Today’s blog post/video tutorial was inspired by a (fantastic) question that I was asked recently, and I wanted to share the answer with you here too!

My client wanted to know, “is it normal to see spikes and drops in Squarespace website traffic throughout the year?”

In other words, is website traffic seasonal? Does Squarespace SEO have anything to do with these changes in website traffic throughout the year?

At the time of writing this post/recording the Youtube video, it’s early February 2022.

About half of my clients have noticed a DROP in their Squarespace website’s traffic after the holiday spike…. whereas the other half have noticed that traffic is higher than usual, definitely higher than it was during the holiday season.

So what gives? Why is that?

And most importantly, what does that mean for YOUR Squarespace website?

As a Squarespace SEO expert and the leader in this super random little niche, it’s legit my job to help you out with this :)

So, I’m giving away all my best tips here, pulling away the internet curtain if you will, and holding your hand to make sure it actually gets done in 2022!!

This is the kind of insider info that I give to my Squarespace SEO consulting clients and students in my signature online course, Top Squarespace SEO. But since I’m not one for secrets and truly want the best for anyone with a website, I’m giving you the goods here totally for free!

Oh, and I’ve even recorded a video tutorial for you to watch in case that’s more your vibe.

Alright, let’s jump right in - I know you’re hyped to get your question answered so let’s chat tech goodness!

SQUARESPACE SEO SERIES

I have so many tips to share on the subject that it would have been crazy to put it all in one article! There are many misconceptions about Squarespace SEO which is why I've dedicate so many posts to this topic. Enjoy!

Click to view all posts in the Squarespace SEO Series

Work with Charlotte - explore my Squarespace SEO Services

Seasonal spikes or drops in Squarespace website traffic and SEO?

Short answer : YES, Squarespace website traffic is often seasonal!

Yes, it’s normal to see spikes and drops in your Squarespace website’s traffic throughout the year - this seasonality is extremely common place!

When you are growing your Squarespace website (specifically with SEO), you will not always see that growth happen at a constant, steady rate.

Which can be confusing! You peep the Analytics tab and see that your site’s numbers are rising and falling but you don’t understand why!

Seasonality depends on the type of website you have

Depending on the type of website you have and more specifically the type of brand/business you have, the industry you’re in, the type of clients you work with, etc. it will lend itself to different seasonal trends in website traffic.

Which actually makes a lot of sense, if you think of website traffic as being more than just random numbers and instead each visit represents a real HUMAN checking out your site.

Consider your target audience

YOU know your target audience and dream clients/customers like that back of your hand (right?!?!?!) so have a good understanding of where their head is at throughout the year.

There may naturally be times throughout the year when your target audience is spending more or less time online, specifically searching for the kind of content, goods, services and/or offerings you have on your website.

Now ask yourself - does that line up with the spikes or drops in website traffic I’m seeing?

Chances are, the answer is yes.

When are you busiest?

Ok, now that we’ve considered our target audience and put ourselves in their shoes, now I want you to think about yourself (lol, yes, make it about you hunni). What times of the year are YOU busiest? When do you see an influx of booked services or more sales of your products than usual? Does that line up with the changes in website traffic?

Common times when website traffic spikes throughout the year

There are times of the year when people are naturally in a shopping mood and are more inclined to be browsing the internet with their credit card at the ready LOL

Black Friday and the Holiday season is traditionally one of the busiest times of the year for e-commerce, anyone with an online shop or who sells products (either physical or digital) online.

We often see the traffic start increasing the week before Thanksgiving and although it tapers off a bit after Cyber Monday, it’s quite common to see it remain high through til the New Year (with another spike in and around Christmas & Boxing Day).

Many service providers will also see a spike in their website traffic around this time, especially if they do a marketing push for their services or offerings.

But again, depending on the type of website and business you have, you might see higher website traffic at different times of the year.

For example, the spike could happen in the winter/spring if you are a summer seasonal business, as everyone is booking you up a few months in advance. Photographers, I’m thinking of you here!!!

Or perhaps your big spike is in August/September when people are in the “back to school/work” state of mind, ready to get sh*t done after a relaxing summer offline.

So again, for YOU and your website/biz, it helps to understand when your target audience and potential clients & customers are going to be most active, and using that seasonality to your advantage.

Here’s where Squarespace SEO comes into play

Those of us who are focused on Squarespace SEO have one clear goal : increase the traffic to our websites so that we can grow our brands/businesses online.

We want to get in front of MORE of our dream clients & customers online, reach MORE of our target audience online.

And not just a few months of the year, but ALL THE TIME.

So, this is where SEO really shines and you can use it to your advantage!

With SEO, you can create a solid website foundation that drives an increase of website traffic throughout the year. You will constantly be growing your audience online and getting in front of people you might not have been reaching before.

This applies for specific pages on your website, blog posts, product pages, images and photo galleries - the works!

We are embracing the snowball in website traffic to our website from our Squarespace SEO efforts.

NOTE: This means that we might still get those spikes and drops throughout the year, but we are also generally growing and stabilizing our website traffic at the same time so that it doesn’t feel as insane haha

Consider your online marketing efforts

Naturally, there will be seasons where you push harder on the online marketing front that others! We can’t go gung-ho at all times, that would be straight up exhausting and seriously piss off our audience haha

For example, let’s say you do a push for guest blogging or getting media mentions and features on other websites for a few months. All those guest blog posts/media mentions/features will naturally bring in more website traffic while you are pursuing this Squarespace SEO strategy (because you’re developing backlinks which are sending people your way from other sites), so obviously you will see a spike.

So when you’re looking at your website stats and you see a spike, you must ask yourself, is this peak in website traffic coming from your online marketing efforts or is it from natural seasonality of my biz?

Don’t just blindly look at the numbers and stats and guess what’s happening - instead, be curious and do some sleuthing to figure out what the numbers are telling you!

Final Thoughts

Alright my friend, I hope this gives you peace of mind the next time your website traffic “randomly” spikes or drops throughout the year!

Rest assured that in most cases, this is due to normal internet activity from your target audience and dream clients/customers.

However, if you find yourself in feast or famine mode where website traffic drops off, no one’s booking your services or buying your products, then you have a big problem that needs to be fixed with Squarespace SEO asap!

But odds are, it’s nothing to worry about, but you should still keep trucking away with your Squarespace SEO efforts!

And again, good thing that you found me and my little corner of the internet because I’ve got you covered :)

Don’t fear the numbers, hunni, you’ve got this!

-Charlotte xo

Exciting news : my signature online course, Top Squarespace SEO, will be opening for enrollment again soon - sign up for the TSS waiting list here!

You can also sign up for my newsletter (right here or below), where I often share Squarespace SEO tips, tricks and high-quality exclusive content. I send out emails to my list every Wednesday, mostly focused on Squarespace websites and SEO, and I can guarantee that you’ll find the newsletter topics interesting, entertaining and worth your time. #humblebrag

Finally, shameless plug: hit me up with any specific questions you have about Squarespace SEO and your website because I’m your girl. You can reach out to me directly if you’re interested in working together on your website and we can talk about whether or not you would be a good fit for my consulting and ongoing services. I can’t take on every request to do Squarespace SEO consulting but I do pick a few websites and businesses to work with every month and I’d love for you to be one of them.