Is seasonality taken into account in your SEO strategy? If not, know that a significant part of the budget for promotion merges into nowhere, and the most promising opportunities to earn on seasonal products go to competitors.

What is seasonal SEO?

This is one of the directions of classic SEO. It works on the same principles as traditional search engine optimization, only in addition to typical factors, the optimizer takes into account the seasonal popularity of all the company’s products. The goal of seasonal SEO is to maximize sales of seasonal goods during a period of high demand for them.

Seasonal SEO has two main directions:

• Time-oriented – takes into account fluctuations in demand due to the natural change of seasons.
• Event-oriented – focused on events that cause a surge in purchases of certain goods. Such events include holidays.

Seasons and events often overlap so good SEO specialists, as a rule, work in both directions. For example, New Year and Christmas are in winter, so winter clothes and accessories are chosen as Christmas and New Year gifts. If you combine time and event optimization correctly, then both directions will be more effective.

All commercial destinations are subject to seasonal fluctuations. In some niches, jumps are clearly expressed: for instance, the demand for gardening goods soars in April and decreases to single orders in November. There are areas where the differences are not so pronounced, but they still exist. An example is children’s toys: they are bought all year round, but in December-January the demand increases several times.

In a competent business strategy, it is necessary to take into account seasonal fluctuations in demand for all the presented product groups. So the company can correctly form the assortment, effectively build marketing, and maintain a stable sales volume throughout the year.

5 ways to make your website ready for any season

1. Examine the prior years’ analytical data

Looking at yearly information from Google Analytics or additional resources is one of the first areas you should search for potential for your seasonal SEO approach.

This data will not only assist you in planning a seasonal SEO technique that works, but it will also serve as a starting point for future improvements to the efficiency of your marketing approach. You may utilize the prior year’s results to boost your previous yearly approach, allowing you to witness incremental improvement over a specified amount of time each year.

You may generate a plan based on scheduling and content generation once you’ve determined when your peak period is

2. Improve the page’s quality for conversion

Updating the main navigation menu to emphasize the important items and services your consumers are searching for will enhance UX and assist your clients in finding the answers they require. For instance, include a banner on the main page telling visitors about discounts and promotions.

Landing pages. Consider generating and optimizing distinct landing pages for every deal when building a content schedule for multiple channels. Do not forget to include all the necessary contact information. When it is easy for the visitors to find the local number on the page, they will more likely contact you. Thus, getting a VoIP number with a local area code will help to raise your conversion rate as a result.

Individual calls to action. Avoid using generic calls to action for one-of-a-kind landing pages and other seasonal materials. Instead of monotonous “Call Now” calls to action, your company may utilize more imaginative ones:

3. Make a plan for your seasonal promotional content

Seasonal content is the most efficient technique to generate natural backlinks on social networks (which quickly provide traffic and enhance credibility in the long term).

It is also more likely to boost sales if it fits the criteria listed below:

• It meets the needs of seasonal requirements (for example, present ideas, or holiday dinner preparation). You may recognize them by taking a peek at your competition, surveying your consumers, and soliciting suggestions from your sales and client service experts.
• It should be complementary to the items you offer. To put it another way, your content has to address problems that your main product addresses. Again, your client service and sales departments are the ideal places to get ideas. The main secret of successful seasonal SEO is to generate content that is relevant to your clients.
• It should ideally be rated. From year to year, this is what produces true fame and revenue. This is where plain old-fashioned keyword research comes into play to assess ranking potential for seasonal content.

Each seasonal content resource might include a variety of formats:

• Articles: Any textual material for your blog (lists, detailed guides, etc.).
• Content resources: Official documents, e-books, infographics, etc.
• Social network: For example, interviews of experts with influential people, or thematic posts.

Remember that you may require a large amount of “promo support” content to advertise the contest, prize draw, etc. As a result, make time and money for these duties as well. Find a competent copywriter!

4. Make a plan for your social media campaign

When you generate seasonal content, you must promote it aggressively on social media.

A sustainable seasonal social media plan contains the following elements:

• Collaboration that works. Your social media experts have to collaborate with your sales, client service departments, and content producers. In this manner, they will be aware of what is actively advertised, what consumer inquiries are being asked, and what information resources are pertinent.
• Investigate keywords and hashtags to ensure that these updates are noticed naturally.

5. Create a plan before you start

Divide the work into three phases and prepare activities for each of them to avoid interfering with the site’s advertising.

The first period is a preparation period. Prepare everything you could need for this before the peak season begins. You’ve previously considered the consequences of numerous actions.

The second period is the peak. You will work hard to accomplish sales outcomes here. You distribute newsletters, insert advertisements, provide favorable terms, and run promotions. Explain to them why they have to purchase anything right away.

The third season is one of pause or decline in interest. The key aim at this point will be to minimize the deterioration. Continue to explore and broaden your target market. Consider what else you can provide if your product is not extremely relevant. Spend this time on more advertising, public relations, and sponsorship, and enhancing future marketing techniques.

All three phases should ideally be strongly connected and flow logically from one to the other.

Why seasonal SEO is important

Optimization taking into account seasonal factors directly affects the volume of traffic, the conversion rate of the site, and sales. Promoting products during a period when no one needs them, for example, Christmas tree garlands in June, you are wasting your time. By not concentrating on the current products of the season, you miss customers and receive less profit.

Seasonal SEO is a flexible tool that requires the optimizer to always keep abreast of the pulse, and track fluctuations in demand for products that are in the company’s assortment. But, if everything is done correctly, you get a sharp increase in sales during the peak season and compensate for a decrease in orders during the off-season.

Why is it important to do such work in advance?

If we look at the example of search engine optimization, then it takes time to create a static new page, optimize it, and reindex search robots. In the case of contextual advertising, the specialist also needs time to prepare advertising materials and launch an advertising campaign. For example, to promote Christmas products, optimization work should begin no later than the beginning of November.

And if the situation with the holidays is understandable and predictable in principle, but there are also certain seasonal directions along which whole sites are promoted, for example, a site for the sale of skis or skates. Such goods will not be particularly popular in the summer or spring, and a large loss of traffic share in the summer is inevitable. Therefore, it is very important to make your website ready for the winter period already in the summer.

This optimization is great not only for online stores but also for information resources. In both cases, it is recommended to create separate static pages in the form of collections of products or review articles. But if you already have suitable pages on your site, then you have to optimize them in advance.

Also, to strengthen the overall strategy for promoting your resource, you can use various Internet marketing instruments, for instance, social media channels or email newsletters, in which you can also notify the user about your seasonal products.

SEO based on a season: instead of the conclusion

Whatever company you own, do not forget to consider seasonality. The invested efforts will satisfy expectations and finally be translated into traffic and profit with the appropriate and careful strategy. Seasonal SEO can be challenging and time-consuming, but the positive news is that it becomes simpler with each passing year. You will have the possibility to reuse your seasonal offers, refresh the majority of your content to return it to readers’ newsfeeds and utilize the prior year’s sales methods and expertise.