Introduction
As I began optimizing our eCommerce website to support seasonal demand, I realized quickly that timing was just as important as keywords. Working in the wine and gifting industry, we always saw a spike in our search traffic before any holiday, whether it was Christmas, Valentine's Day, Thanksgiving, or others.
In this post I'll share how seasonal SEO planning allowed us to capture organic traffic when people were actually searching for the ideal gift and how you can do the same for your store.
1. Why Seasonal SEO Matters
The search intent varies throughout the year. An example is for the term “wine gift basket," searches will start to increase in the month of December, decline in January, and then increase right before Valentine’s Day in February.
If you do not have the content live before the increased search volume, you will miss out on clicks and conversions.
2. Start with Search Trends
Tools I use:
- Google Trends to identify early spikes.
- Ahrefs / SEMrush for keyword search and mapping.
- Search Console to revisit rising queries from last year.
Tip: Publish or refresh your seasonal pages 4–6 weeks in advance to give them time to index.
Also check out my post on Using Google Search Console Data to Improve eCommerce Content Strategy, it shows exactly how I track keyword opportunities before the holidays.
3. Refresh, Don’t Rebuild
Instead of making new URLs every season (like /christmas-basket-2025/), keep an evergreen URL like:
👉 https://www.dcwineandspirits.com/holiday-gift-basket/
Just update the visuals, content, and meta titles annually.
That approach preserves SEO equity and rankings year-over-year.
4. The Results
After implementing seasonal optimization, our organic sessions grew 35% year-over-year, and our main holiday landing page earned a featured snippet for “holiday wine gift baskets.”
5. Takeaways
- Plan early - SEO momentum takes time.
- Reuse strong URLs and refresh content.
- Align content with user intent each season.
If you’re also interested in optimizing structured data, read my detailed breakdown:
👉 How I Used Product Schema to Improve SEO Visibility for an eCommerce Store
💬 What are your favorite seasonal SEO tactics? Share them below — I’d love to learn from other marketers and devs optimizing for high-traffic windows!
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