In every business, there are several peak seasons or times in the year when products or services become more popular. Identifying these seasonal trends is an important piece to any SEO strategy and can provide an edge over the competition.
What is Seasonal SEO?
A technique that can help bring more visibility to a website, seasonal marketing coincides with evergreen marketing efforts that help further drive traffic to specific products or services. There are two types of seasonal SEO strategies, time-based which refers to summer, winter and monthly peaks and event-based which refers to holiday traffic changes. For B2C (business to consumer) businesses, event-based peaks are more prominent, especially an e-commerce business where national holidays provide the perfect opportunity for customers to spend some extra money on products. Identifying seasonal traffic changes in B2B businesses can be a little tricky, however, while time-based events are more typical especially if the service provided is more accessible during warmer or cooler times of the year.
Understand Seasonality in Search
In general, seasonality refers to recognizing changes in the way users interact with search engines throughout the year. Prior to applying seasonal SEO, it’s crucial to understand how specific periods of time will have higher volumes of searches for specific queries that may be related to a product or service. For example, users tend to ask more frequently about black cocktail dresses prior to New Year’s Eve, or floral bouquets before Mother’s Day. Understanding query trends that are specific to your business will help craft a more successful seasonal SEO strategy.
Seasonal Marketing Starts with Keywords Research
Effective keyword research is the backbone of any season-specific SEO strategy. As shown below, it’s best to start with general terms using Google Trends that are most commonly used for the specific services or products. Once several of these more general terms are identified, Google’s Keyword Planner tools can help to expand on these terms and evaluate the search volume and click through rate (CTR) for a variety of different related terms. It’s important to remember that the way users search for products and services may change depending on the time of year. As displayed below, when comparing mother’s day gifts and gifts for mom, you can see that the term, gifts for mom, spikes in popularity for multiple seasons. Making sure to be thorough during the keyword research process can help to maximize the success of any seasonal SEO marketing efforts.
Timing is Everything
Timing is everything when it comes to implementing an effective seasonal campaign. Identify the ramp-up period in which marketing efforts increase to match search volume for specific terms. For example, Mother’s Day marketing efforts shouldn’t increase at the beginning of April, but closer to the middle of March to match the increased search volume for terms related to this particular holiday. Having a content calendar will also be important to help line up all the on-page content and channels together so there is a concise tone, voice and direction. Creating unique content that coordinates with seasonal specific terms takes time so prepare content in advance.
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