Man, the Holidays are right around the corner and this year needs to be much better than the last… As entrepreneurs, we’ve all been there.

Most companies want to maximize their online visibility during the holiday season. For B2C companies, the impact on revenue is the greatest. Even B2B companies benefit from being more visible during the Holidays. While perhaps business is slow, being more visible still helps your business achieve higher margins and higher revenue. There are many ways companies can improve their search engine visibility during the holidays without too much effort. Some take time and effort while others are simply everyday actions that you may not have thought to leverage. According to a Google consumer study, 62 percent of consumers will finish their holiday shopping before December 16, so there’s still time to power up your SEO for Christmas. Here are eight digital marketing strategies to increase your brand’s visibility to last-minute shoppers and ensure your business is prepared for the Christmas season.

Create a Holiday Gift Ideas Web Page

A holiday gift section on your website can provide the perfect platform for holiday-related content and is the ideal place to highlight seasonal promotions and deals. Creating an entirely new landing page that’s highly visible and easy to access will quickly be crawled by search engine spiders, which will help you rank for relevant holiday queries.

Upload Your Products to the Big Ecommerce Sites

Many online retailers don’t realize the value of uploading their products to eBay and Amazon. These sites see more traffic during the holiday season, so increasing the visibility of your products on these sites can increase your website traffic as well.

Make a Holiday Guide From Old Articles

Take existing content and give it a holiday spin. For example, a consumer electronics store can reach out to shoppers by turning a list of its best-sellers into “The Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide for the Techie in Your Life” or “The Best Value TV to Buy This Christmas.” Content geared toward attracting consumers with buying intent will drive page views and result in more conversions.

Optimize Your Top Landing Pages

Visit the landing page report in Google Analytics to find out which pages generate the most views. You can then modify these pages for the holiday season by including special promotions and updating product descriptions with holiday-related keywords.

Research Holiday-Specific Keywords

Search Google Trends and the Google AdWords Keyword Research Tool to find out which words to target. The key is to focus on long-tail keywords specific to your niche, and avoid generic phrases. Include these phrases on holiday-related landing pages, and add them to meta descriptions and title tags in order to increase click-through rates from search engines.

Optimize Your Paid Search Campaigns

PPC ads are perfect for seasonal promotions. Set up several Google AdWords campaigns that specifically target holiday shoppers with gift ideas and Christmas deals related to your products. Remember to direct these ads to your holiday landing pages.

Social Media Optimization

Social media can play a huge role in seasonal SEO. Use your social media pages to highlight holiday promotions using holiday-themed content and visuals. Include direct links to your special offers, and try social ads to boost your presence. Remember that Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest now have “buy buttons” that visitors can use to purchase items directly through the social platform.

Double-Check the Health of Your Website

Making sure your website functions correctly is essential, especially during busier periods. Use tools like Google Webmaster Tools or Screaming Frog to check your site for crawl errors, 404 errors, indexing issues, duplicate pages, broken links, and slow page speed issues. Don’t let a substandard website deter potential customers. There are many marketing strategies to consider during the holiday period, but SEO should always be a priority for any business with an online presence. Remember, it’s not too late to improve your online presence at this busy time of year. Use these SEO techniques to drive more potential customers to your website and you’ll hopefully enjoy a more profitable holiday season.