We’re in the homestretch to 2015—but that doesn’t mean you should drag your legs until the New Year. With the holidays settling in, and B2B businesses slowing down as they prep for the year ahead, now is the perfect time to strengthen your SEO lead generation strategy.
But can it help increase your leads during the holidays?
The quick answer is yes. You may have heard rumblings about the changes to SEO, and how it won’t be as valuable in the future—but that’s b-o-l-o-g-n-a. If search engines can still pump out relevant content results by the millions (millions!) in seconds, there will always be a need for SEO.
BUT! But… you do need to revise your thinking on SEO because times have changed, and Google’s algorithm (does anyone use Bing?) grows closer to Skynet each and every day. In the past, businesses and savvy individuals learned how to game the system to get their pages on the first page of Google by flooding their pages with spammy keywords.
The problem? It hurt both the searcher and the content provider, as authentic, relevant results weren’t being produced, which meant the content wasn’t viewed by the appropriate audience. These tactics were also used for scams, which ended up hurting Google’s reputation as well—regardless of who was at fault.
Search engines today have been repurposed to provide better results based on a myriad of factors and filters, resulting in better search results based on you queries. It also holds websites and businesses accountable for producing worthwhile content—which can have a bigger impact on your bottom line.
Here are five quick ways to make SEO work during the holidays:
1. Create A Holiday-Centric Keyword List
Think about your target audience. What’s their age? Interests? Favorite products? Hone in on what they’d be interested this holiday season (get up to speed on the latest trends and products), and create a keyword list with a holiday twist.
2. Scope Out Your Competition
Are any of your competitors killing it with holiday content? Take a page out of their book, and see if you can’t use that inspiration to create more content offers for your own company. That means use their ideas to brainstorm—not copy and paste.
3. Plan Promotions That Match Your Calendar
Get creative with your keywords, and utilize them in offers and pages that stress urgency. Think about the weeks ahead, and plan promotions like free shipping, gift ideas, discounts, buy-one-get-one-frees’ and specials.
4. Optimize Your Content for Mobile
Speaking of things that aren’t’ going away soon, mobile is one of them. The percentage of mobile shoppers increases every day, and you need to make sure you create pages for your business that are responsive, ensuring customers purchase your services no matter where they’re at.
5. Analyze Your Top Performers
Another way to boost your SEO around the holidays is by taking your pre-existing “top keywords” and adding a holiday spin on them. Do some research into the monthly search volume of these new holiday long-tail keywords, and incorporate the ones that will bring you the best results.
The holiday season is one of the best times to get your content in front of some extra eyes. By using SEO strategies to improve your ranking, you’ll be able to increase website traffic while improving your lead conversions. Good luck, and Happy Holidays!