Black Friday & Cyber Monday Keyword strategies

There are many different things you must do to prepare for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. For example, do you have good inventory and more products coming in on time? Do you have more staff, or are you expanding your operations?

  • getting ready for the rush of shoppers
  • creating email campaigns for the holiday season
  • updating your social posts

There’s no point in launching your marketing campaign before optimizing it for search engines. You should spend a little time writing your keyword strategy, and then voilà – you’re ready to launch your holiday campaign!

SEO can be tricky, especially if you’re new to it. But don’t let that keep you from taking advantage of the surge in online buying during this busy holiday season. Instead, let’s use this time to bring more awareness to your brand and products.

Click below to find out the most valuable Black Friday Cyber Monday SEO keywords (there are more than 150). Then learn how to use these keywords in your blog content to boost your website ranking in relevant queries, drive more traffic to your site, and increase your revenue this holiday!

Shopping patterns during Black Friday and Cyber Monday

In 2020, 59% of consumers shopped online rather than in-store due to the outbreak of covid-19. In 2021, there were 900 million more online shoppers than in 2020.

Traditionally, shoppers start researching their Black Friday Cyber Monday deals in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving weekend. Before then, shoppers are more likely to search for generic terms (like smartphone discounts, toy offers, clothing deals). However, as the start of the holiday season draws near, shoppers search for more specific deals and products (like the biggest iPhone discounts, best Hot Wheels offers, and cheap ASOS deals).

Getting noticed by consumers during Black Friday and Cyber Monday will take time. To get your name out there, you should start preparing early.

Keyword research for holiday seasons

The first step to setting up the right content for your business is to figure out what your business is fulfilling. If you’re unsure about exactly what those needs are, we recommend doing some holiday keyword research; it’s what we do here at HubSpot, and it’s more cost-effective than paying for pricey SEO tools to help with keyword research. Our blog, A Keyword Strategy for Blog SEO, walks you through the steps of doing keyword research.

  • Black Friday keywords
  • Cyber Monday keywords
  • Printful product keywords
  • Buzz keywords

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), which may draw traffic away from your organic links.

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

High-value Black Friday keywords

This year; Black Friday falls on November 25th, 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. This leaves you one thing to do: hurry up.

Keyword

Search Volume (Global)

Search Volume (USA)

Difficulty Score

SERP Features

black friday sales

136,000

52,000

92

Site links, Related questions, Knowledge panel

black friday 2022

83,000

5,300

38

Related questions, Site links

best black friday deals

54,000

33,000

86

Site links, Related questions

black friday ads

45,000

42,000

78

Site links

black friday angebote

30,000

150

86

Site links

black friday specials

26,000

2,900

86

Site links

cyber monday deals black friday

19,000

17,000

67

Site links, Related questions

black friday deals canada

14,000

150

39

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

These are the 20 most popular keywords. 

Create Element inc

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 28th 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

15,500

80

17

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

Popular Printful product-related keywords

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

5,000

2,600

45

Related questions

black friday clothes

3,100

1,100

43

Adwords top, Related questions

black friday deals clothes

2,500

1,300

48

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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:

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!