Many businesses have a busy season. Retailers have Christmas. Garden centres have spring. Heating engineers have the first cold snap. Accountants have January. And many of them do the same thing every year: build or update the seasonal page a week or two before demand starts, then wonder why it doesn’t rank.
Search engines need time to find, assess and trust a page. A page published the week searches start is usually too late to make the most of that season.
It’s late September, which makes this a good moment for anyone whose peak is in the winter months. But the approach works for any season.
Find your real search season
Customers often start searching earlier than you’d expect. People research Christmas gifts, winter boiler servicing and January accountancy help well before the busiest weeks.
To see when your searches actually build:
- Google Trends shows the relative interest in a search term over time. Set it to the UK and a five-year view to spot the yearly pattern.
- Search Console, if you had a seasonal page last year, shows when impressions started rising. Compare with the same period last year.
- Your own records. When did enquiries start picking up last year? Searches usually rise before the calls do.
Once you know when interest starts climbing, aim to have your page live and improved well before that point. Many businesses find a lead time of a couple of months or more is sensible, but it depends on your market and how established your site is.
Use one permanent URL, not a new one every year
This is the most common and most costly mistake. Businesses create /christmas-2025/, then /christmas-2026/, then delete the old one. Each year, the new page starts from scratch with no history and no links.
Instead, keep a single evergreen URL, such as /christmas-gifts/ or /winter-boiler-service/, and update it every year. It keeps whatever links, history and trust it has built up, and gets a little stronger each season.
- Out of season, keep the page live. Change the messaging, for example “our Christmas range returns in October, sign up to hear first”, rather than deleting it.
- Keep dates out of the URL. You can still mention the year in the title and content when it’s current.
- If you already have year-stamped pages, redirect old ones to your new permanent page.
A seasonal page should be permanent. Only the content changes with the calendar. Every year you delete and rebuild it, you throw away last year’s progress.
Getting your seasonal page ready
What to put on the page
Treat it like a proper landing page, not a banner with a date on it:
- Clear seasonal intent. Say what you offer for this season, in the words customers use.
- Key deadlines. Last order dates, booking cut-offs, availability. These are exactly what people want to know.
- Answers to seasonal questions. Delivery times, gift options, how early to book, what to do before winter.
- Links to the relevant services or products, and links to the seasonal page from your homepage and menu as the season approaches.
- Proof, such as reviews from last season, where you have them.
Give it some help
A seasonal page won’t do much if nothing points to it. As your season approaches:
- Link to it prominently from your homepage and relevant service or category pages.
- Publish one or two supporting articles, such as a gift guide or a winter checklist, that link to it.
- Update your Google Business Profile with a post or offer pointing to the page, and add seasonal hours well in advance.
- Mention it in your email newsletter and on social media.
- If you have local press or partner relationships, a seasonal story can earn a relevant link.
A seasonal SEO timeline
- Three or more months before: review last year’s data, confirm the URL, plan content changes.
- Two months before: update and publish the page, fix technical issues, add internal links.
- Six weeks before: publish supporting content, update your Google Business Profile.
- During the season: keep deadlines and stock accurate, watch Search Console, answer questions quickly.
- Straight after: note what worked while you remember, then switch the page to its off-season message.
Consider paid search as a backup
If you’re starting late, or the page is new, organic rankings may not arrive in time for this season. That’s where paid search can fill the gap while the page builds up for next year. It’s not either-or.
Plan it with us
If your busy season is approaching and your pages aren’t ready, our SEO content team can plan and write them, and our PPC service can cover the gap while organic visibility builds.
