We are still in the summer months but I can’t help but think about what lies ahead…
Holiday Shopping Season
We are a few short weeks away from holiday shopping season. No matter what you consider to be the start of the holidays, shopping season is coming up fast!
What can you do now to prepare for holiday shoppers?
Boost your Local SEO
Local SEO is particularly important for shops and businesses with physical locations. Holiday shoppers need to find your store when they search. 76% of people who conduct a local search on their smartphone visit a physical store within 24 hours.
Owning and optimizing your Google Business Profile is a key component of Local SEO. But it doesn’t stop there. Consider investing in a business listing service that manages and optimizes your business listings across the 40+ top listing platforms – like Bing, Alexa, Waze, etc.
In addition to ensuring your information is accurate on your business listing, ensure your listing is always current with any holiday closures or extended holiday hours. You never want a customer to think you’re closed and choose another merchant when you’re open!
Does Local SEO Matter with AI?
Absolutely, YES!
AI overviews and Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Gemini are growing in popularity. However, Google search still dominates.
The team at Sparktoro recently reviewed data from sources like SEMRush, Datos, and Statcounter and noted that LLMs account for less than 2% of all search traffic in 2024.
Read the full article onSparktoro’s Website.
Additionally, when these AI tools look for information when responding to an inquiry, LLMs and AI bots are tapping into their indexed information to provide these contextualized responses. So your Google Business Listing may not be getting as much click traffic as it used to, but the information is still applied in search responses.
And business listing accuracy is essential!
Update your Website
Holiday shoppers will be shopping online for products and services. Now is the time to make sure your website is configured well for sales and ready to show up in search results.
Some quick tips:
- Perform an SEO audit to check for any performance or usability issues.
- Make sure your site is loading quickly and rendering well on mobile devices.
- Check for and fix any broken links.
- Optimize your website content and SEO with keywords for search.
- Check your online store for any gaps in user experience. Make sure customers can quickly and easily navigate through products and a checkout process.
- Add an abandoned cart workflow to your online shop to reengage with incomplete sales.
- Implement a retargeting campaign on your website to stay engaged with website visitors.
- Add a pop-up to your website with a discount code or holiday special.
Build a Holiday Marketing Plan
Marketing assets and campaigns take time to build and implement. Even after you launch a campaign, it can take a few weeks to optimize for top performance. Make sure you plan ahead for the holiday season!
Ways to boost holiday sales:
- Social media campaigns can target your existing fans and ideal customers not already following you on social media.
- Geofence competitor locations and places your customers visit. This lets you serve targeted ads for your products or services to your target audience.
- Pay-per-click ads can boost your position on search engine result pages.
- Build an email list of existing customers and serve that group with exclusive deals through email marketing.
- Streaming audio and video advertisements can target your audience with messages about your holiday sales.
- Update signage for your store front or consider window clings to draw in customers.
Many of us are enjoying the warm summer months, so it can be difficult to shift into holiday season mode. However, some planning now will relieve some stress later and ensure your holiday marketing plan is running in optimal condition when your customers get into the holiday spirit.
Want help maximizing your holiday shopping sales?
Let us help you get ready for the season. Whether you need a boost to your website SEO or a digital marketing campaign, we can help!
Frequently Asked Questions
Absolutely, YES!
AI overviews and Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Gemini are growing in popularity. However, Google search still dominates.
The team at Sparktoro recently reviewed data from sources like SEMRush, Datos, and Statcounter and noted that LLMs account for less than 2% of all search traffic in 2024.
We recommend you begin prepping for the holiday season in July and August. SEO can take 3-4 months to see meaningful impacts, and website updates can take time to implement.
It’s a good idea to do these three things in July: Update and optimize your Local SEO and business listings, update your website for a strong user experience, begin strategizing if you plan to run any paid ads during the holiday shopping season.
How to Prepare for the Holiday Season
- Boost your Local SEO
Optimize your Google Business Listing and consider investing in a Business Listing Service that will manage and optimize all of your listings across the top listing platforms – like Bing, Alexa, Waze, etc.
- Update Your Website
A great customer journey is essential, so you must do an SEO audit to identify any issues like slow loading pages or broken links. You also want to make sure your customers have a clear path to browse and purchase products on your site, and to reach you if they have questions.
Also consider implementing a website retargeting campaign so you can serve ads to your website visitors if they leave your site without a purchase. - Build your Marketing Plan during the Summer
Creating and deploying ads takes time and strategy. Give your team plenty of lead time and avoid the craziness of a last-minute holiday push. Start work on your marketing plan in July or August so you can run paid ads and email marketing campaigns with ease.
