Comparison pages: for the guest who is still deciding.
A guest who has not picked a park yet is still choosing between cabin and trailer, monthly and nightly, this entrance and that one. Almost no park writes the page that helps them choose.
IN ONE PARAGRAPH
A comparison page answers a choice a guest is making before they search for a park by name: cabin or RV site for a family, pull-through or back-in, monthly or seasonal, which entrance, your park or the state campground. Those searches have almost no competition, and the guest who reads a fair answer trusts the park that wrote it. Name both options in the title, say who each is right for including the case against your own, use your real numbers, and end at the page that books.
What a park can compare
- Cabin versus RV site for a family, with what each costs and includes at your park.
- Pull-through versus back-in, which most first-time RVers do not understand and search.
- Monthly versus seasonal versus nightly, with the math at your rates.
- Which entrance or which side. West versus north entrance to Yellowstone; the river side versus the highway side of your own park.
- Your park versus the state campground down the road, written fairly: they have the lake, you have hookups and showers.
- Which sites fit which rig: the 45-foot fifth wheel, the van, the truck camper.
What one looks like
Here is the shape of a cabin-versus-RV-site page for a family of five, with made-up numbers in the style of a real park. The table is the part guests screenshot.
| Cabin | RV site with your trailer | |
|---|---|---|
| Sleeps | Up to 6, two bedrooms | Whatever your rig sleeps |
| Nightly, July | $165 | $62 full hookup |
| Kitchen | Full, with dishes | Yours |
| Bathroom | Private, in the cabin | Bathhouse 200 feet away |
| Pets | Two cabins allow dogs | Yes, on leash |
| Good for | Grandparents, no rig, bad-weather week | A family that owns a trailer and wants the fire ring |
Under the table: two short paragraphs, one for each choice, saying plainly who should pick it. Then a button to the cabins page and a button to the sites page. Six hundred words, one afternoon, and it ranks for a search nobody else in the county has a page for.
How to write one that works
Name the two options in the title. State who each is right for, including the case against your own option. Use your real numbers: rates, site lengths, distances. Keep the table short. End with the page that books the option the reader picked. The honesty is the point; a comparison that only sells one side is an ad, and guests and Google both read it as one.
What it looks like when it is missing
The guest searches "cabin or RV site Buena Vista family" and finds nothing from any park, so they read a forum thread from 2019 and pick whoever was mentioned there. Or they search "west or north entrance Yellowstone camping" and land on a travel blog that names a competitor.
What it costs a park
The deciding guest. The searches where every park competes are "[town] RV park" and its variants. Comparison searches are where almost none do. A park with three honest comparison pages owns a set of searches its competitors have never noticed.
How to check your own
- List the choices guests ask you about on the phone. "Should we get a cabin or bring the trailer?" is one.
- Search that question with your town and see what comes up. If it is forums and blogs, the page is open.
- Check whether any page on your site answers it.
What we do about it
In the Marketing band we write two or three comparison pages per park a year, from the choices the park says guests ask about, with the park's real numbers. We wrote nine for our own business, comparing ourselves to every other way to get a park website, because the same rule applies to us.
Questions about this.
What is a comparison page?
A page that helps a reader choose between options: cabin or RV site, monthly or seasonal, this entrance or that one. It targets the search a guest makes while deciding, before they search for a park by name.
Should a comparison page mention competitors?
It can, if it is fair. A page comparing your park to the state campground that says what each does well is trusted; one that only criticizes is read as an ad by guests and by Google.
Are comparison searches worth targeting for a small park?
Yes, because almost no park does. They are less competitive than the direct park searches and the guest who reads one is close to booking.
How long should a comparison page be?
Long enough to answer the choice honestly with real numbers, usually six hundred to a thousand words with a short table, ending at the page that books.
Want this done for your park?
This is the ongoing work in the Marketing band. Tell us about your park and we will say what we would build first. SEO for parks starts at $250 a month.
Part of the RV park SEO guide, section: What grows a park site. Previous: FAQ sections: the questions guests ask, answered where machines can read them. Next: Blog posts: the specific questions only your park can answer.