Creating content that is relevant year-round is often the go-to technique for maintaining high search engine results page (SERP) rankings for your site throughout the year. While having interesting and useful content that holds its value over time is usually received well by visitors and search engines alike, there are a few other content marketing strategies that serve to drive better search engine optimization (SEO) results. One of these strategies includes leveraging seasonal content, which is a great way to capture consumers’ attention and add variety to your website.
In case you’re not familiar with seasonal content, there are two main types:
- Time-based: Winter, spring, month-by-month, etc.
- Event-based: Christmas, National Pancake Day, bank holidays, etc.
Seasonal content can also include industry-specific “seasons”. For instance, a wildlife control business might plan their content around which pests are the biggest nuisances each season.
To capitalize on the benefits that timely content has to offer, you need to do more than just insert the word “Holiday” or “Thanksgiving” over and over in your copy. To better understand what it takes to create effective and valuable content, we’ve outlined three tips for incorporating seasonal themes to boost your SEO below.
1. Keep Up with What’s Trending.
Before you begin drafting your seasonal content, do some trend research. This will help you to better plan your content so that it can be published in multiple waves. Putting your content out in stages makes it easier to keep your visitors engaged over time.
For instance, if a sporting goods retailer wanted to promote the World Series, they would likely begin by focusing their keyword research on the term “baseball”. This term is particularly popular during the summertime, so their seasonal content related to baseball would likely be published in the summer months to build interest in the subject. As the summer season comes to a close, though, the retailer will need to consider new angles to keep their audience intrigued. The “waves” that follow the baseball trend usually include wild card races, post-season playoffs, and (finally) the World Series. Looking at associated keywords for each trend can help you gain a fresh perspective on how you can incorporate them into your copy to liven up your site’s content.
2. …But Don’t Get Too Trendy.
While you might not be able to benefit from your seasonal content all year, you can still make it perennially popular by avoiding overly specific, time-sensitive references to things like trending celebrities, current events, and other non-repeating trends. Including these “time bombs” in your copy can quickly date your site’s content. The primary goal of seasonal content is to write something that will continue to be relevant. If done correctly, the same piece of seasonal content should be able to provide you with a boost in traffic, conversions, and sales year after year.
“If done correctly, the same piece of seasonal content should be able to provide you with a boost in traffic, conversions, and sales year after year.”
3. Watch Your Timing.
When it comes to seasonal content, timing is incredibly important. You don’t want to publish an article too early, as you’ll miss the wave of interest from consumers, but you shouldn’t wait to share it too late in the game either. Ideally, you should aim to publish your content right before the peak of the seasonal spike so that you’ll stick out among competitors as a trend leader. Usually, this means publishing seasonal content about two weeks before the peak to give your brand the most visibility.
Interested in improving your website’s SEO but don’t have the time or resources to do so? Contact us at WEBii to find out more about our SEO services and how we can improve your SERP rankings through unique, compelling content today.