We’re nearing that time of year again. The holidays are almost upon us and if your business is to maximize this season, then it’s essential to make sure that your SEO strategy is prepared for it. SEO is typically a long game rather than showing short-term benefits, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth a look at your strategy in the lead-up to the holiday season.

Is Your Website Optimized for Mobile?

Google has been operating on a mobile-first approach when it comes to website optimization for many years now. Your site, therefore, is probably already optimized for mobile. But it’s a good idea to check to be sure. Most purchases are made on mobile, so it’s worth double-checking that you’re not inadvertently driving away potential customers because your site isn’t loading as quickly or looks clunky on mobile.

Do I Need To Do Holiday Keyword Research?

No matter which holiday you celebrate or how you celebrate that holiday, online search behavior changes in November and December. People are shopping for gifts, preparing to travel, hosting visiting relatives, and much more. You’ll want to know what your audience is searching for at this time of year in order to properly optimize your website, any special landing pages you create for the holidays, and your marketing efforts.

Are Last Year’s Trends Relevant for This Year?

While each year will be different, trends from previous years can help to inform you what to focus on. Look at your own site data to determine which pages were the most popular with your audience at this time in previous years. These should be your focus and can help to inform your overall strategy.

Does Content Need To Be Holiday-Themed?

People search for holiday-related content during the holidays. For that reason alone, it’s a good idea to have some holiday-themed content planned out. Ideally, you should have begun planning your content for the holiday season several months before it began. In particular, if you’re offering deals for Cyber Monday and Black Friday, you’ll want content ready promoting those. The holidays are a great opportunity to highlight your products and services and if you don’t have holiday content ready to promote those, you could be missing out.

Should I Use Generative AI?

Generative AI has been a popular tool for a variety of different tasks. It can be an aid to writers and marketers as well as provide a first line of defense in customer service. Many websites now use generative AI chatbots to help field questions their customers have, helping those customers more quickly and reducing the number that need to wait for a phone call or an email.

When Should I Start My Holiday SEO Strategy?

The sooner you can start prepping for the holidays, the better. Ideally, you would have months to prepare, analyze data and trends, and create the content for your holiday SEO strategy. If you haven’t started yet, then it’s better late than never, however. Get started as soon as you can so you don’t miss out on the possible benefits that SEO for the holidays can bring.