It’s that time of the year when everybody is feeling deeply in love and thinking about presents and plans for Valentine’s Day. On this special occasion, we thought that a few SEO tips can really help both business owners to get more clients and customers, to buy the perfect gift for the beloved person.
A true love story doesn’t work without its successful ingredients. Same goes with SEO and UX – which is a true love story, SEO & content writing, SEO & PPC, SEO & social media. Different love stories, all bound to succeed if there’s commitment, honesty, transparency and hard work.
SEO can be a nightmare, but also a blast. Getting your website ready for the occasion is a huge deal, so UX, content optimization, social activity, mobile setup, good website architecture should not be missing from your plate.
Below you can see our top SEO tips recommendations for online marketers that want to hook the client and offer beautiful V-Day experiences besides creating a long term relationship.
- Find the Correct Timing to Meet Users’ Wishes and Needs
- Select the Proper Keywords for the Occasion
- Content Optimization Would Be like a Good Catch on Tinder
- Speak on Your User’s Language as You’re Speaking to Your Perfect Date
- UX Is Your Perfect Match
- Don’t Place Content Marketing in the Friend Zone
- Create Themed Landing Pages to Look Like a Fancy Location
- Use Internal Links to Have a Strong Foundation
- Don’t Use Nofollow Links like in a Friend with Benefits Relationship
- Use Images for Eye-Contact
- Social Media Is Your Wing Man
- Setting AMP Is like Offering a Beautiful Valentine’s Day Gift to Your Partner
- Have a User-Friendly Website to Create the Most Intimate Atmosphere
- Create a Natural Flow on Site Like an Itinerary for Your Loved One
1. Find the Correct Timing to Meet Users’ Wishes and Needs
Correct timing is, just like in every relationship, highly valuable. You have to know when to enter the market and promote your business. For that, you must know your audience and understand their needs and be prepared to offer what they are ready to receive.
Since we’re talking about Valentine’s Day, which we know it’s a seasonal period, the preparations should start at least a month before the official event.
Google Trends can be used as a research tool to see the evolution of searches for different queries and topics. If you take a look at the next screenshot, you can see that the searches for Valentine’s Day start during Christmas.
Marketers should launch their campaign early; when there’s interest in the trend and they can start to build up on that. 14th of February is the peak of the season. That means most people buy, search and get inspiration on the celebration day as we can see from the screenshot above.
In addition to the timing topic, we’ve got to mention something we’ve written on the blog a little time ago. You all know that through our hundreds of written articles and tips gathered on the blog, we’ve learned together with you, our readers, some pretty valuable lesson. A few months ago, we talked on our blog about startup fails and gathered digital marketing tips from owners for all sorts of situations. And one of the company had a problem regarding bad timing.
Calxeda, the company that started to provide computers based on the ARM architecture moved faster than their customers’ understanding. They had problems getting in line with clients’ knowledge level.
Finding topics of interest and relevant queries and jumping in the online world at the perfect timing shouldn’t be a painstaking task. In the next digital marketing tips, I’ll show you how to select the right keywords to have an accurate representation of the topic.
2. Select the Proper Keywords for the Occasion
We’ve talked about finding the proper keyword for the occasion. And that implies keyword research. Our top favorites keyword research tools are Google Keyword Planner and Keyword Tool and Content Assistant.
They both can help you get quality keywords recommendations for optimizing your website. Google Keyword Planner aggregates data on average monthly search volume, competition, cost per click, localization. You have to search for a query and the tool will offer some keyword ideas. As you can see in the screenshot below, we could use “Valentine’s Day gifts”, “Valentine’s Day gift ideas” or simply “Valentine’s Day ideas” amongst other combinations.
For a more segmentation and accuracy on keywords, you can use Keyword Tool and Content Assistant. You have the option to see recommendations based on their typology:
- having all terms: which mean you find all the keywords that contain all the combination of words;
- phrase match: combination of keywords that contain the query you’ve searched for;
- search suggestions: informational type of keywords; (in the tool you can also find brand keywords and commercial keywords)
- focus keywords: those keywords that are recommended by Google in the Searches related to your query section, on the first page of search results;
- questions: question-type of queries (what, why, how, who, when.. and so on)
- or group topic: where you can find groups based on a particularity.
Beside the part where you get keyword ideas and have lots of ways to filter and get what you need, there’s the competitive analysis section. In Ranking Analysis you can find your top competitors for a specific keyword and take inspiration. You can get some topic ideas from your competition, too. Basically see what they are writing, what type of content is ranking for that keyword (product page, homepage, blog post, youtube video and so on), how many words are on a page.
If you look closely on the screenshot, you can see that the searched keyword is commercial, that means the content that answers to this query should be commercial, too. After a full-size study on the market, you are ready for content optimization.
3. Content Optimization Would Be like a Good Catch on Tinder
Content optimization: everybody wants it and needs it, just like a good catch. I think that SEO & content marketing is the perfect marriage. Before SEO found its true love – the content gal – it was all over the internet fooling around together with spammy links, in its black hat SEO period. Everybody has teenage memories, but for SEO, black hat was a tough time.
Content strategy is salvation. It’s a treat! How you try to optimize your content should be a sweet ride, not a bumpy road though. Content Assistant is your best buddy because it shows tips and keyword recommendation. In the screenshot below you can copy-paste the content from your webpage, or simply import the URL. Based on that, you can see keywords you should use once, or more often.
For a smart piece of content, try and add those keywords naturally into the page, as synonyms, or directly instead of other keywords. Get ideas on how easy it is to read and how many words are on a page.
You don’t have to create blockbuster content for Valentine’s Day, you just have to create content that the users want. Try and add pictures and create short sentences, because they are easier to follow.
Below you can see an example of a good page for Valentine’s Day. It has a simple introduction, eye candy images and presentation. Then you can see ideas for the occasion.
4. Speak on Your User’s Language as You’re Speaking to Your Perfect Date
Language, terminology, and context can’t miss from the secret love recipe. As an online marketer you must know your audience, what their needs and ”talk the talk” are.
For enticing the user to convert, you’ll have to speak their language, otherwise, they disappear as fast as they entered the website. Use words they know, don’t overcomplicate the meaning of the sentences or use complex phrases. Avoid insider language.
There are 6 golden rules for speaking the same language as your users:
- Write short and simple sentences. There are tools for scanning content and calculating a readability score. Content Assistant has integrated the Flesch–Kincaid readability tests designed to indicate how difficult a passage in English is to understand.
- Observe word order typology which is Subject + Verb + Object (SVO).
- Keep short paragraphs. It is highly important to have “breathable” spaces between paragraphs so that the users can read the article faster and get an idea from all of it. Otherwise, they will be stuck in the introduction, get bored, annoyed and leave the website.
- Use the first voice. It would be like talking to somebody, making a conversation and not making assumptions in vain.
- Lose the jargon. Valentine’s Day should not use any jargon, or language for a specific niche, or something more technical, because that’s not the case. You need to write for everybody to attract a bigger piece of pie from the market. Make sure the content is using a normal language, understandable to non-specialists or technical persons.
- Spell out acronyms on first reference. For example, don’t use the language of millennials.
5. UX Is Your Perfect Match
Self-explanatory: visitors will have a good experience on site if it looks ok, with hearts, cupids; everything is in place and doesn’t take too long to load. Yes, content is a must but it is highly important to have good UX that accompanies it.
Great content with bad user experience would be like a smart date, who arrives looking sloppy; looking like they didn’t prepare for the meeting at all. If that was a real situation it would be like leaving the gym without showering and going out looking sweaty and smelly.
I mean, you had great talks before the meeting, but if they show up like this when they first meet you, it’s like they didn’t make any effort, and basically, don’t care. Which in terms of UX and content, should never happen. You must show interest in the user and really practice it. UX is one way to show it.
UX is like frosting on the cake. It completes it and makes it more appealing. And easier to digest it.
Just take a look at the next screenshot: Can you read the next text? Well actually you can not because of two reasons: one, it’s in a foreign language and two, the diacritics are looking funny.
UX can arrange your website and make it look better. For Valentine’s Day especially, when everything has to be perfect and look more appealing, it’s important to have an easy-to-read website. That means:
- readable font (size and font type);
- line and paragraph spacing;
- avoiding bright or neon colors for text;
high-quality pictures that load fast on webpages; - creating a high-speed loading website;
- not using bright color text on images or textured background with colored text (like the example below)
6. Don’t Place Content Marketing in the Friend Zone
We’ve previously talked about content optimization and the importance of it. We really hope you didn’t skip it. Content marketing isn’t something you need to miss and it truly needs your attention.
Content marketing isn’t about rewriting history but making it.
For a successful content marketing campaign, you need to put in action all the steps included by this strategic marketing approach, which means creating, publishing, and distributing content. While the first two steps are highly important, a lot of people forget about the last one – distribution.
Content marketing doesn’t mean only the writing process.
Content distribution refers to the way you share your content through online platforms. Amplification is a good technique to reach a wider audience and distribute your content. The good thing about this last step is the fact there are lots of ideas you can implement. Maybe some of the most effective and interesting are the next actions for content amplification:
- try email outreach;
- use content syndication on websites such as Medium;
- post on Zest.is app to attract new audiences;
- share your content on Mix, a replacement to Stumbleupon;
7. Create Themed Landing Pages to Look like a Fancy Location
Having a webpage designed for the occasion will be highly appreciated. For product pages, you can create categories for her and him, for types of gifts, for the longevity of the relationship, for the type of person you want to offer the gift (friend, lover, married partner).
For example, the website below has designed a love calendar and additional categories gifts by the day such as:
- Hug day specials
- Flowers for Valentine’s Day
- Valentine gift combos
- Cakes for Valentine’s Day
- Chocolates for Valentine’s Day
- Personalized gifts and so on
That is a an example of good practice for an innovative way of presenting Valentine’s Day gift ideas. There are lots of options. Either you use page builder in WordPress to create a template or use different fonts, themed pictures & icons designed by the same template.
Don’t forget the singles! Create a category for single people, too. They might be an unexplored niche for certain products. Being a holiday that is associated with spending money, targeting singles might be an unexpected way to generate new leads and make singles invest money on themselves.
8. Use Internal Links to Have a Strong Foundation
As it has been proven numerous times until now, internal links are rising in popularity. Dawn Anderson says that:
| Internal links are often as powerful as external links. | |
 |
Dawn Anderson |
| International SEO consultant & Digital Marketing Lecturer Move It/ @dawnieando | |
Since you’re trying to hook the user and increase their time spent on the website, internal links are the connections you should build.
Internal links are like tree roots. Anchoring in the website ground to collect information to supply the user.
Internal links work in a similar way as external links do. They carry value and can improve the performance for certain pages and make them acquire better positions on search engines. The more internal links pointing to one page of your website, the greater the value of that page within the website. For example, if you a have a page with 10 internal links pointing to it, it will have a higher value than a page with 3 internal links. If you link to another page from that page with 10 internal links, it will pass greater value than linking from the ones that only have 3 links.
To put them into a more romantic lighting, internal links are like memories you create with your better half. There might be times when you find yourself in a situation that is connected to something you experienced as a couple in the past.
For a website, you create internal links to redirect the user to a piece of information that could help them, in addition to what they’re already reading.
Put into another perspective, when a page has no links to it, that page does not exist because no one will ever be able to access it. Internal links can help pages from your website get noticed and receive backlinks.
Site Audit allows you to analyze the internal links and find the issues. For example, you can see orphan pages, which are pages that are not linked to from another section of your site and cannot be found by search engine crawlers.
A good internal link appears when the needs arises. Basically, if you’re writing about a heart-shaped cake recipe, you can link to similar recipes that would work great with these instructions. Another good example, since we’re talking about heart-shaped cakes, is linking to other articles on how to make icing colors so that the users see how to make red icing or create buttercream flowers or link to products available on site, such as food colors and more.
9. Don’t Use Nofollow Links Like in a Friends with Benefits Relationship
Nofollow links are like those intriguing, already-know-what’s-gonna-happen telenovelas. Some say it’s good, some say it’s bad, but if Google let them on this planet, that means they should exist. An equal distribution of both dofollow and nofollow links is ok. Also, if you have fewer dofollow links still ok. In case you have more dofollow links thank nofollow ones, the situation might not look so bright.
Using only nofollow links will be like a friends-with-benefits relationship. Sooner or later it will blow up in your face, and somebody will get hurt. Most probably you.
On our recent study, we dicovered that unnatural backlink profiles are related to a high number of nofollow links. We analyzed 100,000 unnatural links to see their effect and discovered that websites with highly unnatural backlink profiles have over 70% nofollow links.
Since you want to attract visitors on Valentine’s Day and basically rank on Google to gain organic traffic, it’s important not to fall in any trap. Don’t overstep on Google’s shoes, because it can become a bitter mother-in-law.
10. Use Images for Eye-Contact
A relevant and high-quality sized image can attract users and help them remember the information better. A study by Brain Rules shows that people remember only 0% of a piece of information three days later after they hear it, rather than 65% of the information if a relevant image is paired with that same piece. That happens because 70% of all your sensory receptors are in your eyes.
Source: neomam.com
Images can keep your users more on the site. People can follow directions with text and illustrations 323% times better than people following directions without illustrations.
Using relevant visual content can do your website a lot of good in terms of SEO too. Recently, Google’s John Mueller commented in a hangout that it’s worthwhile to have unique images on each page not only as a good branding move but possibly as a search engine optimization one as well.
Having original images on every page of your website isn’t going to catapult your site to position zero. But, it may help you get your images featured in the answer box or in the image box results, which is great brand exposure.
Valentine’s Day is all about the visuals, beautiful scenery and romantic looks, so you can’t skip this part. The page should express romanticism and give you a warm-hug feeling.
An example of Valentine’s Day campaign for brand awareness that used images as a creative and smart was is Practo, an app for finding the right doctors for your problems. The campaign was called #HealthyBreakups and you can see below some illustrations. It could inspire you to do better campaigns for online advertising.
11. Social Media Is Your Wing Man
Previous studies (proudly conducted with lots of love by us) show that on average, social presences (which includes likes, shares and comments on Facebook, plus shares on Google+, LinkedIn and Pinterest) are negatively associated with site rank, that means the higher the average number of shares, comments and likes on social networking sites, the better ranking websites have in Google.
A proper campaign distributed on social media can have a high impact and collect site traffic and leads. Social Media doesn’t impact SEO directly but rather influences it in an indirect way, on the long run.
The 2017 Total Retail Survey by PWC shows that 47% shoppers choose either “social networks” or “visual social networks” as their main sources of inspiration. And that is a good practice because you can see what others are doing and see what hashtags are trending.
You can create social media marketing campaigns for everything. And the message is very important. If you want to be remembered, you need something short and smart. Take for example the #LoveInOtherWords campaign created by the publishing company Penguin Random House (PRH) in India.
Our love is hard-bound!#LoveInOtherWords#PunnyValentines#ValentinesDay pic.twitter.com/gEdgqBLIwt
— Penguin India (@PenguinIndia) February 13, 2016
12. Setting AMP Is like Offering a Beautiful Valentine’s Day Gift to Your Partner
AMP is a good implementation for websites that have a slow loading time. Developers claim that an accelerated mobile page is capable of loading up to 4 times faster than a regular HTML page. AMP is not mandatory, but it is desirable.
Google regularly stated that AMP is a not a ranking factor, but encourages webmasters to build them. As a business owner, you want the best and according to experts, mobile pages built with AMP are likely to outperform existing mobile pages in terms of speed.
AMP setting can be a plus for your website during Valentine’s Day, when you want everything to work smoothly.
13. Have a User-Friendly Website to Create the Most Intimate Atmosphere
A proper strategy for having a user-friendly website is a fundamental part of SEO. Your website needs to be device-friendly especially if we’re talking about sales, because you want sales on Valentine’s Day. And lots of them.
It is a self-understandable fact that mobile searches have increased together with the increase of mobile devices purchased. More than that, Statista has found that mobile traffic globally has a larger share of internet usage than desktop traffic, which is 52.64%.
As a recommendation, you should have a responsive website. Also, all the well-designed features, pop-ups, and ads appearing in the website must also be very well-thought. Try installing plugins to make the website work smoothly with all the additional information that loads on page for Valentine’s Day.
14. Create a Natural Flow on Site like an Itinerary for Your Loved One
Just like you’re following instructions for getting to the fancy restaurant with your better half on Valentine’s Day, it’s natural to give similar instructions to the users that want to search for information on your site. Site architecture and a well-thought sitemap are in the driver seat of the limousine you could be riding. You are imagining yourself drinking campaign in the limousine, aren’t you? You’re not the only one. [*guilty giggling*]
Using a sitemap doesn’t guarantee that all the items in your sitemap will be crawled and indexed, as Google processes rely on complex algorithms to schedule crawling. However, in most cases, your site will benefit from having a sitemap, and you’ll never be penalized for having one.
A sitemap is where you provide information about your web pages and the connections between them. An XML Sitemap explains to Google how your website is organized. You can create sitemaps and add them in Search Console.
Search engines like Google read the sitemap file to more intelligently crawl your site. A sitemap tells the crawler which files you think are important in your site. In case you are having any issues regarding your sitemap, use the Site Audit and find out the crawled pages, the included URLs and check sitemaps HTTP status codes.
Conclusion
Valentine’s Day is a special occasion that should target both couples and singles for successful results. You need SEO and smart marketing strategy driven by awesome content with good UX, relevant pictures and good architecture on website.
A successful receipt for good rankings and lots of sales on Valentine’s Day requires you to follow our heart-shaped cake receipt. You start from the bottom-up using lots of layers, which includes the site architecture layer, then the UX buttercream filling, the second layer is content marketing covered on top by content and image optimization as the buttercream filling.
For the top, you’ll nead AMP and mobile setting crumb coat and for decorations, you’ll need links icing and social media sprinkles. And there it is: a really nice, clean, smooth SEO layer cake. Of, course you can add more layers, more decorations to it. It all depends on the business.
Good luck “baking” and growing your love and your business!
The post ❤ 14 Lovely SEO Tips for Valentine’s Day appeared first on SEO Blog | cognitiveSEO Blog on SEO Tactics & Strategies.
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