ResortQuest cites PRWeb as a primary tool for boosting search rankings.
Problem to be addressed:
ResortQuest, one of the nation’s leading vacation rental management and resort real estate companies, provides a one stop resource for North America’s premier resort destinations.
It was as early as summer 2006 when Gaylord Entertainment realized a significant number of people were not aware of the vacation rentals professionally managed by ResortQuest. There was as significant lack of visibility in search engines, where so many of their prospective guests were looking for vacations.
“With a strong background in online marketing, especially search engine marketing, I knew how important link building was to search rankings,” said John Ellis, Online Marketing Manager for ResortQuest.
The PRWeb solution:
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 I began to think of PRWeb as the perfect link building tool. 
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ResortQuest started to use PRWeb on a small scale, but not in a strategic way.
After adjusting a few press releases to emphasize specific keywords, an increase in traffic to
ResortQuest.com was quickly noticed. ResortQuest then worked a few more press releases and focused
on other specific keywords. The search rankings for those specific keywords quickly increased as well.
“I began to think of PRWeb as the perfect link building tool,” said Ellis. “It gave us complete control of the links, anchor text, and our message.”
The links in the press releases were being recognized by search engines as strong indicators that specific landing pages were very relevant to the specific keywords Ellis was emphasizing. As a result, these pages began bubbling to the top of the search results when prospective customers began their search for a vacation.
ResortQuest has about 20 different locations from Destin, Florida to Whistler, British Columbia. After seeing great success with the early press releases, ResortQuest began issuing a minimum of two press releases per month for each ResortQuest location.
The Results:
Comparing the ResortQuest.com rankings from October 2006 against March, 2007 reveals these dramatic improvements:
| KEYWORDS |
Google |
Yahoo! |
| Now Ranked |
From |
Now Ranked |
From |
| breckenridge vacation rentals |
3 |
Not Ranked |
2 |
11 |
| charleston vacation rentals |
6 |
Not Ranked |
3 |
Not Ranked |
| destin beach vacation rentals |
7 |
Not Ranked |
6 |
Not Ranked |
| fort walton beach vacation rentals |
8 |
Not Ranked |
5 |
Not Ranked |
| isle of palms vacation rentals |
6 |
Not Ranked |
2 |
Not Ranked |
| keystone vacation rentals |
5 |
11 |
2 |
8 |
| kiawah vacation rentals |
9 |
Not Ranked |
2 |
Not Ranked |
| lido key vacation rentals |
7 |
Not Ranked |
4 |
Not Ranked |
| outer banks vacation rentals |
8 |
12 |
11 |
Not Ranked |
| seabrook island vacation rentals |
5 |
Not Ranked |
8 |
Not Ranked |
| st simons island vacation rentals |
5 |
Not Ranked |
4 |
Not Ranked |
| sun valley vacation rentals |
2 |
2 |
1 |
9 |
| telluride vacation rentals |
9 |
Not Ranked |
10 |
Not Ranked |
| wild dunes vacation rentals |
6 |
Not Ranked |
10 |
Not Ranked |
This table shows where the location-specific page at ResortQuest.com is ranked with its respective keywords in March 2007 compared to its ranking in October, 2006.
In less than 6 months, ResortQuest went from being barely visible in search engine rankings to having
destinations consistently listing in top 10 search engine results pages (SERPs).
According to Ellis, the secret to ResortQuest’s press release success has been the use of newsworthy press
releases submitted through PRWeb. The press releases are not written to promote Gaylord Entertainment
or ResortQuest. Rather they announce news and events about each specific destination. Examples include,
“Spring Beer Festival in Breckenridge, Colorado,” “Family Circle Cup Tennis in Charleston,” and
“Hilton Head’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade.”
The end result has been a huge success in search engine rankings. John Ellis points out, “Because of the
ResortQuest relationship with PRWeb and the quality of our press releases, we are in the top 5 rankings
with 100s of quality keywords.”
About ResortQuest
ResortQuest, one of the nation’s leading vacation rental management and resort real estate companies,
provides a one-stop resource for North America’s premier resort destinations. ResortQuest is the largest
marketer and management company of vacation condominiums and home rentals in the U.S. and Canada,
based on a portfolio of approximately 14,000 vacation rental properties with a combined real estate value
estimated at approximately $7 billion. ResortQuest Real Estate is one of the nation’s leading real estate
companies, focusing exclusively on resort properties, offering superior brokerage services in the country’s
premier beach, ski and golf destinations. ResortQuest employs more than 4,000 people and is owned and
operated by Gaylord Entertainment Co. (NYSE: GET), one of the largest and fastest growing companies
in the hospitality and entertainment industries, based in Nashville, Tenn., that also owns and operates
Gaylord Hotels and the Grand Ole Opry. For more information, visit www.resortquest.com or
www.gaylordentertainment.com.
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