The Pinch Charleston

Owning the Funnel: Building Visibility Before the Hotel Search Begins

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Building Authority & Visibility with Explore Hub

One of the central SEO challenges facing The Pinch was the overwhelming presence of Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) dominating search results. To combat this and capture more direct traffic, Gourmet Marketing introduced a proprietary solution: Explore Hub.

For The Pinch, this became Explore Charleston — a digital travel guide designed as both a guest-facing amenity and a powerful marketing asset. Explore Charleston showcases top attractions, coffee shops, restaurants, parking, and other key spots near the hotel. Guests use it as a helpful neighborhood guide, while potential customers browsing the website gain immediate context on how centrally located the hotel is. It becomes a natural sales tool — reinforcing convenience and proximity during the research phase of their trip.

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Strategic SEO Engine

More importantly, Explore Hub is a strategic SEO engine. Each featured location has its own fully optimized landing page, targeting high-intent keywords and search variations that potential visitors use while planning their trip to Charleston. This effort goes beyond traditional hotel search terms like “boutique hotel Charleston” — instead, it captures top-of-funnel traffic from users who haven’t yet started looking for a place to stay.

To identify which locations to feature, we conducted in-depth demand analysis, combining monthly search volume, keyword variations, and tourism behavior data. We then developed a full content architecture including supporting articles like “Things to Do in Charleston,” “How to Get Around,” and “Best Time to Visit,” each reinforcing The Pinch’s authority in local travel content.

The goal was simple: position The Pinch as the most trusted and visible brand for Charleston travel — even before guests began searching for hotels. This organic visibility strategy not only supports direct bookings but also feeds into retargeting campaigns and email capture tools, giving the hotel more opportunities to engage potential guests over time.

With Explore Hub, SEO became more than keywords — it became a full-funnel strategy rooted in brand storytelling, helpfulness, and local authority.

 

 

The Results

$26K

saved the average monthly cost to reach a 1.3K ranking for organic keywords.

+20K

organic traffic per month

1.3K

keywords are ranking in the Google Top 10.

On Your Mark,
Get Set,