The Importance of SEO Planning for Black Friday and Christmas

As the festive season approaches, businesses need to start preparing for the two biggest shopping events of the year: Black Friday and Christmas.  

With the increase in online shopping, it's more crucial than ever to ensure your online store is easily discoverable on search engines. This is where Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) comes into play. In this article, we'll discuss the importance of SEO, why you should start working on your SEO strategy well in advance. 

Why SEO is Crucial for Your Business

SEO is not just about getting your website to the top of search engine result pages (SERPs); it's about attracting the right audience and converting them into customers. With the right SEO strategies, you can increase your website's visibility, drive more organic traffic, and ultimately boost your sales. 

The Rising Importance of Online Shopping

The way people shop has significantly changed over the years, with a substantial shift towards online shopping. According to a Retail Gazette, eCommerce sales in the second half of 2023 are expected to grow by 4.6% from last year, with more and more people choosing to do most of their holiday shopping online. As such, it's essential for businesses to optimise their online presence to capture this growing market. 

The Role of SEO in Online Shopping

SEO and Content Marketing play a vital role in online shopping. They help ensure that your website appears in relevant search results when potential customers are searching for products or services that you offer. But SEO isn't something that you can do overnight. It requires careful planning, ongoing optimisation, and constant monitoring, and for this reason it’s good practice to begin your SEO work as early as possible. 

The Importance of Early SEO Planning for Black Friday and Christmas

Black Friday and Christmas are the busiest shopping periods of the year, both online and in bricks-and-mortar stores. To reap the benefits of these peak shopping times, you need to start working on your SEO strategy well in advance, to ensure all work has been bedded in properly and you are hitting the right spots for search engines such as Google in good time. 

Early SEO planning allows you to: 

Identify and Target Relevant Keywords

Keyword research is a crucial part of SEO. It helps you understand what terms your potential customers are using to search for your products or services. By identifying and targeting relevant keywords in your website content, you can increase your chances of appearing in relevant search results. 

I wouldn’t recommend focusing heavily on scoring high slots for your products in general, for example if you supply handmade cakes, don’t put all of your effort into simply ‘handmade cakes’ - consider the journey of your customer, and who is more likely to buy something. Instead of focusing on the generic term, focus on suffixes such as ‘for sale’, ‘to buy’ or ‘near me’ - these searchers are more advanced in their journey and therefore more likely to buy from you if your products appeal to them.  

Create Engaging and Optimised Content

Content creation is another vital aspect of SEO. By planning your content in advance, you can ensure that it's not only engaging but also optimised for search engines. This includes creating blog posts around popular holiday shopping topics (like ‘Best gifts for kids’, ‘Top 5 trending presents for teenagers’ that will help people who are in the research stage of their buying journey), optimising your product descriptions, and updating your meta tags. 

Build High-Quality Backlinks

Backlinks are one of the most important ranking factors in SEO. By planning your SEO strategy in advance, you can start building high-quality backlinks to your website. This can be done through guest blogging, influencer outreach, and digital PR campaigns, if you have the budget for it. 

Black Friday and Christmas Shopping Blog Ideas

Creating holiday-themed blog content is a great way to drive organic traffic to your website during the festive season. Here are a few blog post ideas that you can consider: 

Best Gifts for [Insert Demographic/Interest]: These types of blog posts are always popular during the holiday season. You can create different versions targeting various demographics or interests. 

Top Black Friday/Cyber Monday Deals: Prior to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, publish a blog post highlighting your top deals. This can help drive traffic to your website and increase sales. 

Christmas Gift Guides: Gift guides are another popular type of blog post during the holiday season. You can create gift guides for different categories of products, price ranges, or recipient types. 

Christmas Shopping Tips: Share useful tips to help your customers navigate the holiday shopping season. This could include tips on finding the best deals, avoiding common shopping pitfalls, or gift-wrapping ideas. 

Product Reviews or Features: Highlight some of your top-selling or new products in detailed blog posts. This can help increase product visibility and sales. 

Remember to optimise your blog posts with relevant keywords and include clear calls to action to guide your readers towards making a purchase – it would be a real shame if you score a good ranking article, but don’t steer visitors to what you truly want from them, which is to explore and purchase your products. 

Integrating SEO with Other Marketing Strategies

While SEO is crucial, it shouldn't be the only marketing strategy you rely on during the holiday season. Incorporating SEO with other marketing strategies like social media and email marketing can help you reach a wider audience and boost your sales. 

Social Media Marketing

Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest are excellent channels to promote your holiday deals. You can share your holiday-themed blog posts on these platforms to drive more traffic to your website. Additionally, social media platforms also offer advertising options that can help you reach a wider audience.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is another effective way to promote your holiday deals. You can send out newsletters highlighting your top Black Friday or Christmas deals, share your holiday-themed blog posts, or offer exclusive discounts to your email subscribers. 

Ultimately, getting your SEO nailed in advance of Black Friday and Christmas is crucial for your business, particularly if you have an eCommerce website. With the right strategies and a bit of planning, you can increase your online visibility, attract more customers, and boost your sales during the busiest shopping season of the year. 

How GEM Can Help with Your SEO Needs

At GEM, we offer top-notch SEO article writing services at competitive prices. Whether you need help with keyword research, content creation, or overall SEO strategy, our team of experienced SEO professionals can provide the support you need. We understand the unique challenges and opportunities that come with the holiday season, and we're here to help your business succeed.  

We offer fast turnaround times on valuable, relevant SEO-driven blogs, articles, and landing pages.

We also have technical SEO experts on site, who can give your website a complete general MOT and give you all of the things that need to be resolved to get your website fighting fit. After that, we can either undertake that work for you, or you can take it away and make the fixes yourself.

Our team are here and waiting to hear from you, so give us a call on 01709 911663 or drop us a message via WhatsApp to (+44) 07450 415413 and we’ll be delighted to help, no matter where in the world you are.