Yup, you read that right, this is part 2 of our SEO Holiday Tips. We imagine you’re jumping with joy with all the new tips we have for your property’s SEO. If you’re reading this, you have probably already read our previous blog, SEO Tips To Get You Through the Holiday Season Part 1, and if you haven’t… what are you doing?! Get over there and read that blog! Like we said before, there are some very important aspects of your online presence that need your attention during the most wonderful time of the year, and the Digible team is more than happy to help guide you through it.
Don’t Forget the Technical “Wrapping Paper & Ribbons” of SEO
These items might sound small and incidental, like crumbs on a plate of cookies that were eaten by Santa, but they actually pack a big organic punch. Let’s investigate a few of the items that aren’t as flashy and exciting as GMB or Content, but still play an important role in your overall SEO health.
Swap Out Seasonal Keywords in Meta Tags and GMB Posts
As awesome as your rooftop resort-like pool and sky lounge are, no one is thinking much about them in the cold, slushy months of winter. Nor will they be items that encourage click-throughs if a searcher stumbles across your amenities page in the SERPs and you are touting BBQ stations while competitors are promoting heated parking garages, gas fireplaces, or smart lockers for holiday deliveries.
Holiday season is prime time to swap out your targeted keywords and phrases on certain meta tags and GMB posts to hone in on your audience and speak to their needs and desires this time of year. Don’t worry, you can bring the pool and BBQ keywords out again in the springtime.
Here Comes Santa Claus Core Web Vitals
Yes, Google has another big algorithm change coming in Q1 of 2021 and they’ve announced it roughly six months early giving SEO professionals and website developers time to digest what it all means and what may be targeted in terms of the new standards for ranking.
As defined by Google, Core Web Vitals is a set of metrics related to speed, responsiveness and visual stability, to help site owners measure user experience on the web. Easy, right? Well, a lot goes into Core Web Vitals (CWV) so let’s take a high-level overview here and in a future blog, we will do a deeper dive into the intricacies that make up Core Web Vitals.
Site speed has been an important ranking factor for a while, tying into mobile-friendliness and good UX (user experience). Site speed can affect not only SEO rankings but also performance of paid ads, so you really want to focus on getting a fast loading, easy to use site. Even a single second delay in page load time can reduce your conversions by 7%.
Responsiveness is another UX factor that comes from a website being mobile-friendly – Responsive website design responds to the user screen size, platform and orientation. The design utilizes flexible layouts, images and CSS to respond to the proper sizing and layout to allow the visitor a seamless experience no matter what device they may be using to visit the website.
Visual stability is based on how a site renders and how things shift visually as everything renders while the page loads. It’s tied to site speed and to responsiveness and relies heavily on the javascript coding behind the scenes.
If all this sounds highly technical to you, then you’d be correct. These items live in the land of website development and coders and are often tied to how the website was built. These are items our SEO team will usually recommend that a developer take a look at. But we have several tools, including our ADA auditing tool, Lighthouse tool, and Google Search Console reports to help us find where CWV issues exist and give a point of reference for website developers to start troubleshooting when we see these errors arise.
A Bountiful Harvest via Social Media
Like the first fruits of Kwanza or the hearty feast on Thanksgiving day, social media helps us gather what we’ve sown over time and cultivate community. Social helps us generate reviews, drive interest and curiosity about who we are, and connect with others on a personal level by giving a central location for the property to interact with residents and potential residents on a daily basis.
Social lets a business let their hair down and be friendly. It acts as a conduit for posting important messages, announcements, and sharing local information. As we’ve already covered, it’s a great place so share hyper-local content that you are creating. During the holidays spread spirit and good cheer. Engage followers by sharing local holiday happenings and events, create a holiday Pinterest board or set of themed image posts on Instagram, share favorite holiday recipes grandma used to make on Facebook, or post photos of vintage decorations on Instagram. There are many ways to make connections during the holiday season.
Utilizing social media as a stepping stone between your GMB profile, the technical properties of your website, and your curious followers is a great way to grow your circle of influence and showcase your apartment community as a warm, comfortable, and inviting place to live.
As you can see there is a lot the multifamily housing industry can and should be doing with their SEO campaigns during the holiday season. The hustle and bustle is not just for e-commerce sites and shopping cart driven entities, it’s for everyone. If all this sounds overwhelming and you think you might need some help getting all your SEO geared up for the holiday season, contact us. We are familiar with the ins and outs of all the aforementioned tactics and we’d love to lend a helping hand.
Here’s to a Happy Holiday Season!
