Black Friday and the holidays: how to combine SEO, SEM, and AI for maximum sales

Every year, Black Friday and Cyber Monday attract millions of online customers. However, without a well-thought-out strategy, many e-commerce businesses will not see this as a golden period of profits but rather a race to the bottom on margins. Why?

1. According to data published in a Criteo report (1) in 2024, the average cost per click on Google Ads in Europe increased by 20-30% in Q4 compared to Q2. This means a significantly higher customer acquisition cost for e-commerce from the paid channel during this period.
2. Eight out of ten customers said they were looking exclusively for “the best price” when hunting for Black Friday sales, not the brand. Customers often wait until this time to make many purchases. They know what type of product they are looking for, so they focus only on where the purchase will be most profitable for them. This forces e-commerce businesses to compete to offer customers the best prices, which, combined with the rising cost of campaigns during this period, results in very low margins.
3. E-commerce Germany reports in its 2024(1) report that during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, shipments in Europe increased by as much as 93.5% compared to the previous period, placing a significant logistical strain. This may also necessitate an increase in delivery costs.

The table below compares last year’s Black Friday results with the previous year. Although the average order value was generally lower, the number of transactions increased. We can expect the same this year, as the number of people shopping online is also growing year on year.

Source: Criteo.com

Black Friday, Black Weeks, or maybe Black Month? The autumn sales period is no longer just one famous day, and the most prominent players in the e-commerce industry are stretching their promotions over 2-3 weeks or even a month. Slogans such as “Black Weeks” instead of “Black Friday” are often heard in commercials, and marketing data backs this up: 63% of UK retailers in 2024 extended their Black Friday campaigns, and 48% started them even earlier. (3)

This is the response of e-commerce businesses to the need to compete for market share in Ads during the same period. The more people want to participate (and, logically, everyone who sells online wants to reach customers at the moment of the famous shopping “frenzy”), the more expensive the advertising rates. Extending the promotional period beyond a few days creates an opportunity for better planning. 

Instead of panicking a week before Black Friday, plan your marketing strategy for this event. How to do it wisely so as not to overspend on campaigns and reduce the cost of customer acquisition?

1. SEO as a foundation built in advance

The first step in building an optimal marketing strategy for the entire Q4 period is to adopt a multichannel approach. In addition to SEM campaigns, it is worth remembering SEO, which will help you achieve a lower CAC and organic traffic that will pay off every year during this period. What actions are worth taking?

1. Many companies make this mistake – after the Black Friday or Cyber Monday promotion period, they remove the landing page or entire category from the store, leaving a 404 error or possibly redirecting the landing page to another page. From an SEO perspective, it is worth keeping pages prepared for Black Friday or Christmas offers up all the time, and during the promotional period, simply refresh their content and promote them, e.g., through a banner on the home page. This way, Google bots can visit the site regularly, which helps build your reputation and competitive advantage in organic results during this busy period.
2. The second pillar of your SEO strategy in this area will be evergreen content. Any guides on “What gift to choose for…” or, for example, “5 gadgets worth buying on Cyber Monday” will be a valuable part of the strategy. In Q4, interest in such content definitely increases, and in addition, guides are often cited in Google AI Overviews and in AI model responses, e.g., ChatGPT. (Learn more: Content types preferred by AI). Such content, created once and then refreshed, for example, will consistently generate organic traffic.
3. Structural data on product pages will also be critical. Marking elements such as price, availability, product photos, or reviews in the code will increase the chance of appearing in AI Search. Schema helps AI bots better understand and interpret a page’s content, making it more likely that, when a user asks ChatGPT to recommend products in your industry, they will receive your product. (You can read more about this here: Structured data and AI Search).

2. SEM and flexible budgets

We have already mentioned that Black Friday actually lasts for practically the entire month. This allows you to spread your budget over different stages instead of burning through the whole amount in one weekend. Start with the awareness-building stage in early November. The peak of your campaign should actually fall on Black Friday weekend, but the earlier stage should already bring benefits. Additionally, extend your campaigns for another week or two after Black Friday itself – many customers will miss this moment and continue looking for promotions later.

Also consider remarketing after Black Friday. Often, such a campaign is more profitable in terms of margin and CAC than campaigns on that specific day alone.

3. AI Search – the battle for recommendations in a new channel

Customers are increasingly turning to AI tools for purchasing recommendations. It’s a quick way to get specific product recommendations tailored to their requirements. Tools such as Perplexity and ChatGPT do not present an almost infinite number of results like Google – they usually recommend a maximum of a few products to the user. If your brand is not there, you will realistically lose the opportunity to reach the customer.

AISO, or AI-focused positioning, can be your ace in the hole. Many entrepreneurs have not yet taken steps in this direction, and those who start sooner will establish their position in this channel. So you can start building your advantage now, which will bear fruit not only during Black Friday.

If you want to get started, create FAQ sections for your products, prepare feature comparisons of different models, or create user guides. Content that directly answers users’ questions will be cited much more often by AI.

If you want to prepare for Black Friday and then the holiday season wisely, we have prepared a list of actions for you to take:

✅ Create and maintain landing pages dedicated to Black Friday or holiday promotions at all times. Don’t delete them or create new ones every year, because that wastes their SEO potential.
✅ Take care of your website speed, CRO, and mobile UX – every second of delay = a drop in conversion.
✅ Set SEM budgets by stage and check CPC forecasts.
✅ Check your business’s visibility in AI Overviews and set goals for your AI positioning strategy.
✅ Create FAQ-type content, guides, and product comparisons.
✅ Plan your remarketing after Black Friday – purchase intent will still be high after this period.

Black Friday is not a one-day sprint, but a marathon spread over weeks. The winner of the race will not be the one who offers the most significant discount or sells at the lowest margin, but the one who plans a consistent strategy across the three channels mentioned above: SEM, SEO, and AISO. Take advantage of the AI Search channel niche, where competition is not yet so intense, to wisely plan your customer acquisition not only for Black Friday, but for the entire Q4.

Sources:

1. https://www.criteo.com/blog/2024-black-friday-recap-sales-trends-from-around-the-globe
2. https://ecommercegermany.com/blog/how-black-friday-and-cyber-monday-2024-impacted-european-e-commerce-deliveries
3. https://internetretailing.net/q4-peaks-soften-as-retailers-extend-promotions/