This is also the reason for that sneer at the beginning of the article. If you have been taking it easy for the past 2 months, you are already behind schedule for predictable events such as the holidays and Black Friday.
Time for the solution!
How can I respond to seasonal SEO?
Okay, of course it starts with the realization that there is a seasonal effect and when the effect occurs. In most predictable cases you know when to expect what, so then it is primarily a matter of unlocking these effects. More about that later.
Spotting seasonality
But what if you're not yet aware of trends in keyword volumes? How do you spot them?
A simple start: look at your data in Google Search Console.
data in Google Search Console
Here you see the wave movement that the number of impressions makes. This can of course be related to SEO optimizations (you can check that by moderating with CTR and avg. position), but such a line is already a seasonal effect.
The image above shows a seasonal effect across the entire keyword set. And is therefore relevant to the specific industry of this website. What we are also interested in is the seasonal effect on certain keywords, and you can't just pick that out by looking at the overarching line.
No, at that point the deviations per day/week are much more interesting. You can see that visually by looking at large differences (peaks, valleys):
Peaks and valleys in Google Search Console data
By looking at the progression of the number of impressions, and checking the large deviations, you can look at the days in question. You can then see whether certain keywords cause the large differences. Do you want to do this structurally? Then you can export data per day/week/month from GSC/KW planner/your 3rd party tool and look at the delta or variation.
Making seasonality visible
Now that we know whether and for which keywords there is a seasonal effect, we can make this clear. You want to do this so that it is clear to everyone what is happening. And also when we need to be ready (so we can plan for the long lead time that SEO needs). The most useful tool for this is Google Trends .
Ideally, you would want to use GSC. However, this data only goes back 16 months, so it is not suitable for year-on-year comparisons. Some examples:
Also read: SEO Tooltip! How to Use Keywords in Sheets
Black Friday
Black Friday example
(interesting to see the growing interest)
Holiday home
Example holiday home
(who hopefully have not been idle during the corona crisis)
Tire change
This last one is very interesting. The tire change period is a period that comes back twice a year anyway, but shows a great deal of variation. Here we see on the one hand the effect of the weather: malaysia telegram data as soon as the weather gets colder or warmer, everyone realizes that they are driving on the wrong tires and wants to change quickly. This is somewhat predictable, but it can already snow in October, or not at all. Ideally you are already ready in October, so that you are always good.
However, there is a nuance. There are lease drivers who have to change companies. And they do not wait for bad weather: they receive an email in October, for example, that they have to change. That is something you do have control over. In any case, you can find out when it is going to happen, so you can plan for that.
The key here is that you know exactly when you need to be ready, so you can start planning when the SEO optimizations are ready.
Getting started with seasonal SEO
Now we finally get to the real SEO work. What exactly do you need to do to respond well to these seasonal influences?
In a row:
