The holiday season has started and Christmas is just a few weeks away. This means that if you are the owner of a business – especially an online business – then you need to make sure that this festive season your holiday SEO is in order by asking yourself these questions.
Is Your Site Mobile Friendly?
If your site is incompatible with mobile viewing, it is less likely to appear in SERPs on a mobile browser – this is perilous if you have a brick-and-mortar store, since in-store searches are critical to closing sales. Data shows that 43% of mobile searches in-store are related to the product the customer is currently looking at. They are practically begging for you to sell them on the product – do not let them down with poor holiday SEO!
Do You Have a Dedicated Holiday Landing Page?
A rapid way to increase your appeal to search engines is to include the keyword you would like to rank for in your URL. The simplest way to do this is to create a dedicated landing page for your website. This will help your customers to find your store and what they are looking for faster.
Are You Telling Your Customers That You Are The “Best”?
Your customers are overwhelmed with choices – using the word “best” will help you rank with their most popular query, which is “best [product].” Think about it – how do you find gifts for people who have hobbies you are unfamiliar with?
Are Your URL Dates Up to Date?
A great way to destroy your holiday SEO is to have the wrong year listed. Nobody wants old trends, and Google knows that.
Are Your Image Alt-Tags Optimized?
Search engines love images, as long as they are presented correctly. Make sure to have a well written alt-tag description that matches your keywords while correctly describing the picture. This is especially imperative on product pages, and will help your products rank high in areas like Google Images and Shopping, as well as in the regular search result page.
Have You Claimed Your Website on Review Sites?
Top ranking review sites – like Yelp – do not have as sophisticated a ranking algorithm as Google does, so make sure you claim your listing if you have not already. If you can get a few reviews up in time, all the better.
Are you pushing Out Lots of Holiday Content?
The best way to increase SEO fast is to push out content – including blogs, whitepapers, page updates and social posts – that include the keywords you wish to rank for, while still keeping their value as actual entertainment or as educational material.
Have You Hired An Expert To Jumpstart Your SEO?
If this all seems like too much, call in an expert who can help you get ready in record time. Investing in a professional SEO, social media and paid advertising upgrade will more than pay for itself when you start pulling in tons of customers.
The holidays are a stressful time for everyone, but you should not have to worry about your company’s SEO as well. These SEO quick-fixes are the best things you can do for now, but make sure that you also focus on long-term SEO and building up your website’s credibility with both algorithms and consumers. We are at the start of the major shopping seasons – the holiday season, engagement season and even Valentine’s day in a few short months, which are then quickly followed by the spring holidays. So, make sure you are ready!