For high street and online retailers, the Christmas period is guaranteed money in the bank if things are done properly.
Black Friday and cyber Monday are now considered to be the beginning of the Christmas shopping period and it’s important that retailers are in prime position to make the most of the inevitable Christmas rush.
A lot of digital strategies for this period happen well in advance, so if you’re reading this and you have nothing in place, it’s too late. Most online brands create very specialised seasonal campaigns to increase their profit margin at this time of year.
During this period, many retailers refocus their efforts on direct sale channels like PPC, Display and Email marketing. Organic traffic is often left by the wayside, with a good deal of companies failing to see how the importance of event and holiday based keywords and how it can possibly benefit them.
Timing is everything and even if brands are aware of seasonal SEO keywords and wish to construct landing pages or blogs around these particular terms, waiting until November/early December is far too late. Search engines don’t index pages immediately and this is why planning ahead is crucial.
What Are Seasonal Keywords?
Seasonality keywords are pretty much what they sound like: Christmas, Weddings, Valentines or Halloween etc.
They are keywords that increase in demand especially this time of year and are usually created around search terms consumers would typically Google. ‘Gift Cards’ is the most common example of of a search term that is regularly searched for during this period, these go hand in hand with keywords such as ‘Christmas gifts for dad’, ‘Christmas gifts for her’ and, well…you get the picture.
When Should You Start Your Seasonal SEO Strategy?
Ideally you should begin well in advance of Christmas, even as far back as six months before to ensure that any new content you create can be fully indexed and ranked within the search engines.
At a minimum, you should be creating any campaigns 3 or 4 months before that period to ensure that you gain the most from your strategies.
Create Specific Landing Pages:
These are pages you would need to create on your site which are based around terms that are to do with those you would select that are relevant to the time of year (‘Christmas gifts for dad’).
After this you would then need to pick out a number of different products on the site that could combine into a unique landing page based around these key terms. Once the content is written and the pages are created they can be promoted and used as landing pages for PPC and email campaigns to boost conversion for your key phrases.
Create a Christmas Themed Blog
These blog posts are fun to create and fun to read, once they are optimised for your keywords they have the potential to push a considerable amount of traffic to your website. List blogs have substantial power and the format can be replicated throughout each different gifting category to drive a higher volume of traffic.
Let your imagination run wild: Top 10 Christmas Gifts for the Office Grump, Top 5 Luxury Gifts for the in-laws, etc.
Promote Through Social
You need to promote the pages once they are published not only to build links but also to ensure that your target market is aware of the content.
The first step would be to utilise your email list, letting your customer base know of your new content, this can be through a dedicated email campaign or a signature link or banner on the footer of the email.
Social platforms like Facebook and Pinterest are ideal for these top lists and appeal to those looking for information to assist them in their festive purchases.
What Should You do With Your Content and Landing Pages After the Festivities End?
Most companies will remove their content or redirect them to another static web page. However, we advise a slightly different approach, as it can bring much more value in twelve months’ time by simply keeping them live.
Put up a holding page with links to key pages on your site. This means that the pages are still being indexed but still have consumer value as opposed to giving a redirect to a page that has no value.
Sure, seasonal keywords aren’t applicable for all, but for an eCommerce site they are essential. Like anything worth doing it will take time and effort, however research and planning are key to getting this right and making the most of the SEO traffic and festive profitability.
