It was the year 2020 when a pandemic swept through the world, erasing any remnants of normalcy and replacing it with what is now called the ‘new normal.’ The new normal alluded to people adapting to remote working, businesses moving their operations online, and the acceleration of digital transformation.
This also meant that the shopping landscape was changing, with people getting accustomed to online shopping rather than offline. This marked change was noticed during Black Friday 2020, when in-store sales declined 52% when compared to the previous year, and online sales skyrocketed to $9 billion.
Why all this backstory, you ask? It is no secret that online shopping has become the norm, and with Black Friday right around the corner, it has become imperative for businesses to have an SEO strategy in place to gain an edge over the competition. But as the adage in the SEO industry goes, “The best time to start with SEO was yesterday,” and the time to invest in an SEO strategy for this year’s Black Friday has passed. However, all is not lost, and you are still on time to optimise your business’ website for next year’s Black Friday.
Insights from our founders
Duray Pretorius, co-founder and CRO of Viaduct Generation, reiterates the importance of considering SEO as a long-term strategy and says, "SEO is a long-term competitive game against your competitors. When talking SEO, you should be talking annually or if in a real hurry, bi-annually. Brands that haven't been investing in SEO should use PPC to "rank" for their own branded terms and double down on their email marketing to drive traffic to their websites over this busy period.”
He continued, “My top tip would be that Black Friday is synonymous with increased traffic levels, and this can increase the risk of downtime if not properly managed. So speak to your hosting company (we love Nimbus Hosting) to ensure that you have sufficient server capacity and your security and site speed is in tip-top shape.”
How external marketing support can make all the difference
However, SEO can seem to be quite a daunting task if you are new to it, and in such a case, the best strategy is to outsource your SEO marketing strategy to an agency. SEO agencies like Viaduct Generation have a team of dedicated experts who can help you implement an efficient strategy that will help your website rank on top of the SERPs and get you fully equipped for Black Friday 2023.
The importance of strategising ahead
Although it might be a little late to start planning for Black Friday, Fabio Embaló, co-founder and CEO of Viaduct Generation, dishes out some great tips for those businesses that aren’t prepared for this year’s Black Friday. He says, “Creating evergreen content is extremely important in SEO. For that reason, although it's a little late to start planning for the 2022 Black Friday, make sure you start creating your 2023 Black Friday landing page. However, I'd still like to suggest some last-minute tips for this year's Black Friday if you haven't prepared ahead. Create a discount code, promote it on your social media and newsletter, set up an email marketing campaign, add structured data to your product pages, and if you do have an amazing and quick developer at hand, set up a holiday season gift page that can then be re-used for Christmas.”
Final thoughts
If you are looking to streamline your website in time for Black Friday 2023 and boost sales and don’t know where to start, our team of experts are here to help! Simply fill in the free audit form and we will get you kickstarted on your SEO journey.
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