The holiday season is one of the most important times of year for businesses of all sizes. From last-minute gift buyers to people planning their holiday services, there’s a surge in online searches during the festive period, which presents a huge opportunity for your business to get in front of the right audience. In fact, according to a study by Think with Google, 41% of consumers plan their holiday shopping early, with a growing number of people turning to search engines to discover services and solutions for their seasonal needs.
This is where seasonal SEO comes in. By optimising your website specifically for Christmas searches, you can boost your SEO rankings, drive more traffic to your site, and ultimately increase conversions during this crucial time of year. But SEO isn’t something that happens overnight—it takes careful planning and execution. That’s why, with December just around the corner, now is the perfect time to implement some smart, holiday-specific SEO strategies to ensure your business stands out in the festive crowd.
Whether you’re offering special promotions, launching a new holiday service, or simply trying to stay relevant in a sea of holiday content, applying seasonal SEO tactics will help you capture those valuable holiday clicks. So, let’s dive into five practical tips you can start working on today to help your service-based business rank higher in holiday searches.
5 SEO tips to boost your Christmas search rankings
1. Target Christmas specific keywords
The foundation of any successful SEO strategy is keyword research, and for seasonal SEO, this means focusing on holiday-specific keywords that people are actively searching for. Think beyond just “Christmas” or “holiday”—get creative with the services you offer and combine them with festive terms to create long-tail keywords. For example, if you run a cleaning service, you might target keywords like “Christmas deep cleaning service” or “holiday home cleaning package.”
Use tools like Google Keyword Planner or Ubersuggest to find trending holiday keywords that are relevant to your business. Make sure you integrate these keywords into your landing pages, service pages, and blog posts to increase your chances of ranking for holiday searches.
In Wix, you can easily update your page titles and meta descriptions with seasonal keywords by going to the SEO settings of each page. This will help search engines understand the holiday relevance of your content and boost your rankings.
For Squarespace users, update your page SEO descriptions and URL slugs to reflect holiday themes. For example, a yoga instructor could change their class page slug from “yoga-classes” to “festive-yoga-classes” for the season.
2. Optimise your website for local Christmas searches
Many service-based businesses thrive on local SEO, especially during the holiday season when people are searching for nearby services. Make sure your business is fully optimized for local searches by including your city or region in your holiday keywords. Phrases like “holiday [service] in [city]” or “Christmas [service] near me” are common search terms during the festive period, and by incorporating these into your website content, you can increase your visibility to local customers.
Don’t forget to update your Google My Business profile with any holiday-specific services or hours of operation, as this will boost your chances of appearing in local search results. You can also add festive images or seasonal updates to your profile to make it stand out.
Still need inspo? If you offer holiday catering services, include a line like “Book our Christmas catering service in Bristol today!” on your homepage and service pages to capture those local searches.
3. Create Christmas themed content
Search engines love fresh, relevant content, and one of the best ways to boost your SEO during the holidays is to create blog posts or landing pages that tie into the festive season. For example, if you’re a fitness coach, you could write a blog post on “How to Stay Fit During the Holiday Season” and include keywords like “holiday fitness tips” or “festive workout routines.”
Not only does this help with SEO, but it also positions your business as an expert in offering timely, seasonal advice. Be sure to interlink your holiday content with other pages on your website (such as your service pages) to encourage visitors to explore more of what you offer.
For example, if you offer catering services, you could create a dedicated page for “Christmas Party Catering,” and design this to rank highly for Christmas catering searches in your local area.
4. Make your website mobile friendly
During the Christmas season, many people are on the go, using their phones to make quick purchases or book services. According to Statista, mobile shopping during the holiday season grew by 25% in 2022 , and that number is expected to rise even more in 2024 (I'm struggling to find 2023 exact figures!). This means your website needs to be fully optimised for mobile use.
Ensure that your website’s holiday promotions, landing pages, and services load quickly and are easy to navigate on mobile devices. A slow, clunky mobile experience can hurt your search rankings and cause users to leave your site before they even see your offer.
5. Leverage seasonal backlinks
Backlinks—links from other websites to yours—are an important part of any SEO strategy because they show search engines that your site is trusted and authoritative. During the holiday season, you can attract valuable backlinks by offering holiday-specific services or promotions that other websites may want to share.
One way to do this is by reaching out to local bloggers, influencers, or news outlets who create holiday gift guides or service roundups. If they include your business in their content, you’ll gain a backlink to your site, boosting your authority and helping you rank higher in search results.
You can also collaborate with other local businesses to create a holiday promotion bundle, and encourage them to link to your holiday landing page from their own websites.
Don’t miss out on seasonal SEO traffic from Christmas searches
With the holidays fast approaching, now is the perfect time to start optimising your website for seasonal searches. By targeting holiday-specific keywords, creating festive content, and ensuring your website is mobile-friendly, you’ll be in a prime position to capture more traffic and boost your conversions.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed with all the SEO tweaks, we’re here to help! Get in touch with us today, and let’s get your seasonal SEO strategy ready in time for the festive rush.