It’s the festive season! Or it’s close to Valentine’s Day, or the start of summer, or… you get the point. People love to celebrate, which is why seasonal content is particularly popular during this time. So should you make an effort to create content for the holidays? We think so! But you should be smart about it. Here are five tips to help you create high-quality seasonal content.
Why should you create seasonal content?
A huge benefit of creating seasonal content is that it helps you stay top of mind. After all, your customers are likely looking for content that will give them ideas for gifts, services, or events. By participating in the trend, you show your audience that your business is relevant.
Of course, you can also increase your brand’s visibility through seasonal content And Traffic. Especially if you have content optimized for seasonal keywords! In short, most people get carried away by the Christmas season, so it’s good to join the hype.
Tip 1: Create evergreen seasonal content
Good news for busy people! You don’t have to create new seasonal content every year. It’s much better to create something one Excellent Christmas mail, for example, that you optimize every year. It’s best to optimize it a month or two before the event or holiday.
This will save you time and increase the likelihood of your content actually ranking (since this usually takes a while). So avoid adding years to your content. Don’t write an article about: Best recipes for Hanukkah 2024. Just delete the year from the title and you’re good to go.
If you Do If you want to include the year in your title, don’t include it in your URL. This way you can update the post and title every year without having to constantly create new posts and redirect the old ones.
What if you already have multiple pieces of content about the same holiday?
If your posts rank well for various keywords and receive a decent amount of organic traffic, keep them. But if there is overlap in the keywords they are ranking for, they get OK traffic, it is better to merge them into one big post. Just make sure the content of the post still makes sense.
Our tip would be to use the URL of the post that performs best. For the other posts, make sure you redirect them to the optimized post so people don’t get a 404 error.
Tip 2: Conduct keyword research
Whether you want to write a new post or optimize an existing one, it’s good to do research. First, start with keyword research so you know what your target audience is looking for during specific events or holidays.
Tip: You can always search for variations of your core keywords! For example, you can add “Vacation,” “Travel Guide,” or “Summer/Winter.”
Just don’t create content for the sake of content. Only write content if you are sure your audience is looking for that information. Ultimately, you want your audience to feel like your website provides value.
Tip 3: Do competitor research
Once you have decided on a main keyword, it makes sense to search for this keyword on Google, for example. Analyze the best results. Are they blog posts or category pages? If they are blog posts, what type of articles are they? For example, if all of the top posts are how-tos, you’ll probably have the best chance of ranking if your article is also a how-to. Just make sure you write something different than what’s already out there.
Tip 4: Plan ahead of time
Remember that people often start looking for gift ideas, activity tips, or recipes weeks in advance. This means you need to have your seasonal content ready before the actual holiday! For this reason, it might be a good idea to have a content calendar for your posts so you don’t forget them.
It’s also good to publish new content early so it has time to rank. Because once the event arrives, you want your content to be discoverable by your audience. That’s why it’s also a good idea to make sure your content follows Google’s helpful Content and EEAT guidelines.
Tip 5: Keep your seasonal content fresh
Even if you’ve created timeless content, you should update it at least once a year – ideally a few weeks before the event or holiday itself. Let’s say you have a new tip or one of your products is no longer in production. Updating your content ensures that your content is always relevant and helpful. Which your audience And Google will like both!
Don’t forget to post your content as new!
Don’t forget to change the publishing date after updating your content. This way people (and search engines) know it has been updated. Of course, if you have a feature on your website that displays both publish And updated date, then this is not necessary.
Why should you republish or update your content? Again, it shows that your content is relevant and current. Because let’s be honest: How would you feel if you read a blog post? Tips for a perfect summer vacation and the date was 2018? You might think it’s outdated, right?
Tip: With our free Duplicate Post plugin you can easily rewrite and republish your posts! The plugin allows you to edit your posts without taking them offline.
Seasonal content: the gift that keeps on giving
If you have a solid post that you can update every year, make sure you provide helpful content to your audience. Plus, you get more traffic during seasonal events. Just make sure you update or write your content weeks in advance so it has time to rank. Then all you have to do is promote your content, for example on your social media channels or via email marketing. Good luck!
Cindy is a content manager at Yoast. She writes and optimizes blog posts and enjoys writing content that helps people create better content for their website and users.
