Black Friday, aka the day after Thanksgiving, marks the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season. Ask anyone who works in the ecommerce or retail sales industry; this day serves as a measuring stick against all other retail days. In years past, Black Friday meant exclusive deals and long lines outside retail department stores filled with shoppers eager to be the first to experience in-store sales.
The rise of the ecommerce industry and innovative digital marketing tactics have quickly transformed this previously brick-and-mortar holiday into a global phenomenon. Though the lines and Black Friday deals remain, they’re joined by discount codes, massive online deals, and overloaded websites.
Making $7.4 billion in profits in 24 hours, Black Friday 2019 topped last year’s earnings by over $1.2 billion. If these numbers are any indication of Black Friday’s digital future, it will be essential to optimize online content and SEO strategies for Black Friday-related searches come next year. But to understand how to adjust online content, we need to understand what consumers are googling. Let’s take a look.
Demand for Black Friday Deals Increases
According to Google Trends and Statista, Black Friday continues to gain consumer interest and generate more profits. In 2018, Google saw approximately double the Black Friday-related searches compared to 2014, and over five times more searches than in 2007. Though the specific searches have undoubtedly changed throughout the years, understanding this year’s hottest Google searches offers insight into the pattern of consumer demands—and what brands can do to better meet customer needs.
International Interest
Surprisingly, though the concept of Black Friday emerged in the United States, global interest has taken off in recent years, sparked by the increasing availability of ecommerce goods. Brazil topped the list of monthly Black Friday related searches, with France and Germany following closely. Italy and the United States weren’t far behind, and trailing them were the U.K. and Spain.
Top U.S. Product Searches
It’s no surprise that the Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Apple Watch and AirPods dominated Google’s top product searches in the United States with a combined 3.37 million searches. Other top product searches included the PS4 Pro (471k searches), Xbox One (387k), iPad Pro (170k), MacBook Pro (116k), iPhone XR (115k), and the Instant Pot (114k).
Top U.S. Brand Searches
This year, the top brands consumers searched for were Best Buy, coming in at a whopping 5.1 million searches, Walmart (3.6 million), and Amazon (2.28 million). Trailing the top three brands were consumer packaged goods powerhouses JCPenney and Macy’s. Costco, Lowe’s, Gamestop, and Kohl’s round out the top ten brands.
Optimizing Your Content for Black Friday
You’ll want to start cultivating next year’s Black Friday-friendly content sooner rather than later to ensure that Google’s algorithms have time to index and rank it. Keep these tips in mind to help keep your brand on the right track.
Think Mobile-First
This year, over 58 percent of online Black Friday traffic was generated by smart devices. For businesses, just having a website is no longer enough—your site also needs to be optimized for mobile. The shift to mobile indexing works in favor of rising Black Friday mobile searches and will continue to be an asset to brands seeking to capitalize on this change.
Focus on the Right Questions for SEO
The rise of mobile and voice search has also changed the way users place search inquiries. Keywords have evolved from single terms and highly-specific phases to longer queries that would be naturally spoken. Focusing your SEO efforts on more conversational questions like, “What time do stores open on Black Friday?” and, “What local brands are offering Black Friday deals?” will help your content rank with both desktop and mobile searchers.
Keep Up With Trends
While knowing what brands and products earned top search results for Black Friday 2019 is interesting, you can also put these metrics to practical use in order to stay ahead of next year’s trends. Pay close attention to your industry, and see what products, trends, and topics are growing popular. By keeping an eye on trends and understanding how consumers search around them, you’ll be better prepared to meet—and beat—next year’s online shopping wave.
Get Ready for Black Friday 2020 With Snap
Though the new year is just around the corner, 2020’s holiday shopping season will be here before you know it. If you’re eager to capitalize on the ecommerce opportunities Black Friday offers, partnering with a digital expert can ensure that your content is ready and waiting for any reader. Contact Snap to learn more about how our digital services can take your brand into the new year—and to the next level.