Optimize Your SEO Strategy for Valentine’s Day

February is upon us – even if it feels like we just wrapped up the New Year festivities! – and that means our favorite holiday for celebrating our love for those around us is almost here. From planning romantic dates with significant others to buying candy and Valentine’s cards for children to give to classmates and celebrating Galentine’s Day with friends, February is a time to show the people in our lives how much they mean to us. In 2021, as we continued to enjoy the smaller holidays as a reason to connect despite the pandemic, Valentine’s Day was big business; the loving spirit only grew in 2022 as customers spent an average of $175.41 according to the NRF. This year, the NRF found that 52% of consumers plan to celebrate Valentine’s Day, spending an average of $192.80 — the second highest spend projection since NRF began tracking the holiday’s spend.

A thoughtful SEO strategy can ensure that your brand is part of your customers’ Valentine’s Day celebrations in 2023.

Creating a Valentine’s Day SEO Strategy

Savvy marketers know that when holiday candy appears at the drugstore, it’s time to start thinking about posting holiday content. Starting your Valentine’s Day campaign at least three or four weeks before February 14 will make sure search engines – and customers – have time to find and engage with your brand’s Valentine’s Day offerings. If you haven’t already customized your landing pages and tweaked your product descriptions for Valentine’s Day, today’s a great day to get it done!

Dedicated landing pages for your Valentine’s Day-related products, services, and content make it easy for your customers to find exactly what they are looking for and engage with your brand. Keeping those pages clean and easy to navigate will help your customers, so don’t be afraid to create separate pages for different product categories and intended git recipients. In the weeks leading up to the holiday, feature your Valentine’s Day pages and content on social media platforms to generate traffic and boost search engine rankings. If you don’t want these landing pages available after Valentine’s Day, simply deactivate the URLs and reactivate them the following year rather than removing them. This allows the pages to gain history and helps maintain search engine rankings – and it means a little less work for you next year!

What Content Should Valentine’s Day Landing Pages Feature?

When we think of Valentine’s Day, a number of product categories come immediately to mind, with chocolates and flowers and luxury goods like jewelry topping the list. But Valentine’s Day giftable purchases can include all kinds of products, from food and snack items besides candy hearts to experiences like spa and restaurant gift certificates. Building gift guides with specific categories, as well as including holiday-themed content like recipes and craft ideas, can boost your SEO and draw customers to your site. Content that speaks to recipies, crafts, experiences, and more beyond simply physical gifts can also help in attracting the 28% of consumers who will not celebrate Valentine’s day, but still plan to mark the occassion in NRF’s findings.

Does your brand sell products and services that customers are more likely to purchase for their own use rather than as gifts for loved ones? Whether your focus is on apparel, such as shirts or shoes, party decorations, or personal care, like beauty products or salon services, creating landing pages to unite goods that your customers might buy for their own use at Valentine’s Day is certain to drive traffic to your site and build awareness of your brand.

What Keywords and Search Terms Should Valentine’s Day Content and Metadata Include?

By creating gift guide landing pages and other targeted content, you guarantee that your brand is findable by customers. Gift guides are especially useful, as Valentine’s Day shoppers are usually searching for gifts for a particular person in their life. As always, having a clear idea of your brand’s customer personas – particularly that of your high-value customer – will help you optimize your site for your ideal Valentine’s Day buyers. Categories help buyers narrow down their search, so it’s great to get specific – but be careful not to get too niche! Consider building out guides for search terms like these:

“for him” and “for her”, “for my wife” and “for my husband”, “men’s” and “women’s”, “for my partner” or “for my spouse”
“non-romantic” or “for friends”
“budget” or “inexpensive”
“for pet lovers”, “for animal lovers”, and other specific interests
“for teachers”, “for parents”, and other roles and professions

Using categories like the ones above, paired with relevant Valentine’s Day products and terms like chocolates, romance, and flowers, in your content, product descriptions, and metadata, will help bring customers to your site. When creating your blog titles, phrasing search terms as questions can be an effective strategy, as people often search in question form as they begin their gift-giving journey.

Going Beyond SEO

For a post-holiday strategy (and content for next year!) consider running a social contest that asks your customers to share photos of their purchases, such as their date-night outfit, flower arrangement, or freshly made dinner! User-generated content is great to feature on your social channels and can add a personalized touch to next year’s offerings by highlighting the best of 2023!

Valentine’s Day trends come and go so be sure to keep an eye on the latest retail shopping trends your customers are searching and shopping for! Evolve key trends to fit your brand and timely occassions like Valentine’s Day. Some trends are easy to adapt to the moment, like the rising popularity of heart-shaped jewelry and cakes. Always keep your high-value customer in mind to antipicate their needs and wants.

Additional Resources

If your SEO strategy needs a little love, contact a NetElixir expert today.

NetElixir would be happy to collaborate with your brand on your strategy and content for upcoming holiday campaigns and much more. We work closely with our clients to meet their needs and develop successful campaigns that optimize our clients’ brand presence.

Originally published February 1, 2022. Updated for current year trends and predictions.