Using SEO in the Holidays

Posted on December 21st, 2011. Written by Jamie Northrup.

There is no question that the peak buying season of the year is of great importance to the online marketer. Long before it comes around, many are hard at work getting their websites ready for the tidal wave of yuletide shoppers, or what they hope will be a tidal wave. The nature of the potential profits from holiday shopping makes it essential to prepare with a solid holiday SEO strategy. The goal is to be on the first page that when desperate shoppers go running to their favorite search engine in the last week of shopping.

The importance of the holidays to online marketers:
First, there was Black Friday, which is, of course the biggest day of the year for retailers, no matter what medium they use to sell their goods. Then of course, the marketing gimmick that was Cyber Monday ballooned into the most important online shopping day of the year.

After both days are gone, does that mean that holiday shopping is over? The last few days before Christmas will be full of last minute orders with extra money paid for two day shipping or added notes apologizing for the “belated gift”. Just because the two big spending days are gone does not mean that the spending is over, not by a long shot. This means that right up until the very end there will still be money to be made for the enterprising web marketer.

The difference between regular SEO and holiday SEO:
The main difference is that the spending is tied to a specific day. Note that due to the surge in people actively searching for specific goods to purchase for other people, a website may see hits from people who have not visited it before and may never visit it again. This will need to be taken into factored into the SEO strategy.

Webmasters should take into account the fact that people may be searching while on the go, from mobile devices and computers that is not theirs. The key in the holidays is to maximize sales, not necessarily to worry about getting people to keep coming back over the long term.

Holiday SEO tips for webmasters:
Get listed on holiday-focused shopping sites. Sites for last minute gift deals, for example.

Have a lot of keywords related to gift-giving and the holidays. Use terms like “last minute deal” or “holiday sale”. You want your website to come up as people are frantically searching for holiday presents in the few days left.

Social media is a good way to get word out that a particular website is having a sale, especially if you want the message out there rapidly. Webmaster should push the fact that they are having a sale.

Make sure that the content on a website’s key pages reflects the season and any special offers being made during that season.

Webmasters should try to get some blog attention. Meaning, they will want their website, together with any holiday-themed offers to get talked about on as many related blogs as possible.

Make it easy for users to make purchases without the need to join up and get a username. The need to spend an extra five minutes filling out forms may just be enough to send them to your competitor.

Use holiday-related terms to describe any products you have on offer that may be bought to be given as a gift.

The holidays are not only for shopping and family; in the world of SEO it is a chance to increase traffic and e-commerce sales. Leveraging each holiday holds new opportunity for success if properly utilized. Take the time to festively prepare your site for every popular holiday throughout the year.

Author Mark Williams has been in the web design industry for over ten years and loves to share his ideas. As a freelance writer and web designer, he is able to bring a fresh perspective on many topics like this one.