Feast on These Holiday Keyword Strategies
The National Retail Federation predicts that a 10-percent increase from last year will result in 152 million people shopping this Black Friday weekend. Furthermore, 21 percent of consumers are planning on staying home to surf for deals on Cyber Monday, according to the Retail Industry Leader Association.
"The growth of online sales has made Cyber Monday and other online holiday shopping trends equally as important to retailers as Black Friday," says Retail Industry Leaders Association president Sandy Kennedy. "Unlike a decade ago, a successful holiday season now means success in the store and online."
So, as you prepare to enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner, it is vitally important to take some time and review some of the most profitable keywords of the season. When used frequently throughout the week of Black Friday, merchants can maximize their online and in-store traffic for their busiest shopping weekend of the year.
Keeping up with Keywords
Since 2004, Black Friday and Cyber Monday searches have grown dramatically, especially in the weeks and days leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday.
Currently, some of the top searches relating to the keywords "Black Friday" and "Cyber Monday" unsurprisingly include Black Friday ads, Black Friday 2011, Black Friday sales, Black Friday deals, Cyber Monday deals, cyber deals, Black Monday and Cyber Monday sales.
However, it is important not to limit your keywords to variations of the terms Black Friday and Cyber Monday. For instance, many retailers draw customers in over this busy shopping weekend by promoting free gifts - so why not think outside the box and incorporate other terms into your keyword strategy, such as Freebie Friday, Holiday Sale, after-Thanksgiving deals, free gift or Christmas specials.
Additionally, merchants should also mention key terms from specific products and services that they are selling and promoting during the holiday season, such as Black Friday Electronics, Cyber Monday Appliances, Thanksgiving shoe deals, Christmas toy sale, etc.
Where to use Keywords
The most obvious use for keywords are in pay-per-click advertisements, but merchants should also be using these words in their social-media posts.
Not only will the use of keywords in social-media posts reach your fans and followers, but it may also help a merchant appear higher in search results because of the influence that real time has on SEO. This week is especially critical for brands to mention Black Friday, Cyber Monday and other keywords in Twitter posts because these keywords have been and will continue to trend.
For example, Best Buy has promoted (paid for) the keywords "Black Friday" to trend. Therefore, any merchant or consumer that uses the terms Black Friday in a post will have an opportunity for more Tweeters to view that post because it is trending.
However, marketers that are focusing on using keywords for advertisements may want to consider locally targeting their ads. Therefore, it is important to know which states search the most for Black Friday and Cyber Monday-related terms. Currently, the state with the most Black Friday searches is Kentucky, followed by Ohio, Missouri, South Dakota and Minnesota. The states with the most Cyber Monday-related searches are Kentucky, South Dakota, Missouri, New Jersey and Ohio.
Staying on Trend
Being aware of how consumers are searching is a key aspect of staying on trend and keeping up with keywords. Merchants, especially this week, should be using these holiday keywords in everything from ads to social-media posts in order to maximize their exposure within search results. However, it is important to remember that everyone searches differently, so using popular keywords along with some of the less popular yet more targeted keywords should prove to be a winning combination.
