Google.

 

 

 

 

If you are the owner of a hotel in Cambodia please get in touch for a free consultation in Siem Reap
If you want to advertise for your hotel on this page please contact us

 

 

SEO Case Study: Restaurants in Siem Reap Cambodia

khmer restaurant siem reap

Article  last updated on August 2019

 

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE INDUSTRY

 

With almost 1000 restaurants listed on Trip Advisor, Siem Reap is becoming a popular food destination in South East Asia with a broad range of cuisine for all budgets. You can find Khmer, Thai, Indian,Chinese, Korean,Japanese but also French, Mexican, Italian,Turkish and Greek restaurants.

With so many restaurants, visitors have a hard time making a selection especially as most do not stay very long (3 nights in average). To make the search even more difficult, businesses are often relocating due to soaring renting prices and from time to time , some are closing down their operation.

 

 

GOOGLE OR TRIP ADVISOR ?

 

Instinctively, many visitors  are turning to Google Search and Google Map to find the best places to eat in Siem Reap. Trip advisor listing and  local web directories are dominating the top search results  like “restaurant siem reap” or “best restaurant siem reap”.

 

The online marketing strategy of the food businesses  in Siem Reap is quite different than the one of the   luxury spas : restaurant owners especially at their early stage of operation, are relying heavily on Trip Advisor to bring customers, either by using a free or a paid listing. As far as free listing concerned,  being on the first page  1 is clearly an competitive advantage, but the most difficult is to keep your ranking as competitors will not have any problem writing negative reviews to put you down. Although not all restaurants have a website, they do not take advantage of what SEO can bring to the table (no pun intended)…

 

We found out that  few restaurants (3) used Google Ads pay-per-click campaigns to drive traffic to their website which is much lower in percentage than luxury spas. Consequently the Cost-per-click (CPC) for many keywords is under USD 0.5.

 

A  SEO audit conducted on several websites  showed that many websites are not SEO friendly and unless they pay for ads they are not visible on a search done with search engines.

If the restaurant is famous, some traffic will come to the  website because potential customers are typing the restaurant’s name on Google but if the site is not optimized organic traffic will be non existant.

 

Many opportunities exist for restaurants in Siem Reap to improve their website traffic. With a good SEO work, it is possible to outrank competitors and even Trip Advisor. It is also a more sustainable approach that paid ads on Google . Because they work in different ways, SEO can be complimentary to a free or paid listing  on Trip advisor.

If you are a restaurant owner, please get in touch for a free consultation in Siem Reap
If you want to advertise for your restaurant on this page please contact us

 

 

changkran khmer fine dining siem reap

Changkran Khmer restaurant, enjoy fine dining Khmer cuisine in a traditional wooden house away from the crowded city center

 

 

HOW DOES THIS PAGE RANK ON GOOGLE? (mobile search, google.com.kh)

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siem reap fine dining
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gastronomic restaurant siem reap
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best restaurant trip advisor siem reap
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khmer fine dining

 

What is Website Traffic ?

web site tarrfic cambodia

Website traffic is a pretty general term in online marketing  and refers to the number of users visiting a website. It is measured daily (or monthly)  by the number of unique visitors and number of pages view.

Google Analytics is the tool of choice which will give you many insights about the visitors to your website and classify web traffic  in several categories as we explain below

website traffic in cambodia

Traffic to your website will depend on your SEO  and overall marketing strategy and can vary greatly even from businesses in the same industry in the same physical location.

 

 

Direct traffic

This traffic is acquired by users typing directly your website url into their internet browser. It is usually is not very important for most site.

 

Referral traffic

Referral traffic refers to traffic coming from another website linking your content (it can be a specific page or your homepage). Google Analytics includes in referral traffic the one which is coming to other search engines such as Yahoo, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Qwant and others….

 

Organic traffic

Organic traffic is very important as it is coming from users  looking for specific keywords on a search engine. This  type of traffic is probably the most relevant is more likely  to convert into sales as it is done with an intent. SEO or Search Engine Optimization is  key to improve this category of traffic and it  always start by a in-depth SEO audit.

 

Social traffic

As indicated it is traffic coming from social networks such as Facebook or Instagram. It is an important source of traffic but it  might not convert as many sales as the organic traffic.

 

Siem Reap Massage | Best spa in siem reap

siem reap massage, oil massage siem reap

Last updated on August 2022

GET YOUR SPA  BUSINESS TO THE FIRST PAGE OF GOOGLE TODAY

IF YOU ARE A SPA OWNER IN SIEM REAP, PLEASE READ BELOW OR CLICK HERE TO GET A FREE CONSULTATION

SIEM REAP MASSAGE | GET MORE CUSTOMERS USING GOOGLE ADS

You can rank very quickly in Google by buying keywords through Google Ads.

To drive traffic to their websites, 4 spas are paying for Google Ads (also known as pay-per-click campaigns) in 2022 which is similar than 2018 but with 80% less tourist. We expect to see more spa paying for ads in 2022 and therefore increasing CPC ( Cost-Per-Click).

In 2018,  the   CPC  for massage related keywords in 2018 ranged from USD 1 to USD 1.5. Since several keywords are required to drive traffic to your website, you will have to pay $200 to $300 per month for Google Ads.

With Google Ads,  your competitors can also buy the same keywords and position themselves above you if they pay more. Companies like Trip Advisor/Viator always pay ads to be at the top of Google’s search results. More than 90% of people do not click on Google Ads and prefer to go down the page to organic results.

SEO FOR SPA BUSINESSES | GET CUSTOMERS WITHOUT  GOOGLE ADS

SEO services in Siem Reap can help you get customers without spending a lot of money on Google Adwords. In digital marketing, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, which helps websites rank higher.

You should appear as many relevant keywords as possible on the first page and even within the top three which get the bulk of the clicks.

On Google, you’ll often find Trip Advisor, Viator, and Travefish at the top of the search results for “siem reap massage”.  These are very authoritative websites trusted by Google that is why they tend to rank higher than non-optimized websites. With SEO however, it is possible to place your website ahead of them on the page results.

Siem reap spa’s websites are visually appealing, but are not optimized for search engines, which is why they rank on the bottom of page 1 or page 2.

More than 10% of the massage spas in Siem Reap do not have a website and rely on Facebook and Trip Advisor to attract customers online.

In 2022 and since we first published this blogpost at the end of 2018, there is not single  website ranking on the top 3 of Google with  popular searches like  “siem reap massage” or ” siem reap spa“.

The long term advantage of receiving direct bookings from Google is that it is much more sustainable than paying for Google Ads or Trip Advisor. With SEO services, your site can stay on page 1 for many months, even years, and increase your business’ visibility and branding.

SPAS IN SIEM REAP | SOME NUMBERS

 

    • Only 3 spas and 1 in particular managed to leverage  brand searches  on Google to get significant traffic.

 

    • Out of 20 websites, only 4 are getting traffic from  Google  searches “massage siem reap” and “spa siem reap”.
    • Out of 20 websites, 5 do not get traffic at all from Google.

 

 

 SPAS IN SIEM REAP | A BRIEF INTRODUCTION

With more than 2.5 million visitors a year in 2019, Siem Reap, gateway to the temples of Angkor, saw a surge in the number of siem reap massage shops and spas in the last 5 years alone. There has been also a shift from cheap  to more expensive massage treatments in luxury spas.

In October 2018, we listed  about 15 standalone luxury spas in Siem Reap  and possibly another 15 in  high-end hotels. In 2019, we listed less spas in Phnom Penh than in Siem Reap and the trend is still the same in 2022.

Many  treatments are offered in these spas:  Khmer, Ayurvedic, Balinese, Swedish, Thai, hot stone, foot, herbal hot compress massages. Available also are body wraps with aloe vera, avocado, mango.

 

MARKET SNAPSHOT | SIEM REAP MASSAGE

 

End 2018 – March 2020

 

Few  luxury spas in Siem Reap found it difficult to find customers  offered deep discounts (30 to 50%) in a permanent basis. Others relied on travel agencies to fill out their bookings.

Trip Advisor is a good source of booking but the competition is fierce with close to 150 businesses alone  listed in the Spas & Wellness category in 2019. It it also  very difficult to stay on  the first page because of the inconsistency of Trip Advisor  review system. Your visibility will be drastically improved if you join  Trip Advisor Experiences (Viator product) but comes with a  20% commission fee…

 

 

March 2020 – December 2021

The pandemic had a dramatic impact on massages and spas in Siem Reap  and on the whole hospitality industry. Few businesses tried to stay open  following safe practices (temperature checks and the use of hand sanitizer upon check-in), but finally all spa venues shut down due to the lack of customers by the end of March 2020. All of them stopped their digital marketing activities as well.

After Cambodia opened to vaccinated travellers in November 2021, few massage shops opened, relying heavily on word-of-mouth amongst locals and Facebook advertising.

 

January 2022 till now

Many massages and spas reopened  and in  June 2022, we listed more than 20 standalone spas in operation in Siem Reap, which is close to the number of spa businesses  before covid. However, the big difference with 2019 is that the number of tourists in Siem Reap is now  less than 10%  to what it was before covid!

In 2022, more than ever, a responsive website with well-researched content and a solid digital marketing strategy including SEO will be critical to getting customers online.

SPA PACKAGES SIEM REAP

 

It is quite common among the spas in Siem Reap that spa packages with good value for the money  are offered mixing different treatments:

Traditional massage and facial

Body wrap and body massage

Body scrub and body massage

Foot massage and facial

Traditional Khmer massage and spa bath

 

SIEM REAP SPA | FAQ’S

Where can I get a massage in siem reap?

Most of Siem Reap’s massage and spa spots are located within a 3 km radius around Pub Street, where tuk tuks can take you between them.

How much is a massage in Siem Reap?

In 2022, prices of massage services in Siem Reap are quite affordable, and are down from 2019. A 1-hour khmer massage is usually priced between 10 and  USD 15.

What is the cheapest massage in Siem Reap?

In 2022, the cheapest massage in Siem Reap is a 1-hour foot massage which is priced between 4 and 6 US dollars.

what is traditional Khmer massage? (Khmer massage description)

If it is your first time in a spa in Cambodia, it is likely that you did not experience traditional Khmer massage before but that you are familiar with Thai massage.

Both massages are not using oil but the technique between Thai massage and Khmer massage is  quite different.  Thai massage is based on yoga stretches where as Khmer massage uses more trigger and acupressure points. Usually the massage therapist uses more strength for Thai massage than Khmer massage.

It is usually quite difficult to find a Thai massage in Siem Reap.

what is a day spa?

A day spa is different from a beauty salon if it has facilities like a sauna, steam room, or pool.

Day spas do not offer overnight accommodation. This is the difference between a destination spa and a day spa. A destination spa may offer similar services, including diet and exercise plans, wellness instruction, fitness coach or yoga classes.

    Cashless payments in Cambodia in 2020

    cashless payment in cambodia

    Like in many of its neighboring countries (Thailand, Vietnam and Laos), cashless payments  in Cambodia are available  with several companies are  competing in this new fintech market. These cashless payments can potentially be adopted quickly as many  Cambodians do not have a bank account. This could be a solution also to boost e-commerce  as some companies are proposing a virtual credit card. 2020 saw some consolidation in this young sector.

     

    These apps usually propose two types of cashless transactions:

    Transfer of money to a third party  (person or company)

    Payment  for services or goods at a merchant place.

     

    ABA bank mobile app

     

    ABA Bank,  the e-banking leader in  Cambodia  launched its mobile app called ABA mobile in 2015. It was designed for ABA customers to make payments, transfers and pay bills. The app is working quite well, very secure and have several other features.

    One called E-cash is useful as it allow you to withdraw money to an ATM without using your banking card. There is also a New Virtual Card service which allow you to have a virtual Mastercard and shop online.

    You can of course make transfer between your account or to another account in ABA Bank. As ABA bank signed agreements  with other cashless payment companies you can transfer money to your Pi Pay, PayGo wallet and SmartLuy.

     

    aba bank mobile app

     

    References

    ABA Bank, Cambodia’s leader in digital banking. Phnom Penh Post. Accessed 16.10.2018 at  https://www.phnompenhpost.com/supplements/aba-bank-cambodias-leader-digital-banking

    ABA: financial power in your palm . South East Asia Globe. Accessed 16.10.2018 at  http://sea-globe.com/aba-financial-power-in-your-palm/

     

     

    Pi Pay

    pi pay cambodia

    Pi Pay, owned by Anco Group conglomerate, was launched in July 2017 in the Kingdom and have developed quickly through the main cities of Cambodia with a network of merchants. Few months after in December 2017, Pi Pay signed a deal with AliPay that will allow their customers to pay at the Pi Pay merchants in an attempt to target the growing number of Chinese tourists in Cambodia. In July 2020, Pi Pay merged with SmartLuy , a subsidiary of SMART Axiata company.

    Cashless payment: yes

    Send money to third party: yes

    Bill payment: yes

    E-wallet limit: Regular: USD 100 Standard: USD 250 Plus: USD 5000

    Suitable for tourist: yes (with a local sim card)

    Top-up mobile: yes (Smart)

     

    google play cambodiaapp store cambodia

     

    How to top-up Pi Pay (cash in) ?

    Using the map section of the app, you have to find a cash-in point. Then all you have to do is pin on the screen your wallet number (phone number)  and introduce bills (USD only) in the machine. The minimum deposit is USD 5. As of October 2018, Siem Reap has only 7 cash-in points, many more are in Phnom Penh.

     

    How to cash out Pi Pay ?

    You can cash out only at a  very limited numbers of merchants (like  Swensen ice cream). You can cash out up to USD 250 at the Pi Pay office in Siem Reap with a fee of 30c.

    The other option if you have a ABA bank account, is to use  the app to transfer the money to your bank account with a fee of 10 cents.

     

    How do you pay with Pi Pay?

    Merchants have a credit card terminal  look alike. They enter the amount you need to pay then you can either scan the QR code or they scan yours. In either way you will need to enter your pin code to make the final payment. Merchant will give you a printed receipt from their Pi Pay terminal.

    We found that the easier way to pay was when .. not using your phone. Simply enter your phone number on the the PiPay terminal following by  your pin code and you are all set!

     

    We like

    PayGO kiosks cash-in-points.
    Discounts for PiPay members at the many accredited  merchants
    Map on the app to find cash-in points
    Flashy design
    Fast Smart mobile top-up

    Possibility to paid without your phone

     

    We do not like

    The lack of shops offering discounts in Siem Reap

     

    pipay POS terminal siem reap

    POS Pi Pay terminal

     

    Our review of Pi Pay (Siem Reap only)

    We were quite excited to try Pi Pay in Siem Reap but our enthusiasm felt flat quickly. There is only few few cash in points in town and when asked in one shop, they could not top-up my account.

    Only few businesses in Siem Reap are showing the pink sticker.  We experienced  a lack of training from the staff to process payments and in one instance we had to give up as it was much quicker to pay cash. Some are asking  also a minimum payment to be able to pay with PiPay which is not mandatory….

    One of the biggest let down of Pi Pay in Siem Reap is certainly the lack of discounts at the merchants. With no incentives, it is difficult to see how Pi Pay will catch up in temple town. Hopefully something will do done about that in the near future. In December 2018, Pipay opened an office in Siem Reap.

     

     

    Where can you get discounts in Siem Reap with Pi Pay?

     

    By paying with PiPay you can get 20% off on movie tickets and food at the movie theater of the Heritage Walk in Siem Reap

     

    References

    Jack Ma’s Alipay agrees partnership with Cambodia’s PiPay. South East Asia Globe. Accessed 12.10.2018 at http://sea-globe.com/alipay-pipay-cambodia/

    Making cashless trendy in Cambodia: the story of Pi Pay. E27. Accessed 12.10.2018 at https://e27.co/making-cashless-trendy-cambodia-story-pi-pay-20180903/

    Pi Pay, ABA in digital deal. Khmer Times. Accessed 16.10.2018 at https://www.khmertimeskh.com/5085847/pi-pay-aba-digital-deal/

     

     

     

    PayGo Wallet

    pay go cambodia

     

    PayGo SEA under the brand name PayGo  wallet was an early entrant of the cashless market in Cambodia in 2013. Its focus was to set up kiosks that still exist today to transfer money and pay bills. One of the main attraction of PayGo is that they propose a virtual Mastercard you can use to make purchases on the internet: Itunes, App Store, Air Asia, Facebook, AliExpress, PayPal, Steam and Play Store.

    How to top-up PayGo ?

    You can top-up at the cash-in kiosks (the ones also used by Pi Pay) with USD bills or use the ABA mobile or Truemoney apps.

     

    References

    Pay&Go Aims to Streamline Bill Payments With New Services. Cambodia Daily. Accessed 12.10.2018 at https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/paygo-aims-to-streamline-bill-payments-with-new-services-44794/

     

     

    smart luy axiata cambodia

     

    Smart Axiata,  one the main  Telco company in Cambodia launched SmartLuy,  its cashless mobile app in 2015. It is mainly used for mobile, send money to a third phone (using a phone number) and pay bills. The merger between Smart Luy and Pi Pay was approved in July 2020, Smart staying a minority holder in the company.

     

    References

    SmartLuy official page. Accessed 18.10.2018. https://www.smart.com.kh/more/smartluy/

    Paying water bills with SmartLuy. Khmer Times. Accessed 19.10.2018. https://www.khmertimeskh.com/5078932/paying-water-bills-smartluy/

     

     

     

    wingpay cambodia

     

    Wingpay is one of  lasted entrant in the Cambodian cashless payment industry in 2018. Wing is a well known and established company since 2009 which allow to send money with a mobile number using one of its 5000 +  transfer agents in Cambodia. You can create your Wing account from the app and then you are ready to send money  directly from your cell phone.

     

    A section called Business payment on the app allows you to send money to a quite large list of registered businesses and individuals. You can also pay your electricity and internet bill.

    You can topup your account from your phone using your bank account (Amret bank only available)

     

    Cashless payment: yes

    Send money to third party: yes

    Bill payment: yes

    Suitable for tourist: yes (with a local sim card)

    Top-up mobile: yes

     

    References

    Wing: Leading the charge on financial inclusion in Cambodia. South-East Globe. Accessed 23.10.2018. http://sea-globe.com/wing-cambodia/

    Wing launches mobile payment platform. Phnom Penh Post. Accessed 23.10.2018. https://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/wing-launches-mobile-payment-platform.

     

     

    true money cambodia

    Launched in 2018, True money app is another platform to do cashless payments: transfer money, pay good, top-up mobile phone (Smart). You can top-up your account at the PayGO kiosks cash-in-points.

     

     

    References

    TrueMoney launches app.Khmer Times. Accessed 23.10.2018. https://www.khmertimeskh.com/297919/truemoney-launches-app/