Black Friday is the wildest shopping party of the year
It's not long until Friday 27 November, when Black Friday kicks off the wildest shopping spree of the year. A celebration that is not only held in Denmark, but in many parts of the world. Consumers are literally going crazy with their credit cards, and you as a B2C business should of course take advantage of this!
The battle for customers' attention online is fierce on Black Friday - and probably even fiercer this year, when many businesses are squeezed by the economic impact of COVID-19. But start by taking a deep breath and reading on, so you don't end up burning a lot of money on marketing activities that aren't fully thought through.
It's not always the company that throws the most money at marketing that wins the battle. Tactics are your most important tool! And the right tactics can potentially save you a lot of money. So here are some concrete tips for your Google Marketing activities ahead of Black Friday.
Tips for SEO on Black Friday
SEO is a long-term and ongoing process, and it can take up to a month or more before you see the first results of your work. That's why it's important to start your Black Friday SEO efforts now. If you've done SEO work ahead of Black Friday in other years, it's a good idea to recycle your work.
1. Find relevant keywords
Do you know which keywords your target audience uses on Google on Black Friday? If not, you need to make a keyword analysis now. Typical keywords are product categories and product names in combination with words like 'black friday', 'black friday', 'offer', 'sale', 'discount', 'price drop' and 'save money'.
You can find out the keywords and the number of searches for each word relatively easily by using analysis tools such as Google Keyword Planner (free), SearchVolume.io (free) and SEMrush (commercial).
2. Create landing pages based on keywords
Once you have found a number of relevant keywords, create one or more landing pages on the website based on these keywords. A sensible strategy for many businesses is to have one search engine optimised landing page with a summary of all Black Friday offers and an accompanying explanatory text.
If you have found many keywords with a high search volume (i.e. with a high number of searches) that can be grouped into different topics, you can usefully create a search engine optimised landing page for each topic. This will increase the chances of the landing page gaining visibility on Google.
A search engine optimised landing page means that the keywords should be included in the title tag, meta description, headings, sub-headings and several times in the body text. For more on keyword usage, read our guide on content optimization.
3. Write more content than your competitors
Do a Google search for the most relevant keywords you've selected and check out the highest ranking pages on Google. As a general rule, the text on your new landing page should be longer than the text your competitors have on their corresponding landing pages.
Remember that SEO is an ongoing process, and while you may already be ahead of your competitors on many parameters, that doesn't mean it will stay that way. That's why it's important to keep an eye on your competitors' actions so you can adjust your efforts accordingly.
4. Remember link building
The most important factor for your landing page's visibility on Google is the quantity and quality of links from other websites to your landing page and your website in general. An inbound link can be perceived as a recommendation of your website, and links therefore give Google a strong indication of how good and relevant the page is.
Links can be purchased, or they may occur naturally because people want to link to your content of their own free will. Examples of bought links are sponsored content, sponsorships and guest blogging (the payment in the latter case is that you write a blog post for another company's website).
Read more in our guide to linkbuilding.
Tips for Google Ads on Black Friday
Google Ads is not a long-term process in the same way as SEO - once you've set up a campaign, you can make it visible on Google almost instantly - but on Black Friday, it's important to get out there early. Below are some recommendations that too many businesses failed to follow last year.
1. Create separate Black Friday promotions
Separate Black Friday campaigns allow you to target your sales messages specifically at Black Friday, improving your conversion rates. At the same time, separate campaigns allow you to better isolate and evaluate ad data from this particular day.
Also be aware that if you don't create separate Black Friday campaigns, you risk negatively affecting your other campaigns afterwards. This is especially true if you use smart-bidding, as the algorithm behind it may be affected by the change in behaviour on the day.
2. Submit your ads well in advance
All advertisers are busy in the days leading up to Black Friday. That includes Google, which has to manually approve all ads. While you're used to Google approving your ads within 24 hours, prepare for Google to take much longer ahead of Black Friday.
We recommend that you submit your ads to Google no later than the week before Black Friday. It may also be a good idea to create more ad variations than you actually need - that way you'll have a number of backup ads in case Google doesn't approve one or more of your other ads.
3. Pause all other campaigns
On Black Friday - and in the days leading up to Black Friday - all consumers have Black Friday on their minds, and consumer buying behaviour is aimed directly at the good Black Friday deals. It is therefore inappropriate to continue with the regular advertising campaigns during this period.
As a general rule, we recommend that you pause all other promotions during this period so that you don't waste your money on them. They are likely to convert very poorly. Unless you are selling a product or service that is not typically part of the Black Friday offer race.
4. Use promotional extensions
Promotional extensions are small offer signs that appear below your ads and make your potential customers aware of the best offers your business has to offer. When someone clicks on the extension, they are taken directly to the page on your website that contains that offer.
In our experience, promotional extensions can help increase advertisers' conversion rates, especially around Black Friday. Adding promotional extensions is free and the cost of a click on a promotional extension is equivalent to the cost of a click on the headline of the same ad.
5. Update your Google Shopping feed
Make sure the price information in your Google Shopping feed is updated on Black Friday and again the day after, so it always reflects your current prices. If you don't, you risk consumers seeing a price that's either more or less expensive than your current pricing on your website.
Many Google Shopping feeds are automatically updated once a day (or less often, depending on the specific setup). The best way to ensure correct pricing around Black Friday is to manually submit the updated Google Shopping to Google when your prices change.
Last but not least, have a great Black Friday from all of us at InboundCPH! If you need any help with your SEO campaigns or ad campaigns, feel free to contact us.
