SEO Checklist for 2020 Holiday Season

Well, the holidays are almost here. This is the time of fun, rest, good food, better friends, and just hanging out with those closest to you. But, before all these good times begin, there is something you need to do. Namely, it’s time for your local SEO holiday setup. You know the old saying – strike while the iron is hot, so why not make the most out of the holidays, of people’s free time, and get things going.

Now, you might be thinking – why change things up for the holidays, what’s the big deal? Well, first, people will have some extra time to browse the internet and will have some extra motivation and funds to shop. Second, the holidays carry with them special deals and options, deals that you need to make the most out of soon. So, without further ado, check out the list below, and see what we mean.

Be thorough

If there is one piece of advice that is basically part of every section of this article, it’s this – be thorough. By being thorough, you will maximize your results. A great deal of SEO for the holidays is making very simple changes, making slight adaptions to the actual holidays. However, these adaptations are pretty numerous, and actually getting them all in one place, correctly and effectively, is not easy. So, giving your all to get your checklist on its way is very important.

So keep an eye on all your Google My Business data. Check, then double-check it. Do you have special pages dedicated to the holidays, with special deals and discounts? Then modify those appropriately as well, and get some interlinking going.

Furthermore, you need to strike while the iron is hot. It’s not only that you have to modify things to better fit the holiday season. You also want to polish things up now that people have extra leisure time to browse the internet.

Trends and rankings

So, first, let’s take a look at your rankings and relevant trends. Remember that for this time of year, people are not looking to buy gifts for themselves. Rather, they are looking for gifts for their loved ones. Brothers, sisters, parents, grandparents, best friends, and lovers, husbands, and wives, are all going to buy something nice for those closest to them.

Now, use some of your software tools, like your keyword planner, and look for trends. You are interested in a trend that has a short, strong spike in this period, but that tapers off later. Now, you will notice that keywords such as these are not really seen as competitive. The reason is that while they do have that strong spike of interest, they are pretty useless year-round.

You can also figure out trends by visiting a forum dedicated to those products or ideas you intend to use.

Keep an eye on your content

Take a look at your content, and see how well does it go with your competition. This might not be fun, but it’s an important part of getting the most out of your SEO for this time of year. So, look at your sitemap, and check all your pages. Is the information there relevant? Do things look good? What about the photos you are using? Are loading speeds ok, or are they going at a snail’s pace?

Any good digital marketing company, like Orion Creative for example, will tell you that content is vital. The best possible SEO optimization won’t matter much if you have low-quality content on your hands.

You should also take a look at what your competitors are doing when it comes to content. Are they dealing out holiday-specific infographics, articles, and videos? Perhaps you should do the same, so as to not fall behind.

Get a battle plan going

You want to have a good battle plan going if you want to make it. This means seeing what makes you unique for this holiday season and capitalizing on it. Then, moving your SEO efforts in this direction. This can include anything from brainstorming on what you do best, and what your clients would like for this season, right down to dedicating some serious time and effort to what your best and clearest course of action might be.

We also suggest you think of all the fronts of attack. This means content, but also social media, email listings, maybe even some guerrilla online marketing…

Page descriptions, alt tags, and page descriptions

One of the most important areas to optimize are your alt tags. If you have many photos, photos that are posted online, part of your pages, and just generally popular and interesting, you want them to have their alt tags and text optimized. Get some keywords in there, don’t leave these naked.

Do the same for your descriptions, your titles, your tags…

Conclusion

And there you have it folks, a list of your most important facts and changes necessary for making the most out of your SEO for the holidays. We suggest you change things up, modify them appropriately, but still leave room for improvement. Things like changing your keywords, getting in line with your trends, keeping an eye on your content and your local SEO and Google My Business details that is what you should focus on. Remember to be thorough, but some of your imagination to good, and you should be right as rain.