When it comes to SEO, timing is everything.  Just like with radio, television or even print ads; marketing your company online needs to be done in advance of busy seasons.  There are a few reasons for this which will be addressed later on in the post.  The main point, however, is that before you consider optimizing your site; take into account the timing of it all.  This applies mainly to sites that are attempting to optimize for the first time.  If you have already laid a foundation of SEO, it is important to keep that ongoing, no matter the season. 

Timing for Seasonal Rushes

At MorePro Marketing, we optimize a variety of different websites, all with different “Peak” or “Busy” seasons.  For the insurance industry, it’s around the first of the year when everyone is renewing their coverage.  For hospitality or vacation related sites, their busy season is in the late spring and early summer.  Gift and shopping sites are obviously going to see their peak around the Holiday season.  So what does this all mean?  It means that you should time the start of your big SEO push a few months in advance of your company’s busy season.  Keep in mind a few factors:

• Depending on your site’s existing authority and/or spider frequency, the Search Engines can take up to 4-6 weeks to properly index and re-rank any changes that you make to your website. 
• Implementing changes recommended by your SEO Consulting Company can sometimes take a while, depending on your availability to approve changes, your webmaster’s availability to make the changes, and the availability of the consultant if questions or problems arise.  Realistically, a single change can take almost a week from going through recommendation, approval and implementation processes.
• The same goes for Content Writing – First ideas need to be generated, then approved, then drafted, then approved again and finally implemented.  Depending on the scope of the project, the writing alone can take over 2 weeks, so prepare in advance of your busy season. 
• Keep in mind that during your busy season, you as the business owner or decision maker are going to be extra busy during that time as well.  That means that unless you dedicate extra time, all of the marketing ideas that are sitting on your desk waiting for approval are going to remain there until your business slows down enough for you to approve them. 

So When Should I Start?

Ideally, an intensive SEO program should start at least 90 days before the start of your busy season.  This is about the amount of time that you as the business owner will need to be actively involved in the marketing. 

• Hospitality, Travel, & Leisure Sites: Begin an intensive marketing campaign around December.  During your “dead” time, you will have more than enough free time to approve content pages, approve changes to the site, and make any other approvals necessary to have a successful campaign.
• Gifts & Shopping Sites:  Consider beginning your marketing around July.  Given the typical three months that it will take to get your new programs approved and running, you should be seeing the peak of your SEO efforts around late October – towards the start of the holiday shopping rush. 
• B2B Businesses:  Your big marketing campaign should kick off near the end of September.  This means that right around the first of the year; you will see the peak of your optimization efforts, giving you the best placement possible when most businesses are working with fresh budgets. 
• Other Businesses: It really might come down to a personal preference – if your company does not have a specified “Busy” season, then anytime is a good time to begin marketing your site. 

Closing Thoughts

Of all the things to consider when starting a new SEO campaign, or any business venture for that matter, making sure you have enough time to devote to it should be at the top of the list.  We have seen year in and year out, clients fail to understand just how much of a commitment marketing their website really is and inevitably, they fall behind schedule and their marketing suffers.  Make sure you leave yourself with plenty of time to approve items and make revisions and your company will benefit in the long run.