Search one: from home
- Planning searches include the town name, because they’re made from somewhere else: “Myrtle Beach mini golf,” “rainy day Myrtle Beach.” Your pages need to say Myrtle Beach (or North Myrtle Beach, or Surfside) plainly.
- Visitors compare more and read more. Prices, photos, parking, and whether to book ahead matter.
- Lists and guides rank for these searches. Being mentioned, accurately, on local tourism and “best of” pages helps.
- AI assistants answer a lot of trip planning now. A site they can read, with clear facts, gets quoted. See getting recommended by ChatGPT.
Search two: on the strip
- “Near me,” “open now,” and directions. Distance and your Google Business Profile decide these.
- Hours right today. A visitor who drives to a closed door doesn’t come back.
- A phone number that’s answered, and a menu or price list they can read in the car.
- Recent photos. Visitors check whether it looks like the pictures.
Who’s visiting when
Pages and posts aimed at each group, at the time they plan, beat one message all year.
- Summer families, the core of the year.
- Spring and fall golfers on trips with friends.
- Canadian visitors, especially in spring; Myrtle Beach’s Canadian-American Days have run every March for decades.
- Event weekends: concerts, tournaments, car shows and festivals.
Written by Nikita Huttenlocher, founder and lead engineer at Huttenlocher Technologies, a web design and software company in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.