The brief: get found by more than the people who already know the name
Coast Apartments has four apartments - Sun, Sea, Sand and Shells - sleeping from 2 to 8 guests each, every one rated VisitEngland 4 Star Gold, with free parking on site and the beach about 100 metres away. The site already had the photos and the awards. What it did not have was much for Google to go on: no main heading on the homepage, no page descriptions, leftover template pages, and a slow load on phones. The owner sent us a list of search points to look at, and we answered every one.
What we actually did
All of it on the existing WordPress site, tested on a private copy first, then put live:
- Fixed how enquiries arrived - a plugin setting was holding contact-form emails in a queue for up to 30 minutes. They now arrive straight away.
- Removed an advertising script that loaded on every page but was not being used.
- Gave every page a proper title, description and heading, built around North Shore, parking and family apartments - searches four apartments can realistically win - rather than the broad terms the booking sites own.
- Told Google what the business is - address, check-in times, awards and the four apartments - in structured data that validates with no errors.
- Cleared out ten leftover template and duplicate pages, with redirects so nothing broke, and tidied the sitemap.
- Added the pages guests look for - an Apartments comparison, a North Shore guide, a Blackpool Illuminations page and a “Getting here” section on Contact.
- Made it easier to use on a phone - a bar with “Check availability” and a call button stays on screen, and the homepage has a distance guide from the front door to the tram, the beach and the Tower.
- Published a privacy policy and a cookie notice, so Google Analytics only runs once a visitor says yes.
- Brought the software up to date - plugins updated, unused ones switched off, and the server moved from PHP 7.4, which stopped getting security fixes in 2022, to PHP 8.3.
Four screens that tell the story
Measured, not claimed
Tested on Google’s own PageSpeed servers on 8 November 2026, the homepage scores 100 for accessibility, best practices and SEO, on mobile and on desktop, with performance at 83 on mobile and 96 on desktop. On the mobile test the main content appears in 2.7 seconds, and the page weighs 1.7MB.
Before we started, on 30 September 2026, we tested the same homepage with Lighthouse, the tool behind PageSpeed, run on our own machine: performance 30, accessibility 93, best practices 77, SEO 92, and 4.3MB of page weight. It was not run on Google’s servers, so treat it as a direction rather than a like-for-like comparison - and mobile scores move by several points between runs. Test it yourself, or run your own site through our free website check.
Why this matters if you run a guesthouse or holiday let
Because most accommodation sites in Blackpool do not need a redesign; they need someone to look after them. Clear apartment or room pages, the facts guests check before booking, and a site that loads quickly on a phone - that is what our £29.99-a-month plan keeps right. If you are starting from scratch, see the B&B site we built for Q Accommodation, or read what we do for hotels, guesthouses and holiday lets in Blackpool.
Accommodation websites: the questions we get asked
Can you improve my holiday let or guesthouse website without rebuilding it?
Usually, yes. Coast Apartments kept its existing WordPress site; we fixed what was underneath it, rewrote the titles and headings, added the pages guests were looking for and made it faster on phones. If the site is beyond saving we will say so, but most are not. The website maintenance page explains how we take on a site that is already there.
Will it still work with my booking system?
It should. Coast Apartments still takes bookings through freetobook, the system it already used; we left the booking widget in place and fixed its date picker so guests can no longer pick a date in the past or a departure before their arrival. If you use something else, tell us what it is and we will check before we change anything.
What does looking after an accommodation website cost?
The same as any site on our plan: £99 setup, then £29.99 a month for UK hosting, SSL, security and software updates, 3 content edits a month and support. The full breakdown is on the pricing page, and there is more on what hotel, guesthouse and holiday let websites need on our Blackpool hotels page.