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Blog / Marketing tips / Holiday SEO: Black Friday & Cyber Monday Keywords

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High-Value SEO Keyword Guide for Black Friday Cyber Monday

High-Value SEO Keyword Guide for Black Friday Cyber Monday
Una Berzina-Pudule

By Una Berzina-Pudule

11 min read

There are lots of things online businesses need to take care of before Black Friday and Cyber Monday come around, like:

But there’s one more thing you can’t afford to overlook, and that’s optimizing your website for search engines. To do holiday SEO, you need to rank for certain keywords. It’s also crucial to know which keywords you want to drive traffic from.

I know, SEO is tough and it can get tricky, especially if you’re new to it. But don’t let tricky cost you sales this holiday season. Instead, use the Black Friday Cyber Monday shopping craze as an opportunity to draw more attention to your brand and products.

Read on to find out what are the most valuable Black Friday Cyber Monday SEO keywords (there are more than 150). More importantly, learn how to use these keywords to increase valuable traffic and boost sales this holiday season.

Black Friday Cyber Monday search patterns

Typically, shoppers start looking up generic, non-branded Black Friday Cyber Monday deals (search queries like smartphone discounts, toy offers, clothing deals) in October. Searches become more specific only about two weeks before Thanksgiving weekend in the US (search queries like biggest iPhone discounts, best Hot Wheels offers, cheap ASOS deals).

Screenshot 2023 08 16 at 15 10 29

Source: Google Trends

Gaining an online presence on search engines takes time. If you want to appear in the search results during Black Friday Cyber Monday, you’ll need to get started now.

preview play-button

Holiday SEO keyword research

The first step to content optimization is keyword research. To help you figure out which keywords to use (without needing pricey SEO tools), we did holiday keyword research for you and grouped the keywords into 4 categories:

  • Black Friday keywords
  • Cyber Monday keywords
  • Printful product keywords
  • Buzz keywords
preview play-button

Each keyword table comes with useful metrics that’ll help you predict their potential value and competitiveness. Here’s a quick guide on what each metric means:

  • Search volume is a rough estimate of the number of monthly searches for a keyword. The higher the search volume, the more people Google it. We used US and global search volume data suggested by Ahrefs Keyword Explorer.
  • Difficulty score, on a scale from 0 to 100, shows how difficult it is to compete for a ranking spot in the search results. The lower the score, the easier it is to rank for the keyword.
  • SERP features are other types of info blocks that appear on search engine results pages (SERPs), all of which may draw traffic away from your organic links.
SERP features example
Example of SERP features

Pro tip: Focus your efforts on keywords that strike a good balance of high search volume and small competition.

And now, finally, let’s get onto the keywords!

High-value Black Friday keywords

This year Black Friday falls on November 24th, which means you’ve got less than three months to get the attention of holiday shoppers.

Every year, online retailers start promoting their Black Friday deals earlier than the previous year, so you should do the same. It’s a strategic move that lets shoppers find deals and plan their purchases once the big shopping day comes around.

This year, businesses will start their Black Friday Cyber Monday craze as early as the beginning of November. Which leaves you one thing to do: hurry up.

Keyword Search Volume (Global) Search Volume (USA) Difficulty Score SERP Features
black friday sales 135,000 32,000 93 Site links, Related questions, Knowledge panel
black friday 2023 86,000 5,000 14 Related questions, Site links
best black friday deals 104,000 80,000 84 Site links, Related questions
black friday ads 27,000 25,000 86 Site links
black friday angebote 49,000 150 73 Site links
black friday specials 26,000 2,900 86 Site links
cyber monday deals black friday 5,800 4,700 35 Site links, Related questions
black friday deals canada 17,000 150 30 Site links, Image pack
cyber monday black friday deals 13,000 1,800 57 Related questions, Site links, Adwords bottom
black friday cyber monday deals 9,700 7,600 64 Site links, Related questions
black friday shopping 9,600 5,600 91 Site links, Related questions, Knowledge panel
best black friday sales 6,400 3,200 83 Site links
the black friday 6,300 5,200 87 Site links, Related questions, Knowledge panel
best black friday tv deals 6,200 5,000 52 Top stories, Thumbnails, Related questions, Videos
black friday ad 5,700 4,400 82 Site links
black friday deals uk 5,600 100 67 Sitelinks
online black friday deals 4,100 3,200 90 Related questions, Site links
best black friday 4,000 2,500 84 Site links
black friday online deals 3,600 2,500 91 Sitelinks, Related questions
black friday online 3,500 1,300 90  

Ultimate Cyber Monday keywords

After the Black Friday shopping craze, it’s time for Cyber Monday. Last year, Cyber reached a new record of $12.12 billion in sales.

If you want to boost your sales this holiday season, mark November 27th on your marketing calendar and start optimizing your website for valuable Cyber Monday keywords right away.

Keyword Search Volume (Global) Search Volume (USA) Difficulty Score SERP Features
cyber monday 475,000 74,000 82 Related questions, Site links, Knowledge panel
cyber monday deals 283,000 248,000 79 Site links
best cyber monday deals 27,000 25,000 72 Related questions, Site links
cyber monday deals black friday 19,000 17,000 67 Sitel inks, Related questions
when is cyber monday 18,000 13,000 71 Related questions, Site links
cyber monday 2022 16,000 600 37 Related questions, Site links
cyber monday sales 14,000 9,700 78 Site links, Related questions
what is cyber monday 12,000 6,800 37 Site links, Related questions, Knowledge panel
cyber monday black friday deals 13,000 7,800 57 Related questions, Site links, Adwords bottom
cyber monday tv deals 12,000 11,000 48 Related questions, Top stories, Videos
cyber monday amazon 10,000 2,300 53 Related questions
black friday cyber monday deals 9,700 7,600 64 Site links, Related questions
cyber monday laptop deals 6,900 5,700 44 Adwords top, Related questions, Top stories, Videos
cyber monday argentina 7,000 50 26 Site links
cyber monday sale 3,500 1,000 76 Related questions, Site links
black friday cyber monday 3,000 600 69 Featured snippet, Thumbnails, Related questions, Site links
cyber monday monitor deals 1,500 1,000 33 Adwords top
cyber monday chile 1,900 60 40 Site links
cyber monday computer deals 1,200 900 36 Adwords top, Site links
black friday deals cyber monday 600 100 57 Site links, Top stories, Videos

Apparel and accessories is one of the top-selling product categories during Cyber Week. If your store offers any of these product categories, you need to make them search-friendly.

Here are the most important keywords your products should be ranking for this holiday season:

Keyword Search Volume (Global) Search Volume (USA) Difficulty Score SERP Features
black friday clothing deals 1,700 150 39 Related questions
black friday clothes 4,300 1,500 33 Adwords top, Related questions
black friday deals clothes 1,900 900 24 Related questions
black friday clothing sales 2,100 900 43 Related questions
black friday mens clothes 2,000 700 30 Adwords top, Adwords bottom, Shopping results, Thumbnails
black friday womens clothes 1,600 700 15 Shopping results, Thumbnails, Adwords bottom
black friday poster 1,500 200 0 Shopping results, Thumbnails, Image pack, Site links, Top stories
black friday clothes sale 1,400 300 48 Related questions, Adwords bottom
clothing black friday deals 1,400 600 45 Related questions
cyber monday clothing deals 1,200 900 42 Adwords top, Related questions, Adwords bottom
black friday clothes deals 1,100 500 48 Related questions, Adwords bottom, Shopping results, Thumbnails
black friday shirts 1,000 500 4 Image pack
best clothing black friday deals 900 700 48 Related questions
clothes black friday 900 350 46 Related questions, Image pack
black friday dresses 800 100 41 Shopping results, Thumbnails, Site links
best black friday clothing deals 800 600 49 Related questions
cyber monday clothing sales 700 600 43 Related questions
baby clothes black friday 600 200 22 Site links
black friday deals clothing 450 250 42 Related questions
cyber monday clothing 400 200 53 Adwords top, Adwords bottom

 

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The most searched buzz phrases

While you want Google to favor your website content, at the end of the day, it’s humans who will buy your products. This set of keywords will give you an idea of which buzzwords or phrases (even if they sound a little cheesy) you should focus on to drive shoppers’ attention to your store:

Keyword Search Volume
(Global)
Search
Volume
(USA)
Difficulty Score SERP Features
best black friday deals 54,000 33,000 86 Site links, Related questions
best cyber monday deals 27,000 25,000 72 Related questions, Site links
black friday offers 8,200 800 92 Site links
best black friday sales 6,400 3,200 83 Site links
best black friday 4,000 2,500 84 Site links
black friday offer 3,000 200 90 Site links, Related questions, Image pack
top black friday deals 2,900 1,400 83 Site links
best online black friday deals 2,000 1,200 90 Site links, Related questions
best cyber monday sales 1,900 1,500 70 Related questions
the best black friday deals 1,800 400 85 Adwords top, Site links, Related questions
biggest black friday deals 1,500 800 83 Site links
top cyber monday deals 1,200 1,000 74  
black friday doorbusters 1,100 900 88 Site links, Top stories, Videos
best cyber monday 1,000 800 69 Sitelinks, Top stories, Videos
best black friday offers 900 100 88 Site links
best black friday clothing deals 800 600 49 Related questions
best cyber deals 700 600 74 Site links
biggest black friday sales 600 150 84 Site links
best online black friday 300 100 88 Adwords top, Site links, Top stories, Videos
biggest deals cyber monday 250 200 76 Top stories, Videos

How to use Black Friday Cyber Monday keywords

So you know you need to optimize your store for search engines, and you have the most important holiday keywords on hand. What next? Here are the most important SEO elements where your keywords should go.

Page titles (title tags)

Your store’s page titles appear as links in search engine results pages (SERPs), web browser tabs, and social media post thumbnails.

Cut off SEO Page title example

When writing your page titles, make sure to include the most valuable keywords. Ideally, place the keywords at the beginning of the title to help you rank higher. It’s important to make each page title unique—Google doesn’t like repetitive content and may mark it as spam. Also, try to stay within 60 characters to avoid your page title being cut off, as you can see in the example above.

Pro tip: Use tools like Google SERP Simulator to preview how your page titles will look in search results once published.

Main headings

The main heading appears in the body text of your website. Add a couple of Black Friday Cyber Monday buzzwords to your main heading to make your website rank on search results.

main heading example
Example of the main heading

Just like page titles, you want your main headings to be unique—don’t repeat the same heading over and over again on different pages. The main headings should also be optimized for the most valuable Black Friday Cyber Monday SEO keywords related to the page topic. 

Alt image tag and image file names

Since Google bots can’t see the images, they use alt image tags and file names to understand the content. An alt tag is a short and simple description of the image. Alt image tags are also used by screen readers for the visually impaired. So it’s crucial that whatever info you include in the alt tag is true to the image itself.

For example, a good alt tag for the image below would be: photo of a woman wearing a baseball cap. And a good file name for it would be: denim-baseball-cap.jpg

photo of a woman wearing a baseball cap

Pro tip: Make your alt tags and file names slightly different to have more keyword ops.

URLs

Keep your URLs short, simple, and include a focus keyword or phrase, as it helps search engines recognize what the page is about. If you’re planning to create a new landing page to promote your Black Friday Cyber Monday deals, choosing a URL that contains a valuable keyword is a must.

Anchor texts

Google uses hyperlinks to understand the relevance and value of pages on your site. Links can be:

  • internal—you linking to your own pages
  • external—someone else linking your pages on their website.

Think of each link, internal or external, as a vote—the more you have, the better. And while the link (or vote) itself is important, anchor text is what helps Google figure out what the vote is for.

An anchor text is part of the content where the link is added (or anchored) to. So, in a way, it hints at what content you’ll find in the link.

what is anchor text
Source: MOZ

Link your holiday-related pages in product categories, blogs, or other landing pages. Then use a keyword-optimized anchor text to direct customers to your Black Friday Cyber Monday offer page.

Pro tip: Google values in-content links way more than footer and sidebar links.

Long tail keywords

Some markets are more competitive than others. And if you happen to be competing with companies that have a large marketing budget and dominate search results already, ranking for generic keywords like “t-shirt” or “sports bra” will be difficult.

Your best bet is optimizing pages for long tail keywords. Here’s how a long tail keyword works:

generic keyword + specifications = long tail keyword

Since long tail keywords are more detailed, they get less search traffic but usually have a higher conversion rate and are easier to rank for.

So, let’s say you’re selling yoga leggings. Instead of targeting the yoga leggings keyword, try leopard print yoga leggings, or any other cool detail about your product.

Start optimizing your content for BFCM

Optimizing your content for higher rankings in search results is important all year round, but it’s crucial during busy shopping seasons like Black Friday Cyber Monday. Use this guide to identify the most valuable keywords and start optimizing your website with them in mind today.

What’s your experience with using holiday SEO to get the most out of the Black Friday Cyber Monday season? Share your wisdom in the comments below!

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By Una Berzina-Pudule on Aug 16, 2023

Una Berzina-Pudule

Content Marketing Specialist

Una’s a Senior SEO Content Writer with a knack for SEO-friendly copywriting and building stunning landing pages. In her spare time, she's an avid reader and keeps close tabs on all things social media and mental health.

Una’s a Senior SEO Content Writer with a knack for SEO-friendly copywriting and building stunning landing pages. In her spare time, she's an avid reader and keeps close tabs on all things social media and mental health.

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By Una Berzina-Pudule

11 min read Aug 16, 2023

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