How to Gain Credibility as a Travel Blogger

It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there in the land of travel blogging. Bloggers trying to get ahead of the next person, or to game the system any which way they can, all for the sake of a sale, another affiliate sale, another dime in their back pocket.

I’m just trying to build credibility by offering you one of the most accurate travel blogs out there (for the places I have been, obviously).

On the road less travelled in Madagascar:

This post is, again, slightly off-niche. I am a traveller and a travel blogger. Sometimes I feel the need to explain things or get things off my chest.

I am trying to build the T in E-E-A-T, the acronym for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.

They could have replaced the T with a C. C is for credibility.

I try not to worry about what other bloggers are doing. But sometimes the struggle is indeed real and frustrating.

This is how I am trying to gain credibility as a travel blogger.

Don’t try and Manipulate the SERPS

As a traveller, I am sure that you have come across this more than once.

You’re searching on Google about local transport costs, intercity bus stations or entrance fees for a museum in a city you’re visiting, and up pops a shiny article proudly stamped with the current year. “Updated for 2026.”

But when you land on the page, you scroll past six pop-up ads, a video banner that blocks half the screen, and half a dozen affiliate widgets. This is a telltale sign in itself.

Another giveaway is to look at the comments and check if the oldest comments don’t date back to 2018.

You find out later that the entrance fees listed were five years out of date. The local minivan route described was scrapped pre-pandemic, and the hotel they raved about didn’t survive COVID.

Yes, I know it’s hard to keep up with things. Hotels and restaurants sure do close without warning.

But if the main purpose of the blog post is listing 10 cafés and bars in such and such place, then the least you could do, before changing the date on the blog from say Best Bars in Gent in 2025 to Best Bars in 2026, is to check on Google Maps. The words, Permanently Closed are so easy to spot.

Maybe this is too time-consuming or boring, but it does wonders for your credibility.

No one said blogging was easy. To get anywhere, you really have to walk the blogging mile.

I have a few 2026s in my page titles. I can assure you that I will be deleting them come December. Those post titles just make the post look spammy anyway, even if the details are indeed relevant and up to date for the year mentioned.

It is very often the case that the author used a plug in or some code to automatically bump/change the publish date in the title to trick the search engine into believing that their post has been recently updated, ranking it on page 1, luring the reader to click, with the sole intent on bombarding the reader with ads and affiliate links at every given moment.

Many articles like this are written around the links. The info they provide is not the priority.

This is a common tactic, especially with some of the big travel blogs out there. I am sure you know who they are.

As a small solo travel blogger, I don’t have the authority of the big names out there. You know, the ones who have bestsellers under their belt have given talks around the world and are referenced by the BBC, CNN and the New York Times.

They don’t thrive because they manipulate the dates; they thrive in spite of manipulating the dates.

A brand-new or mid-tier blog that uses manipulative date tactics gets flagged quickly because Google has no reason to trust them. A site with a massive, 15-year history of established trust has an enormous “forgiveness buffer.” Google’s algorithm gives legacy domains the benefit of the doubt that smaller sites simply aren’t afforded.

Don’t Bullshit Your Way To a Good Story

Earlier this year, there was in Instagram post, some Aussie dude, travelled to Mauritania to ride the Iron Ore Train, from the mines out at Zouerat to Nouadhibou on the coast.

It’s a crazy trip. I did that too, riding in one of the empty wagons, all the way to Zouerat. I missed the stop in Choum and spent another 8 hours on the train.

But his Instagram Reel opened with him declaring that “I am in Mauritania, one of the most dangerous countries in the world”

The people in Mauritania are very poor. It’s also dusty, super hot, and there is trash everywhere. Mauritania is many things. Dangerous, it is not. Well, maybe if you are an influencer and are standing on the side for the wagon for that all-important selfie and the train jerks forward at that very moment.

Many people saw through his bullshit.

He was trading short-term clicks for long-term brand reputation. He was a good talker, intrepid enough to visit many places, yet he ruined it for himself, talking bollocks.

What Nomadic Backpacker Gives You

When you read a post on Nomadic Backpacker, you are reading firsthand accounts and observations of the places I have visited. I go places and report back. It’s as simple as that.

If you are trying, like I am, to build your credibility, blog posting a generic list of the top ten things to do in Rome, or trying to sell the idea that Cinque Terre is a hidden gem, then you have already fallen off the blogging credibility ladder.

I am sure Rome is a great place to visit. And Cinque Terre is indeed worth visiting, but hidden gem, it is not.

The borders I have crossed, the dusty roads I have travelled down, that’s all me. When I tell you that there is no ATM on the border between Albania and North Macedonia, there isn’t one.

When I tell you that the road from the Tanzania-Zambia border to Kapiri Mposhi, is 800 km of dust, it’s because it is, or was when I wrote the post, and date-stamped it as so.

I travelled down that road.

And Why Nomadic Backpacker Can Be Trusted

I don’t write about places, I haven’t been to

I recall a relatively small blog about visiting the Archaeological Site in Mitla. The post didn’t have one selfie, and I quote:

"The Mitla ruins lie around 3 miles west of the centre of Mitla, near the junction of highway 190 and the main road leading to the town of Mitla."

Actually, the ruins are just pretty much in the centre of town, and nowhere near a point west of town near the junction of Highway 190.

How do I know that? Because I visited Mitla myself using public transport.

This is one of the reasons why I don’t read travel blogs. Many are full of bullshit. My best research tool for travel is Google Maps.

The main photo in the aforementioned blog is of the rooftops in Oaxaca, and according to Google Lens, it is a stock photo and appears in five other blog posts.

Even if they do mention on their about page: “Every piece of content you read here is written with as much accuracy and attention to detail as possible.”

Their credibility just died twice.

I am not sure on their motivation here.

Giving false info doesn’t help anyone, especially the traveller, standing at the ticket office, asking for the times of a bus that hasn’t run since 2015, or in quite the pickle at the entrance to the museum with only enough cash to pay for the ticket, based on the cost from 2021.

And it’s not like the ruins in Mitla have been moved, hell, the village was established almost 3,000 years ago.

Maybe they just found a blog and copied their incorrect information. A quick look on Google Maps would have given them a better answer.

I Travel on My Own Dime

This has always been my modus operandi.

Getting sponsored stays and having to write (only) nice things about a hotel or hostel doesn’t sit right with me. I prefer to pay for my accommodation out of my own pocket, leaving me free to write an honest review, rather than be obliged to write a gloat and bloat review of how good a place was.

I have a few hostel reviews and recommendations.

I think there are only two instances where I have received a few free nights in exchange for a mention. A mention, a recommendation for a name drop, not a full-on Oh, everything was just wonderful, review

In both cases, I was already staying there, having paid my way like anyone else. I wanted to extend. So I asked for a few free nights for the name drop. If the place was crap, I wouldn’t have extended. Free or not.

I try to be helpful to those who can’t decide where to stay. I am a budget traveller to the core. But saying that, I am not an extreme budget traveller, who will only sleep in the cheapest of the cheapest places. I have some standards. lol.

Am not like one buddy of mine that a place is great only because it’s cheap.

A traveller needs things and facilities. A place to do laundry, get a good sleep, a rooftop for drying your hand-washed clothes and a place to drink that early morning coffee.

In my review of the Palmers Lodge Swiss Cottage hostel, I did mention that it was one of the best hostels that I have stayed at in London. I didn’t get paid to say that. I didn’t get a free night; I didn’t get a free breakfast.

It was the truth. It was a good place to stay. So much better than the many awful options in London.

I stayed at the Kex Hostel in Reykjavik and wrote that it was definitely up there in my top 10 of hostels that I had stayed at in recent years.

If I wrote that because I was paid to write it, and the next traveller went and found my review was bullshit, then my credibility would be tarnished.

When I was in Central America, I could have gotten sponsored bus tickets on TicaBus or NicaBus.

But then, how would that fit when I talk about my preferred border crossing strategy, where I take a local bus to the border and take another one on the other side?

It is very hard to give an honest, unvarnished account of a journey when someone else paid for the ticket. Paying my own way keeps me entirely independent. If a local bus ride was a nightmare, I’ll tell you it was a nightmare.

If the border formalities were a breeze, I’ll tell you. If it was a bordello, I will tell you just that. No saying everything was one scam after another, just to get clicks.

Accuracy and claims

There is a weird obsession in modern travel blogging with “country counting” and visiting every country as fast as possible.

Most of these types of travellers often fly in, stay a few days and fly out again.

They might take a trip up to Nosy Be, stay in a fancy hotel and then write about backpacking in Madagascar.

I saw one blog post written by a country counting traveller, listing 10 wonderful dishes in Madagascar, (or something similar). I travelled Madagascar hard core, down the remote East Coast from Tamatave to Manakara, spending 2 days on a cargo boat on the Canal de Pangalanes. Madagascar is simply NOT a culinary delight.

Most of the food, if you are not careful, will give you food poisoning. It is often cooked, then left plated up in small glass cabinets on the roadside until it is sold. I had to seek out places run by expats, or pizza restaurants, be that of exist on La Vache Qui Rit sandwiches.

Whether it’s travelling overland down the length of Africa, or travelling down the Amazon in a cargo boat for 4 days, I try to bring you content which is helpful.

I need my intel to be accurate. If not, bang goes my credibility.

When I was in Leticia, I could have taken a boat to Puerto Nariño. Would have been pretty easy to get all the logistics of the boat, with timings and cost, and look on booking for a hostel to say that I stayed at. Easy peasy. But what’s the point?

I support my blog posts with selfies to gain credibility. I embed Google Maps of bus stations and embassies to be truly helpful, and I link to official sites, where you can find the most recent timetables.

If I tell you a ferry leaves at 9 am or that a specific bus company departs from a particular terminal, that information needs to work when you are standing on the ground with a backpack on your shoulders.

The moment a reader relies on my notes and finds out the information was fabricated, trust is broken forever.

Things change. It’s how it is. Sometimes readers leave comments on particular posts. Some details are easy to check.

On my Soatrans bus post from Antsirabe to Morondava, someone left a comment to say that they no longer run that service. I emailed head office. The comment was bullshit. Some people just can’t help themselves.

No Hard Sell

You might have noticed the absence of Google Ads, MediaVine Ads.

I hope that you have noticed that there are no affiliate links or email subscription pop-ups.

I am not trying to monetise your visit by getting you to click a sponsored link so I can make a cut on the backend.

And I am definitely not after your email address.

I do offer two eBooks, which are available on Gumroad. This is not commercial bias, where the blogger tries to persuade people to buy something based on manipulative copy. This is a very common tactic on top-end travel blogs involving in particular, travel insurance and eSims.

My focus is entirely on building trust and gaining credibility. I built this site for the independent traveller who just wants straight, zero-bullshit logistics that they can rely on.

Final thoughts

Credibility isn’t something you can buy with fancy web design or fake with automated code. It is earned slowly, article by article, by showing up, doing the actual legwork yourself, paying your own way and then writing it all up for the blog

In a world full of algorithms, automation, and monetisation schemes, being a real human reporting back from real places turns out to be the most radical thing a blogger can do.

I run Nomadic Backpacker entirely solo. I don’t have a team of writers in-country. For most of the places I’ve explored, I won’t be going back anytime soon. Time, budget, and the desire to explore new places mean I am always moving forward.

While I update what I can through reader feedback and direct verification using only official sources, this remains a living travel journal based on raw, first-hand experience. I can’t promise to track every closed café in the world, but I can promise that when I tell you I stood there and did it, it’s the honest truth.