As your small business prepares for Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or any other seasonal marketing, SEO is probably at the top of your list. Work hard now so you can capture conversions during the short window of opportunity.

This holiday SEO checklist will help get your website ready for your next seasonal marketing campaign. Note, if you are very new to search engine optimization, you’ll first want to have an understanding of SEO best practices for your particular CMS platform: Shopify, Webflow, Wordpress, or other. If you are on Squarespace, see our Squarespace SEO checklist.

Businesses need to consider seasonal SEO throughout the year. The 7 tips below will help get your products and content ready for holidays or shopping seasons relevant to your business or organization—Valentine’s Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Black Friday, winter ski season, outdoor grilling season, back-to-school, etc.

1. Plan Early for Seasonal Marketing

It can take time for a new page to rank, and some might take longer than expected. If your small business is counting on organic search traffic, then don’t wait until the last minute to create new content. Plan your seasonal campaigns and holiday marketing strategies early, this gives Google time to discover and index your new products or landing pages before holiday shopping begins. Small businesses that publish new pages in mid-November likely won’t see timely ranking in organic search for Black Friday or Cyber Monday.

When planning your content, collaborate with other teams to create a cohesive strategy. Beyond the basic promotional content, think about incorporating seasonal buying guides, price comparison tools, and social campaigns. An integrated approach ensures that your audience receives a consistent and holistic message across all touchpoints.

Google’s consumer research shows end-of-year holiday shopping is happening earlier each year. A significant portion of holiday shoppers now research extensively before making a purchase, and many plan their purchases well in advance. Tailor your SEO content and strategies to cater to this informed and anticipatory audience. Publish holiday content at least a month or two before a shopping season begins.

2. Use Evergreen URLs and Refresh Content

When creating seasonal promotions, use evergreen URLs. For example, the URL /black-friday-deals is evergreen, while the URL /2024-black-friday-deals is dated. Evergreen URLs allow you to repurpose the same URL from year to year, maintaining any authority and links that build up over time. Learn more about SEO-friendly URLs, and if you change a URL, make sure to implement a 301 redirect.

If desired, you can mention the date or year in the page title tag, header, or copy, and then change it in these same locations from year to year. You’ll want a dedicated page for each promotional event.

After creating reusable URLs for promotions, you should continuously update them for relevance. After a season ends, tweak the page to reflect the upcoming season. Remember to ask Google to recrawl pages after refreshing your content with annual updates to expedite indexing. By maintaining these pages and preserving internal links, you amplify their authority and SEO weight over time.

3. Find Long-Tail Keywords

If you run an e-commerce site, more than likely your products compete with large retailers such as Amazon, Target, or Lowe’s for space in the search engine results. And if your site engages in affiliate marketing or offers product reviews, your content will compete with major media outlets such as Wirecutter, CNN, or NBC News.

Until your website can compete against these larger platforms, you’ll see more site visitors by honing in on the right long-tail seasonal keywords. Learn how to find keywords.

4. Link to New Pages

To help users and search engines find new pages quickly, make them more discoverable on your site. Link directly to new pages from the Home page, menu navigation, or other key areas and content.

5. Use a Relevant Image

Images can help shoppers understand your deals. Google usually discourages text in images, but they say it can help on deals pages. Make sure any text in an image is also in the text content on the page and in the image alt text. Google recommends an aspect ratio in the range of 4:3 to 3:4 to avoid cropping in the deals carousel.

6. Use Google Merchant Center

Are you a retailer? You can list your products for free on Google Merchant Center (GMC). And you can upload seasonal promotions to GMC to help showcase your deals across more surfaces on Google. The Google Shopping experience continues to grow, and connecting your product feed to GMC is an easy way to expand your online presence.

7. Do It Again

Research shows that brands involved in multiple holidays each year see a multiplying effect on conversion rates. So measure your performance and make notes of what you want to do differently next time. Then repeat the process—with improvements—for the next season on your marketing calendar. Soon enough, you’ll be a pro at holiday SEO strategy and seasonal marketing.

Achieving holiday SEO success isn't just about ticking off items on a list. It's important to have an overarching strategy from year to year to ensure a smoother execution and better results in the long run.

More Resources

• See Google’s holiday recommendations.

• If applicable, see Google’s best practices for ecommerce pages.

• Book an SEO consultation and get up-to-speed quickly.