SEO For Holiday Success

As the holiday season ramps up, you need to be prepared to capture as much web traffic as possible for your e-commerce business. However, while you may know that search engine optimization (SEO) is essential as a marketing tool, are you doing enough to stand out?

The problem is that everyone is focused on holiday-specific SEO from October through December. So, even if you’re focused on seasonal keywords and content, you may still struggle to break through the noise and maximize Q4 traffic. Fortunately, we’re here to change that. CSP is your trusted resource for e-commerce SEO solutions, but we’re also available to boost your brand during this busy shopping season.

So, with that in mind, let’s break down what it takes to succeed with e-commerce holiday SEO.

Building Trust With EEAT

If you’re unfamiliar with the acronym EEAT, it stands for:

• Experience – Show that you know what you’re doing because you’ve been doing this for a while.
• Expertise – You’re more knowledgeable than the competition and can provide valuable insight to your customers.
• Authority – People within the industry trust your recommendations and go to you for advice.
• Trustworthiness – You have a strong business model and care about your customers as much as they care about your products.

No matter what kind of marketing strategy you’re using, EEAT should be present throughout. Every content piece, including on holiday-specific landing pages, should incorporate at least some indication of EEAT. Without these elements, it’s nearly impossible to rank highly on SERPs.

Identifying Seasonal Trends: Building a Roadmap to Success

One reason why some online retailers struggle to keep up with e-commerce holiday SEO is that they’re chasing trends rather than proactively preparing for them. The more research you can do regarding shopping habits for the upcoming holiday season, the easier it will be to capture traffic. After all, if you can appeal to what consumers want, they’ll be more likely to visit your digital storefront instead of the competition.

There are a few ways to research and identify seasonal trends, including:

• Google Trends – This free online tool tells you what people are searching for the most as the holidays approach. Because we’re talking about SEO strategies for the holidays, where better to get your information than from the search engine itself?
• National Retail Foundation (NRF) – The NRF is a highly valuable resource for any time of year, but it can provide expert insights on what shoppers are looking for and how retailers are responding.
• Competitor Research – You should already have a good idea of the competition you’ll be facing as we enter the shopping season. Start looking at what competitors are doing for sales and promotions, as well as how they’re formatting and updating their landing pages. Knowing these details can help you determine the best way to stand out from the crowd.
• Historical Data – If you’ve been in the e-commerce game for years, you know what to expect for the holiday season. However, you can review analytics from previous years to figure out what you can do better to maximize traffic and rank higher on SERPs.

Focus on Buyer Intent and Holiday Keywords

We’ve already mentioned using Google Trends to see what shoppers are looking for this holiday season, but you can also use this data to inform your holiday-specific SEO strategy. Now is the time to start paying attention to holiday-related searches and longtail keywords. The goal of this research is to understand buyer intent as much as possible.

For example, if you look up “Christmas Shopping,” you can see where the term is gaining the most traction in the US. Because you’re an e-commerce store, you can see which states are trending for this topic and focus your attention on local SEO for those areas (just make sure you can deliver to them).

Similarly, Google Trends will show you related topics that are rising on the charts. You can use these keywords to make informed decisions about how to frame your content. For example, you may notice a specific type of gift that’s trending and capitalize on that.

Your competitors can also be a great source of holiday-related keywords. Search for longtail keywords related to your inventory, and check out the top-ranking links. Look through the content to determine how and why that particular landing page got the first position and see how you can utilize those insights for your benefit.

AI Search and Modern SEO Strategies

While keywords are important, they’re far from the only holiday-specific SEO you should be doing. Some other elements to keep in mind include:

• AI Overview – Google has rolled out AI overviews for many searches. The downside of this change is that users will spend more time on Google. The upside is that if you can get linked in the overview, you may be able to capture more traffic. As a rule, Google prefers structured information akin to what you’d find on a FAQ page.
• Person-First Content – Don’t forget that you’re creating content for people, not algorithms. Make sure your material is relevant, valuable, and easy to consume.
• Voice Searching – Digital assistants like Siri and Alexa are doing more online searches than ever before. So, you should focus on keywords that sound like what someone would ask Siri (e.g., hey Siri, where can I find the best deals on product X?)

SEO Audits and Real-Time Updates

Because your website will see a spike in traffic, you want to be sure all of your technical SEO is in order. Now is the time to run extensive site audits to spot problems like broken links, orphaned pages, duplicate pages, and more. The sooner you can fix these problems, the easier it will be for users to find your site when the online rush hits.

But auditing isn’t a one-time thing. Check your data and analytics throughout the holiday season and run audits regularly until the end of the year. This way, you can refine your technical SEO and correct any issues that may arise as you produce more marketing materials and content. In this case, Google Search Console is your best friend.

CSP Can Boost Your Holiday-Specific SEO

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by all the details involved in e-commerce holiday SEO, don’t worry. CSP is here to help. We know what it takes to stand out during the crowded shopping season, and we can handle the details for you. Stand out among the competition this year with targeted SEO strategies from CSP designed to drive traffic and convert.