Following the rollout of Penguin 4.0 and Google’s Mobile update the world of Search from a crawler perspective was very quiet. Crawlers would silently be crawling pages for indexing and SEO agencies around the globe would be analysing visibility of websites, interaction on mobile and the user experienced. Searchers however have had a very different month, not only are we hitting the Christmas peak, where work on ecommerce SEO campaigns kick in, we also saw the globe’s biggest weekend of sales be fought for online. Of course, we’re talking Black Friday.
Increase in Black Friday related searches
Since 2012 the uptake in Black Friday searches has increased considerably at the expected points of the year – late November and early December. The below shows global searches for the term.
Notably the increase in the last two years has seen searches hit peak popularity – in Google terms 2016 was a 100 out of 100 – basically, Black Friday could not be more popular online.
Is the UK tiring of Black Friday?
The breakdown of searches in the UK however shows a slightly different story with a peak in 2014 for related searches.
In fact, the UK didn’t even consider Black Friday until 2014, with a steady decline in interest for the day since that point.
The potential here is that the mass market of the USA, where the marketing concept originated, is where the majority of search takes place:
Product Searching Alongside Black Friday
The focus for searchers on Black Friday are those looking to secure a deal or get Christmas shopping out the way in one day of searching.
Smart TVs, PS4s, console game titles and large chains (Walmart and Tesco) all feature in the top list of searched terms alongside Black Friday queries. This data would suggest big ticket items at a fraction of the price are on the minds of online shoppers on Black Friday.
Black Friday’s Cyber Stalker
Of interest should also be the attempted extension of Black Friday to a Cyber Monday, which has plummeted in search queries in 2016.
Compared above Cyber Monday (red) and Black Friday (Blue) are receiving a huge amount of differing interest, with Cyber Monday almost non-existent in search queries, consigned to the internet history books alongside Bebo.
Was Black Friday a success?
Anybody sitting in a room looking pleased with a TV might tell you Black Friday was a success and along with that US search data shows a continued improvement in interest for the term.
Whether or not Black Friday was a success in the UK remains to be seen. Already physical store have said Black Friday offers were reduced based on a lack of demand from shoppers to ‘spend more’ but in fact spend the same amount as they would over the Christmas period, but in one swoop as opposed to over the course of the month.
SEO for Snap Sales
SEO Agencies around the world will work globally on terms such as Black Friday, so when the sales start they are in prime position to make as much income as possible.
Setting up campaigns for seasonal events should focus on elements such as a core landing page, dynamic updates based on products and strength in peak traffic times. Furthermore, any ecommerce SEO projects can be boosted on Black Friday with additional budget added to Google Shopping campaigns.
POLARIS is a B2B SEO agency, for a free audit email info@polarisagency.co.uk