Add holiday keywords: Mix seasonal messaging with your brand to capitalize on how people search (e.g. holiday lawn decorations and Christmas sweaters). Update copy: Make your regular copy compelling to holiday shoppers. According to Shopzilla’s 2004 Online Holiday Scoop Study, half of online shoppers reported that “free shipping” was extremely or very important in selecting an online retailer when making a gift purchase. Once Christmas has come and gone, your work isn’t through. Reach out to sale-shoppers to take advantage the post-holiday spike, see Hitwise data below. Adjust keyword bids: Competitors bid aggressively during the holidays. Make sure you’re getting the placement you want, but don’t let the cost-per-click increase affect your ability to get real return on your ad spend. We suggest you track results down to a keyword-level. Control spend: Use campaign tools to help predict and control spend.

My holiday tip 😉 closely monitor bounce rate and ROI if you buy PPC traffic, especially if you buy from LookSmart 🙂