{"id":142348,"date":"2020-11-10T15:10:10","date_gmt":"2020-11-10T15:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.searchenginewatch.com\/?p=142348"},"modified":"2020-11-30T11:15:22","modified_gmt":"2020-11-30T11:15:22","slug":"holiday-marketing-get-the-data-that-puts-you-ahead-of-the-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2020\/11\/10\/holiday-marketing-get-the-data-that-puts-you-ahead-of-the-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"Holiday marketing: Get the data that puts you ahead of the competition"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"well\">\n<h3>What you will read in this post:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Understand holiday season traffic trends<\/li>\n<li>Optimize for strong SEO and PPC keywords<\/li>\n<li>Analyzing keyword-driven traffic for seasonal marketing<\/li>\n<li>Which sites won the most keyword traffic?<\/li>\n<li>Black Friday marketing: November 2019<\/li>\n<li>Christmas marketing strategy: December 2019<\/li>\n<li>Build strong display and referral partnerships<\/li>\n<li>Analyze historic conversion data<\/li>\n<li>The biggest display and referral sites (and the brands winning traffic)<\/li>\n<li>Black Friday marketing strategy: November 2019<\/li>\n<li>Christmas marketing: December 2019<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>Already imagining the taste of the delicious holiday meals and the laughter of your kids when the entire family comes together? Sorry, we know you\u2019re a marketer; you don\u2019t have time for that. You\u2019re busy worrying whether you have everything you need so your marketing strategy can ensure the biggest possible chunk of holiday traffic and generate maximum sales.<\/p>\n<p>This post investigates seasonal marketing statistics of the past few years and provides some eye-opening insights from\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/corp\/marketing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener dofollow noreferrer\">SimilarWeb\u2019s Digital Marketing Intelligence<\/a>\u00a0that helps plan your seasonal marketing.<\/p>\n<p>But first, let\u2019s quickly look at how the COVID-19 pandemic changed consumer preferences and spending this year. Keep these in the back of your mind when you set goals for this year\u2019s holiday marketing strategy.<\/p>\n<p>According to a recent\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mckinsey.com\/industries\/retail\/our-insights\/perspectives?cid=other-soc-twi-mip-mck-oth---&amp;sid=3884950699&amp;linkId=101753908\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">report published by McKinsey &amp; Company<\/a>, consumer behavior has shifted in five main areas:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Increased online buying<\/li>\n<li>Increased interest in household goods<\/li>\n<li>Higher focus on essentials (health, hygiene, security, and sustainability)<i>\u00a0<\/i><\/li>\n<li>More mindful buying (consumers are researching more, looking for cheaper alternatives and value)<\/li>\n<li>More readiness to\u00a0<i>break<\/i>\u00a0loyalty to a brand<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Pay attention to the last point. Consumer loyalty has suffered during the time of crisis. This can be meaningful for your retention marketing and also serve as an opportunity for your acquisition marketing and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/corp\/blog\/how-to-optimize-your-content-for-seo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">content SEO strategy<\/a>.\u00a0<b>One thing is for sure: Competition is going to be more fierce than ever during November-December.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.clickz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/KI2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-264142\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clickz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/KI2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1224\" height=\"680\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Content created in partnership with SimilarWeb. Get the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/corp\/2020-holiday-shopping\/?utm_campaign=MI__BlogPost_Whitepaper_North_America_Nov_2020_&amp;utm_source=searchenginewatch_article&amp;utm_medium=partnerships&amp;utm_content=holiday_shoping_minisite\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">latest 2020 data here <\/a>to understand current traffic trends.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2>Holiday Marketing 2020<\/h2>\n<p>It\u2019s now more crucial than ever to know how to leverage your\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/corp\/blog\/the-most-effective-marketing-channels-for-your-business\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">digital marketing channels<\/a>\u00a0and optimize campaigns in real-time to reach relevant consumers and stay ahead of the competition. You need the most up-to-date data on overall traffic trends and impactful digital marketing strategies to ensure you can pivot and optimize campaigns as trends emerge.<\/p>\n<p>So digital marketers, to learn how to stand out from the countless online businesses vying for your customers\u2019 attention away from, tune in as we\u00a0<b>deep dive into\u00a0<\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/pro.similarweb.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>SimilarWeb Pro<\/b><\/a><b>\u00a0data focused on SEO, PPC, and affiliate channels. <\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>This article will help you understand the <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/corp\/blog\/get-seasonal-with-your-keyword-strategy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener dofollow noreferrer\"><b>data behind seasonal marketing<\/b><\/a>\u00a0and how to translate it into a strong digital marketing strategy. Make sure you are well-positioned to beat the competition.<\/p>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/www.clickz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/tips.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-264143\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clickz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/tips.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"594\" height=\"797\" \/><\/a><\/h2>\n<h2 id=\"Understand-Holiday-Season-Traffic-Trends\">Understand holiday season traffic trends<\/h2>\n<p>Prime Day isn\u2019t usually part of the official holiday season. However, in 2020 \u201cusual\u201d doesn\u2019t count. Due to the wrinkle of COVID-19,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2020\/07\/21\/amazon-prime-day-delayed.html#:~:text=The%20coronavirus%20pandemic%20has%20pushed,share%20%E2%80%9Cmore%20details%20soon.%E2%80%9D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Prime Day was pushed back<\/a>\u00a0and correlated with the seasonal kickoff this year.<\/p>\n<p>We decided to look at its impact in previous years to understand how this might affect the shopping-heavy fourth quarter of the year and help you draw conclusions for your holiday season marketing push.<\/p>\n<p>Amazon\u2019s annual two-day event has grown in significance over the past few years and not only impacts\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/website\/amazon.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">amazon.com<\/a> (and it\u2019s dozens of subdomains), but the whole ecommerce space.<\/p>\n<p>In 2019 we witnessed more than 8% growth in traffic during the Prime Day week, compared to the year before. Shopping in December has been increasing over the years as well. Meanwhile, traffic during the Black Friday-Cyber Monday week did not increase in 2019 compared to 2018 when a record growth of 12% year-over-year (YoY) occurred.<\/p>\n<p><script id=\"infogram_0_118b8f10-e20a-484c-964f-65a0ed48814d\" title=\"Holiday campaign: H.S vs P.W\" src=\"https:\/\/e.infogram.com\/js\/dist\/embed.js?Hxf\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>This year we are faced with the question: How will COVID-19 impact consumer behavior during the holidays? Analyzing shopping behavior on Prime Day may indicate what you can expect for the remainder of the year.<\/p>\n<p>According to Amazon,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/corp\/blog\/2020-amazon-prime-day-consumer-insights\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2020 Prime Day sales<\/a>\u00a0topped last year\u2019s by almost 40%. And based on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/corp\/ourdata\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">our data<\/a>, half of the 50 best-selling products are private label brands. That\u2019s good news for ecommerce. Or is it? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/andriacheng\/2020\/10\/16\/five-takeaways-on-amazon-prime-day\/#381b1174e018\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Forbes\u00a0<\/a>tells us that Amazon avoids comparing numbers with Black Friday and Cyber Monday, so we are wondering if Prime Day sales met the goals.<\/p>\n<p>Looking at the data provided by SimilarWeb\u2019s digital marketing intelligence tool, we see that non-amazon retailers saw increased traffic of just below 30%.<\/p>\n<p><b>Target<\/b>, for example, created a rival\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/target-prime-day-deals-1165599\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Deals Day<\/a>, which led to a 54% week-over-week (WoW) traffic increase.\u00a0<b>BestBuy<\/b>, with its exceptionally attractive deals, experienced the most significant growth among top retailers. Next in line was\u00a0<b>Costo\u00a0<\/b>with a traffic increase of 59%.<\/p>\n<p>It looks like last year\u2019s trend for Prime Day continued. If this is true for the remaining two months of 2020, Black Friday will be less significant, and shoppers in December will look for the best deals. For marketers, it means now\u2019s the time to buckle up; you might need an extra-aggressive holiday marketing strategy.<\/p>\n<p><script id=\"infogram_0_a3283c2c-e008-4ac3-b40c-4891d575ada7\" title=\"Holiday Campaign: 2020 prime day\" src=\"https:\/\/e.infogram.com\/js\/dist\/embed.js?0Jg\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"Optimize-for-Strong-SEO-and-PPC-Keywords\">Optimize for\u00a0strong SEO and PPC keywords<\/h2>\n<p>However heavy holiday traffic in 2020 will be, you need to grab your share. It\u2019s a good time to review your keyword strategies for <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/category\/seo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">SEO<\/a> and PPC. After all, they are both major traffic drivers.<\/p>\n<p>SEO means optimizing your website\u2019s content, structure and user experience according to Google\u2019s Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). This starts with an\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/corp\/blog\/keyword-research\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener dofollow noreferrer\">effective keyword research<\/a>\u00a0for organic searches and competitor analysis, followed by a review of your pages, and optimization of your pages according to your research findings.<\/p>\n<p>For SEO, it\u2019s crucial that your pages stay focused on the topic at hand which means your meta tags need to be relevant and your pages need to include related and relevant information around the right focus keyword.<\/p>\n<p>Another important factor is that your content needs to be linked to from other pages on your site as well as from other websites. As your content pages gain authority and rank over time, they will move up the SERP.<\/p>\n<p>The process of optimizing your pages should have started months ago so, now is an excellent time to re-check your internal linking, meta titles, and image ALT tags and ensure everything is in the right place.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also critical that you check search volume changes and new trending keywords to make sure you\u2019re still targeting the best keywords. People\u2019s searches are constantly changing so there may be a new keyword phrase growing in search volume that your competitors aren\u2019t targeting yet. The closer we get to the holidays, the more competition gets fierce over major seasonal terms.<\/p>\n<p>Keyword analysis for PPC is one of those critical tasks for the holiday season. To get optimal results with PPC, you have to be on the ball with the latest trending keywords.<\/p>\n<p>This is the time to finalize your budget, adjust your bids and overall strategy, so you can easily adapt and pivot during the busier times ahead as you see campaign results and understand how your audience is responding. You may also want to adjust based on what your competitors are doing to drive clicks.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"Analyzing-keyword-driven-traffic-for-seasonal-marketing\">Analyzing keyword-driven traffic for seasonal marketing<\/h3>\n<p>During the holiday period, brands largely dictate what shoppers are searching for. That\u2019s because consumers don\u2019t want to miss out on their uncounted deals and special offers.<\/p>\n<p>For you, this is an opportunity to hook onto the right keywords and go head-to-head with your biggest competitors. It\u2019s a once-in-the-year chance to \u201csteal\u201d large amounts of traffic from under their nose and convert them into paying visitors. Once you\u2019ve acquired new customers, it\u2019s hard for others to win them back.<\/p>\n<p>How do we know this? Our\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/corp\/marketing\/keyword-research\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener dofollow noreferrer\">keyword research tool<\/a>\u00a0provided us with data from previous years. Contrary to other keyword research tools, SimilarWeb Pro leverages actual user search queries and clicks to provide highly reliable data.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.clickz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/1-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-264144 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clickz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/1-1.png\" alt=\"Holiday marketing\" width=\"1174\" height=\"641\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>You can use the tool to receive the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/corp\/blog\/get-excited-similarwebs-new-last-7-days-keyword-filter-is-coming-soon\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">freshest keyword-related data\u00a0<\/a>and identify trends before anyone else. Can you see how you would lead the keyword competition for paid traffic? The tool also lets you generate and prioritize keywords, optimize traffic share, benchmark against your industry, and more.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.clickz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/3.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-264145 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clickz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/3.png\" alt=\"Holiday marketing\" width=\"1168\" height=\"657\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Next, we want to see if brands also snatch the majority of the traffic. Spoiler: No! SimilarWeb data shows that publishers and Black Friday sites receive the majority of search traffic in the U.S..<\/p>\n<p>This underlines the importance of partnering with affiliate and coupon websites- such as\u00a0<b>Slickdeals<\/b>\u00a0and\u00a0<b>CouponChef<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 that know how to leverage search traffic and seasonal trends. The top winners were<b>\u00a0bestblackfriday.com<\/b>\u00a0and\u00a0<b>blackfriday.com<\/b>, both with approximately 11% traffic share, followed by\u00a0<b>bestbuy.com<\/b>\u00a0and\u00a0<b>walmart.com<\/b>\u00a0at around 9%.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"\">Which sites won the most keyword traffic in the holiday season?<\/h3>\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/corp\/2020-holiday-shopping\/?utm_campaign=MI__BlogPost_Whitepaper_North_America_Nov_2020_&amp;utm_source=searchenginewatch_article&amp;utm_medium=partnerships&amp;utm_content=holiday_shoping_minisite\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"attachment noopener wp-att-142384 noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-142384 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/blog-Banner-report-holiday-report.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"756\" height=\"220\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/blog-Banner-report-holiday-report.png 756w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/blog-Banner-report-holiday-report-300x87.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 756px) 100vw, 756px\" \/><\/a><\/h4>\n<h4 id=\"Black-Friday-marketing-november\">Black Friday marketing:\u00a0November 2019<\/h4>\n<p>A review of popular keywords in November 2019 shows that three out of the top ten paid search keywords were related to gaming, representing 24% of total paid search traffic.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018<i>Battlefield 5\u2032, \u2018Assassin\u2019s Creed Odyssey\u2019,\u00a0<\/i>and<i>\u00a0\u2018Fire Emblem Warriors\u2019\u00a0<\/i>were popular video games, and it\u2019s fair to assume that they appeared on innumerable wish lists that people were attempting to fulfill.\u00a0<b>It seems Black Friday marketing that considers Christmas wish lists are a good bet.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>It is also interesting to note that\u00a0<b>amazon.com<\/b>\u00a0claimed over 96% of all traffic from these terms in the time period analyzed. When we look at Black Friday keywords specifically, things get more interesting.<\/p>\n<p>The top PPC-related queries at that time included the term \u2018Black Friday\u2019 in combination with a branded term. The keywords \u2018B<i>lack Friday ads 2019\u2032, \u2018call of duty black ops 4\u2019, \u2018Nintendo Switch Black Friday\u2019,\u00a0<\/i>and \u2018<i>black Friday deals\u2019\u00a0<\/i>claimed traffic shares ranging from 9% to 12%.<\/p>\n<p>Specific Black Friday campaigns paid off. Most of the traffic winners were well-loved retail brands such as\u00a0<b>Best Buy\u00a0<\/b>and\u00a0<b>Walmart<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p><script id=\"infogram_0_8933d60a-1534-440d-8625-022d5586a391\" title=\"Holiday Campaig: top nov keywords\" src=\"https:\/\/e.infogram.com\/js\/dist\/embed.js?CCV\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Most searched organic terms related to Black Friday in 2019 were<i>\u00a0\u2018deals\u2019, \u2018black friday\u2019, \u2018cyber monday deals\u2019,\u00a0<\/i>and \u2018<i>black friday ads 2019\u2019\u00a0<\/i>claiming respective traffic shares of 3% to 5% each.\u00a0Unlike PPC-driven traffic, none of the leading organic search terms were branded.<\/p>\n<p><b>Not only did big box retail names win traffic from these keywords, top affiliates such as blackfriday.com and bestblackfriday.com also made it into the top 10<\/b>, which you can see in the graph below.<\/p>\n<p>To sum this up:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Top organic searches were\u00a0<b>generic\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li>Top PPC terms were\u00a0<b>50% branded<\/b>\u00a0and 50% generic<\/li>\n<li>Organic search traffic went to\u00a0<b>retailers, brands, and affiliates\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li>PPC traffic went to\u00a0<b>popular household brands<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The top ten winners can be seen below.<\/p>\n<p><script id=\"infogram_0_a6b59ca1-8c26-4a7b-bf03-7d2a43298686\" title=\"Holiday Campaign: Top PPC and SEO Keywords and Traffic Winners\" src=\"https:\/\/e.infogram.com\/js\/dist\/embed.js?KKq\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h4 id=\"Christmas-marketing-straetgy\">Christmas marketing strategy:\u00a0December 2019<\/h4>\n<p>As expected, the overall November trends continued throughout December. The highest traffic-driving keywords were again gaming-related gifts and gadgets. The three most searched terms were \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/pro.similarweb.com\/#\/keyword\/search\/840\/2019.12-2019.12\/just%20dance%202020\/paid\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i>just dance 2020<\/i><\/a><i>\u2019, \u2018<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/pro.similarweb.com\/#\/keyword\/search\/840\/2019.12-2019.12\/star%20wars%20jedi%20fallen%20order%20ps4\/paid\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i>star wars jedi fallen order ps4<\/i><\/a><i>\u2019,\u00a0<\/i>and \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/pro.similarweb.com\/#\/keyword\/search\/840\/2019.12-2019.12\/the%20witcher%203\/paid\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i>the witcher 3<\/i><\/a><i>\u2019.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Interestingly, Amazon scooped up over 96% of all traffic for \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/pro.similarweb.com\/#\/keyword\/search\/840\/2019.12-2019.12\/just%20dance%202020\/paid\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i>j<\/i><i>u<\/i><i>st dance 2020<\/i><\/a><i>\u2019,\u00a0<\/i>and \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/pro.similarweb.com\/#\/keyword\/search\/840\/2019.12-2019.12\/the%20witcher%203\/paid\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i>the witcher 3<\/i><\/a>\u2019;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/pro.similarweb.com\/#\/website\/traffic-search\/rd.bizrate.com\/*\/840\/2019.12-2019.12?webSource=Desktop&amp;selectedTab=keywords&amp;Keywords_filters=OP%3B%3D%3D%3B0&amp;IncludeOrganic=false&amp;IncludePaid=false\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">rd.bizrate.com<\/a>\u00a0won 97% of the traffic for the keyword \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/pro.similarweb.com\/#\/keyword\/search\/840\/2019.12-2019.12\/star%20wars%20jedi%20fallen%20order%20ps4\/paid\">s<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/pro.similarweb.com\/#\/keyword\/search\/840\/2019.12-2019.12\/star%20wars%20jedi%20fallen%20order%20ps4\/paid\"><i>ta<\/i><i>r wa<\/i><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/pro.similarweb.com\/#\/keyword\/search\/840\/2019.12-2019.12\/star%20wars%20jedi%20fallen%20order%20ps4\/paid\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i>rs jedi fallen order ps4<\/i><\/a>\u2019.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.clickz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/RS.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-264146 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clickz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/RS.png\" alt=\"Holiday marketing\" width=\"1192\" height=\"597\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Now let\u2019s take a closer look at terms related to the December holidays to see how Christmas marketing campaigns compare.<\/p>\n<p>Most searched organic terms were<i>\u00a0\u2018cyber monday\u2019, \u2018deals\u2019, \u2018ugly Christmas sweaters\u2019,\u00a0<\/i>and \u2018<i>laptop deals\u2019\u00a0<\/i>with traffic shares of\u00a0 3% to 9%.<i>\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<p><script id=\"infogram_0_72becff7-f710-4947-a10f-61778ac7ce49\" title=\"Copy: Holiday Campaig: top dec keywords\" src=\"https:\/\/e.infogram.com\/js\/dist\/embed.js?g9m\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Paid keyword terms with the highest traffic shares were \u2018<i>cyber monday deals\u2019, \u2018<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/pro.similarweb.com\/#\/keyword\/search\/840\/2019.12-2019.12\/siberian%20husky%20christmas%20blowups\/paid\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i>siberian husky christmas blowups<\/i><\/a>\u2019, \u2018<i>black friday deals\u2019\u00a0<\/i>\u2013 still a high traffic share, however 68% down month-over-month (MoM)<i>, \u2018<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/pro.similarweb.com\/#\/keyword\/search\/840\/2019.12-2019.12\/christmas%20tree\/paid\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i>christmas tree<\/i><\/a>\u2019, \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/pro.similarweb.com\/#\/keyword\/search\/840\/2019.12-2019.12\/icicle%20christmas%20lights\/paid\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i>icicle christmas lights<\/i><\/a><i>\u2019, \u2018<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/pro.similarweb.com\/#\/keyword\/search\/840\/2019.12-2019.12\/die%20hard%20christmas%20book\/paid\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i>die hard christmas book<\/i><\/a><i>\u2019,\u00a0<\/i>and<i>\u00a0\u2018<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/pro.similarweb.com\/#\/keyword\/search\/840\/2019.12-2019.12\/nintendo%20switch%20games%20for%20christmas%20list\/paid\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i>nintendo switch games for christmas list<\/i><\/a>\u2019.\u00a0Interestingly, several of the top keywords were related to Christmas decorations, with gift-related keywords coming in closely behind them.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018<i>Ugly Christmas sweaters\u2019<\/i>\u00a0was the top Christmas related keyword driving organic traffic in December.<\/p>\n<p>See the ten winners for Christmas related keywords here:<\/p>\n<p><script id=\"infogram_0_4e188a91-3def-4795-84fb-fa37d1e1a222\" title=\"Holiday Campaign : Top christmas keywords\" src=\"https:\/\/e.infogram.com\/js\/dist\/embed.js?hbl\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"Build-strong-display-and-referral\">Build strong display and referral\u00a0partnerships<\/h2>\n<p>Referral sites and a Display Ads strategy are crucial during this time. Why? Consumers are looking for deals, but they also know that not every \u2018deal\u2019 is a good bargain for them. They trust 3rd party sites to review and guide them through the jungle of deals during the holiday seasons.<\/p>\n<p>We found that SimilarWeb data supports this assessment.\u00a0<b>Some of the affiliate and display publisher sites driving the most traffic fell within the 10 top winners of keyword traffic over the holiday season in 2019.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s your opportunity to generate more traffic to your site. A display publisher will show your display ads on the ad space of their websites. Rather than publishing your display ads by yourself, use affiliates to do it for you. The same goes for other referral sites such as deal comparison sites and review sites that can help you win a bigger chunk of the traffic share.<\/p>\n<p>Use SimilarWeb\u2019s digital marketing intelligence tool to find your best affiliates by analyzing performance statistics of display publishers and referral sites. You can compare relevant sites and identify the biggest traffic providers. The tool also lets you benchmark against your main competitors for traffic from the significant sites.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"Analyze-historic\">Analyze historic\u00a0conversion data<\/h3>\n<p>Looking at the stats from 2019, we see that direct traffic brought the highest conversions volume on average in November. Retailers experienced the largest growth in converted traffic from Display and Referral channels during this month, growing MoM 42% and 32%, respectively. Also, referral was the best converting marketing channel at 11%, overtaking even direct traffic, which converted approximately 9% during that same period.<\/p>\n<p>Referral traffic spiked during the last week of November. Display ads\u2019 traffic growth wasn\u2019t as concentrated and was used more evenly to promote future deals and increase brand recognition.<\/p>\n<p><script id=\"infogram_0_83b44acf-6f69-4709-ab1b-21516b0f76ab\" title=\"Holiday Campaign: top 5 growth\" src=\"https:\/\/e.infogram.com\/js\/dist\/embed.js?SeC\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3 id=\"The-biggest-display-and-referral-sites\">The biggest display and referral sites (and the brands winning traffic)<\/h3>\n<h4 id=\"Black-Friday-marketing-strategy-November-2019\">Black Friday marketing strategy: November 2019<\/h4>\n<p>When looking at retail winners,\u00a0<b>Kohs\u00a0<\/b>and\u00a0<b>BBB\u00a0<\/b>experienced the largest increase in overall traffic during the last week of November in 2019. Other big winners include\u00a0<b>Costo<\/b>,\u00a0<b>Walmart<\/b>,\u00a0<b>Target<\/b>, and\u00a0<b>Wayfair<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p>During this time,\u00a0<b>Costco\u00a0<\/b>and\u00a0<b>Sam\u2019s Club\u00a0<\/b>saw the highest growth of referral traffic during, growing 241% and 199% from October to November, respectively. Another big referral traffic winner,\u00a0<b>Walmart<\/b>, came in third, increasing its traffic on this channel by a whopping 114%.<\/p>\n<p><script id=\"infogram_0_eba5abde-6726-40f0-969a-bd533018a80b\" title=\"Holiday Campaign: referral sites growth\" src=\"https:\/\/e.infogram.com\/js\/dist\/embed.js?z3q\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Referral leaders have received more than 50% of referral traffic from the top two coupon and rebate sites, with<b>\u00a0bestblackfridaydeals.com<\/b>\u00a0sending about 45% of all referral traffic to the competitive set during November. Walmart seems to have had a solid relationship with the referral site. About 81% of all its outgoing traffic went directly to the retail giant.<\/p>\n<p>While\u00a0<b>slickdeals.net<\/b>\u00a0was the second-largest referral site during that period, it only drove about 6% of traffic. However, display traffic tells a very different story, as\u00a0<b>slickdeals.com<\/b>\u00a0claims the number one spot.<\/p>\n<p><b>Bestblackfridaydeal.com<\/b>\u00a0dropped down to the third spot with shares of\u00a0 18% and 2% of display traffic, respectively.\u00a0<b>Cosco.com<\/b>\u00a0scooped up about 73% of that traffic in November. Shopping-category leaders utilized\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/corp\/marketing\/ad-research-media-buying\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">display advertising traffic analytics<\/a>\u00a0to increase their brand awareness on affiliate sites.<\/p>\n<p>Did we mention the importance of display and referral sites for your holiday marketing? The numbers speak for themselves.<\/p>\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/corp\/2020-holiday-shopping\/?utm_campaign=MI__BlogPost_Whitepaper_North_America_Nov_2020_&amp;utm_source=searchenginewatch_article&amp;utm_medium=partnerships&amp;utm_content=holiday_shoping_minisite\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"attachment noopener wp-att-142384 noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-142384 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/blog-Banner-report-holiday-report.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"756\" height=\"220\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/blog-Banner-report-holiday-report.png 756w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/blog-Banner-report-holiday-report-300x87.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 756px) 100vw, 756px\" \/><\/a><\/h4>\n<h4 id=\"Christmas-marketing-December-2019\">Christmas marketing: December 2019<\/h4>\n<p>Now, take a look at the interesting shifts in winners throughout the holiday season of last year. November\u2019s big winners were overtaken in December. As Christmas approached,\u00a0<b>michaelkors.com\u00a0<\/b>grew by 191% when compared to October the same year, claiming the number one spot for overall growth.<\/p>\n<p>While neither\u00a0<b>Walmart\u00a0<\/b>or\u00a0<b>Target\u00a0<\/b>landed in the top spots for MoM growth, the retail conglomerates did win massive overall traffic.<b>\u00a0Walmart.com\u00a0<\/b>saw a mind-blowing 450M visits while\u00a0<b>target.com<\/b>\u00a0was able to rake in upwards of 250M.<\/p>\n<p><b>Swagbucks.com<\/b>\u00a0was the top referral site in December 2019 for the best-performing sites during that period with an 8% traffic share. It drove about 63% of its traffic to<b>\u00a0worldmarket.com<\/b>. Other big referrals sites were\u00a0<b>slickdeals.net<\/b>\u00a0and\u00a0<b>cashbackholic.com<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p>Among the display publishers,\u00a0<b>Rakuten<\/b>\u00a0secured the largest traffic share with almost 17%.\u00a0<b>Dealmoon<\/b>\u00a0could seize 9% and\u00a0<b>Slickdeals\u00a0<\/b>managed to grab 4%. In fourth place was\u00a0<b>Dealsplus<\/b>, everyone else in the top 10 got less than 2%.<\/p>\n<p><script id=\"infogram_0_8a42f56f-008c-4b0a-961f-2aa117e56a9d\" title=\"holiday campaign: display publishers\" src=\"https:\/\/e.infogram.com\/js\/dist\/embed.js?zpS\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"The-holiday-marketing-games-are-on-roll-up-your-sleeves\">The holiday marketing games are on, roll up your sleeves!<\/h2>\n<p>During the holiday season, optimizing your digital strategies is more critical than during any other time of the year. You can only be sure of it\u2019s efficiency when you build on reliable data about you and your main competitors\u2019 performance. Make no mistake, they are getting ready for the winter games as well.<\/p>\n<p>Understand how different channels work together to drive success. Leverage marco and seasonal\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/corp\/blog\/market-trend-analysis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">market trends<\/a>\u00a0and determine how to make consumer behavior work in your favor. In our example,\u00a0<b>we\u2019ve learned that brands who partner with affiliates have the best chance of winning traffic from top keywords.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Now use SimilarWeb Pro to find the best affiliates to partner with, the most successful channels to utilize, and the highest trending keywords in real-time.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Get started by opening an account now!<\/a><\/p>\n<p>And if you can\u2019t wait to see how you can fine-tune your marketing strategy for this holiday season, use the form below to download the most-up-to-date data for this year and get the competitive edge you need to blow your competition away.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.clickz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/png-teaser.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-264147 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clickz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/png-teaser.png\" alt=\"Holiday marketing\" width=\"409\" height=\"606\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/corp\/2020-holiday-shopping\/?utm_campaign=MI__BlogPost_Whitepaper_North_America_Nov_2020_&amp;utm_source=searchenginewatch_article&amp;utm_medium=partnerships&amp;utm_content=holiday_shoping_minisite\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"attachment noopener wp-att-142384 noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-142384 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/blog-Banner-report-holiday-report.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"756\" height=\"220\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/blog-Banner-report-holiday-report.png 756w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/blog-Banner-report-holiday-report-300x87.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 756px) 100vw, 756px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Adjust your holiday marketing strategy based on what your competitors are doing to drive clicks. Analyzing keyword-driven traffic for seasonal marketing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1092,"featured_media":142349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27893,10,27694,9,27488],"tags":[75,601,27813,27859,53,615,514,291,282,58,22],"content_type":[],"class_list":["post-142348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digital-marketing","category-ppc","category-roi-marketing","category-social","category-sponsored","tag-content-2","tag-content-strategy","tag-covid-19","tag-covid-19-and-digital-marketing","tag-digital-marketing","tag-holiday-season","tag-holiday-shopping-season","tag-keyword-research","tag-online-retail","tag-ppc","tag-seo"],"acf":{"tad_independentcommercial":false,"tad_content_format":false},"post_info":{"name":"idris.nagri@blenheimchalcot.com idris.nagri@blenheimchalcot.com","title":"","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/holiday-marketing-similarweb.png","category":"Digital Marketing","timeago":"5y"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1092"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142348"},{"taxonomy":"content_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content_type?post=142348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}