Black Friday SEO Tips & Best Practices
SEO should be at the forefront when planning your digital marketing strategy for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Yes, it’s probably just a week-long event, but for most businesses, it’s one of the strongest-performing weeks. So, having a sound Black Friday SEO strategy is key for continued success year after year during Black Friday week.
How to rank your Black Friday on Page 1 of Google?
I want to share some best practices that you can implement to rank your Black Friday page on the first page of Google and maintain top rankings year after year. Placed below are my Black Friday SEO tips;
Step 1: Launch your Black Friday Page Early – the Earlier the Better!
Don’t wait until the last minute to launch your Black Friday landing page. Some brands make the mistake of starting black Friday planning too close to the actual week. Setting up your page early in November or even the beginning of October is considered very late. The sooner you set it up, the more time you have to optimise the page for SEO and allow plenty of time to index in Google.
Look at the black Friday landing page example from ASOS below. You don’t have the details of the actual Black Friday deal or promotions anywhere on the page. That suggests you set up your black Friday landing page even before the details of your promotional offers are known. It can be launched as a generic landing page with generic copy, links to your key product categories and brands by gender, black Friday FAQs and links to your existing sales, new-in and gift categories. You can also include a newsletter sign-up for some lead generation and notify the user database when the page is updated with the actual offer.
Step 2: Reuse the Same Page & URL Every Year – Evergreen Landing Page
Create a single static evergreen landing page for Black Friday (and for Cyber Monday) and re-use the same page and URL every year. If you look at the example from the Flannels Black Friday page below, you can see that the URL for the 2023 black Friday promotion is flannels.com/black-friday and not flannels.com/black-friday-2023. Creating ever-green pages like this and re-using the same URLs will help build page authority over time for that page improving chances for it to rank in search engines.
As simple as this sounds, some brands still make the mistake of building a new black Friday page every year with a different URL. Then, as soon as Black Friday is over, they either delete that landing page or leave it dormant as an orphan page. The problem with this is, that each year you have a new page that has to get indexed and rank in Google for your black Friday keywords. It’s like doing SEO all over again which is the reason most brands don’t succeed with the organic performance from their black Friday landing pages and end up allocating media spending to push their black Friday sales up via traditional advertising and online paid search tactics.
Step 3: An Always-on Black Friday Page Content Strategy
As mentioned in Step 1, in the ASOS example, you would notice a clever use of the content strategy on their Black Friday landing page when not in promotion. Writing content on the landing page gives you the ability to rank for those long-tail Black Friday keywords.
Set up a generic black Friday landing page as early as possible with links to your main categories and products. Include a newsletter sign-up for lead generation and for notifying your user base of the Black Friday deals.
- In the run-up to the Black Friday week, do some final checks and make your last-minute changes. Populate that page with all the information and specific deals for the current year. Typically, the black Friday offers can be either percentage off discounts (Example: 20% off sitewide/Up to 50% off selected items), private/exclusive sales for VIP customers, code-driven discounts and promotions, gifts with purchase, etc.
- As soon as Black Friday is over, remove those specific deals and offers, remove mentions of the dates and switch it back to a generic landing page. As soon as you hit January of the following year, update the copy and meta tags with mentions of the year to prepare the page for the following year’s Black Friday event. By following this, you are not only getting ready for Black Friday as early as possible but also re-using the same page and the same URL each and every year.
Step 4: Optimise the Page Title Tag & Meta Description of your Black Friday Page
Ensure you update the year in the page title to the current year. It’s also recommended you optimise the meta description of your Black Friday landing page. Writing an enticing snippet to increase click-throughs to the site from the SERP. Make sure you include USPs such as free shipping, next-day delivery, etc if applicable. Check out the SEO best practices for meta data here.
You could also include your primary target keywords as a part of your Black Friday page title. For example, for a luxury brand such as Flannels, I would recommend the following page title – Black Friday Designer Sales 2021 | Luxury Fashion Deals | Flannels.
Step 5: Link to your Black Friday Landing Page – Optimise Internal Links
In the run-up to Black Friday, gradually start increasing the number of internal links pointing to your Black Friday landing page. To give Google crawlers a chance to easily find your landing page, make sure you link to the landing page from the homepage, navigation menu, footer, sales categories, HTML sitemap, etc. A link from the homepage is important as traditionally, it is the strongest page of your site from an SEO standpoint, as it would have built page authority over time. So, linking from the homepage to your most important page passes that link authority and gives your linked pages that much-needed boost.
Step 6: On-page Optimise your Black Friday Page
Your normal SEO on-page best practices also apply to the Black Friday landing page. Things you can do;
- Optimise your headings and copy. Include “black Friday” phrases in your page H1 title. Optimise content on the page with black Friday variations and target keywords.
- Optimize your images. Ensure your image filenames use keywords. Use alt text for your images. Ensure both your image filename and alt text contain “Black Friday” phrases.
Step 7: Implement relevant Schema Markup
Some brands like AO.com include a list of questions and answers pertaining to black Friday. You can mark up these FAQs with FAQPage structured data to make them eligible to have rich results on SERPs.
| People also ask Questions | Volume |
|---|---|
| when is black friday | 135000 |
| when is black friday 2021 | 49500 |
| when is black friday 2021 uk | 14800 |
| when is black friday uk | 12100 |
| what date is black friday | 3600 |
| what is black friday | 3600 |
| what day is black friday | 2900 |
| when is black friday 2021 | 2900 |
| why is it called black friday | 2900 |
| when black friday 2021 | 2400 |
| when is it black friday | 2400 |
| when is black friday sale | 1900 |
| when is black friday uk 2021 | 1900 |
| what date is black friday 2021 | 1600 |
| when does black friday start | 1600 |
| when is black friday this year | 1600 |
| why is black friday called black friday | 1600 |
| when does black friday end | 1300 |
| what day is black friday 2021 | 1000 |
| when do black friday sales start | 1000 |
| how long does black friday last | 720 |
| when is the next black friday | 720 |
| is it black friday today | 590 |
| when is it black friday 2021 | 590 |
Step 8: Build Backlinks to your Black Friday Page
Your black Friday pages tend to get links naturally from publications, deal sites, affiliate sites, forums, etc especially when you have good deals. External links can significantly improve your Black Friday landing page rankings in search.
It might also be worth doing some competitor research to find deal sites or forums that mention or link to your competitor’s Black Friday pages. Reach out to these resources and request a link back to your landing page.
I would also recommend you start a paid search campaign or a display ad from the start of November to spread awareness of your offer. Oftentimes, these ads get the much-needed attention of a journalist or a webmaster who then ends up placing a link on their site or publication to your black Friday page. Even share the details of your offer on your social media pages.
The landing page is only going to get stronger and stronger every year as you are growing the number of backlinks to it each year.
Step 9: Other Important Considerations & Black Friday SEO Marketing Tips
- Prepare for the huge surge in traffic. Ensure your server can handle the load through the week from Fri – Mon (inclusive).
- Pay attention to your site speed especially the Black Friday landing page.
- Have a site-wide sticky banner on the top of your site linking to your black Friday page.
- Ensure you call out all the key USPs on your Black Friday landing page such as delivery information, links to buying guides, accepted payment gateways, free delivery, gift with purchase, etc.
- Providing special opening hours information for in-store sales if they are different from regular opening hours.
- Creating Google posts promoting your Black Friday page.
I hope I have covered all the important tips to help you rank your Black Friday (and Cyber Monday pages) page in Google.
Black Friday Keywords, SERP Landscape & Search Trends in the UK
Black Friday Google Trends
Below is the search trend graph for the term “Black Friday” in the UK over the last 5 years. Searches start increasing from the 18th of November all the way up to Black Friday. The trend seems to be consistent every year. Likewise, the average search volumes of the top Black Friday keyword variations are growing every year, which suggests Black Friday is not going away and is here to stay.
UK Search Volumes for the top 3 black Friday variations
Black Friday Google SERP Landscape
It is not going to be easy for retailers to rank on page 1 for high-volume black Friday variations such as “Black Friday deals”. Search results from Amazon and eBay do manage to appear on page 1 but the rest of the SERP is filled by News Publisher sites, Top stores, video results, Google text ads and shopping ads.
Google UK SERP “Black Friday Deals” taken on 7th November 2020
Black Friday Keywords
Invest time in thorough keyword research to identify the black Friday keywords the landing page should be targeting and optimised for. I have listed below the most popular black Friday search terms used in Google UK with a minimum average search volume of 5000.
| Black Friday Keywords | Volume |
|---|---|
| black friday | 301000 |
| black friday 2021 | 301000 |
| when is black friday | 135000 |
| black friday deals | 110000 |
| currys black friday deals | 60500 |
| argos black friday | 49500 |
| black friday 2021 uk | 49500 |
| black friday sales | 49500 |
| currys black friday | 49500 |
| when is black friday 2021 | 49500 |
| amazon black friday | 40500 |
| argos black friday 2021 | 40500 |
| black friday cyber monday deals | 40500 |
| john lewis black friday | 40500 |
| black friday deals 2021 | 33100 |
| black friday uk | 33100 |
| nintendo switch black friday | 33100 |
| best black friday deals | 22200 |
| black friday deals uk | 22200 |
| debenhams black friday 2021 | 22200 |
| best black friday deals 2021 | 18100 |
| black friday tv deals | 18100 |
| boots black friday | 18100 |
| next black friday | 18100 |
| tesco black friday deals | 18100 |
| amazon black friday cyber monday deals | 14800 |
| black friday 2021 | 14800 |
| when is black friday 2021 uk | 14800 |
| asos black friday | 12100 |
| black friday cyber monday deals argos | 12100 |
| boots black friday 2021 | 12100 |
| debenhams black friday | 12100 |
| nike black friday | 12100 |
| ps4 black friday | 12100 |
| when is black friday uk | 12100 |
| airpods black friday | 9900 |
| amazon black friday 2021 | 9900 |
| black friday 2021 uk deals | 9900 |
| black friday cyber monday deals amazon | 9900 |
| ee black friday | 9900 |
| tesco black friday | 9900 |
| very black friday deals | 9900 |
| vodafone black friday | 9900 |
| amazon uk black friday | 8100 |
| apple black friday | 8100 |
| asda black friday | 8100 |
| black friday deals 2021 uk | 8100 |
| black friday phone deals | 8100 |
| iphone black friday deals | 8100 |
| whens black friday | 8100 |
| xbox one s black friday | 8100 |
| black friday date | 6600 |
| black friday laptop deals | 6600 |
| black friday sales 2021 | 6600 |
| carphone warehouse black friday | 6600 |
| game black friday | 6600 |
| laptop black friday | 6600 |
| lidl black friday | 6600 |
| matalan black friday | 6600 |
| nintendo switch black friday deals | 6600 |
| nintendo switch black friday uk | 6600 |
| selfridges black friday | 6600 |
| sky black friday | 6600 |
| smyths toys black friday | 6600 |
| superdry black friday | 6600 |
| adidas black friday | 5400 |
| amazon black friday 2021 uk | 5400 |
| amazon black friday deals | 5400 |
| apple watch black friday | 5400 |
| argos black friday deals | 5400 |
| best black friday deals uk | 5400 |
| black friday ipad deals | 5400 |
| black friday uk 2021 | 5400 |
| dunelm black friday | 5400 |
| halfords black friday | 5400 |
| ikea black friday | 5400 |
| ipad black friday | 5400 |
| jd black friday | 5400 |
| jd sports black friday | 5400 |
| marks and spencer black friday | 5400 |
| north face black friday | 5400 |
| ryanair black friday | 5400 |
| screwfix black friday | 5400 |
| smyths black friday deals | 5400 |
| sports direct black friday | 5400 |
| zara black friday | 5400 |