Seasonal content is worth having and it has to be written to be reused. Avoiding years in the text, publishing well before the season, and updating rather than republishing turns an annual writing task into a page that compounds.

The two kinds

Recurring seasonal, which applies every year at the same time. Preparing a property for winter, spring maintenance, storm season. The subject returns annually and so does the search demand.

Genuinely dated, which applies once. A change in requirements, a specific event, a particular year's conditions.

The first should be written as a permanent page that gets updated. The second should be written knowing it expires, and dealt with when it does.

Most seasonal content is the first kind written as though it were the second, which is why sites accumulate pages titled with a year that nobody has looked at since.

Writing for reuse

Keep the year out of the title and address

A title containing a year needs replacing annually, and a new page each year splits the standing that one page would have accumulated.

The exception is content genuinely about that year, where the year is the point.

Avoid time references that go stale

This month, next week, and with winter approaching all date the page. Saying in the autumn or before the first frost does not.

Put anything volatile in one place

Prices, dates, and requirements that change belong in a section you can update in one pass rather than scattered through the text.

Use a last reviewed date

Rather than a publication date, where the platform allows it. A page reviewed this month reads as current; the same page showing a date from three years ago does not, even where nothing has changed.

The timing problem

The most consequential decision and the one most often got wrong.

Search visibility takes months to establish, so a page published when the season starts is too late for that season. It will be found next year, having missed the one it was written for.

The working rule is to publish two to three months ahead. A page about preparing for winter goes live in late summer. A spring maintenance page goes live in winter.

That is uncomfortable because the subject feels premature, and it is what determines whether the page is visible when the searches arrive.

For a page that already exists and ranks, the equivalent is updating it two months before rather than during the season.

The annual pass

What to do each year rather than writing something new.

An hour per seasonal page per year, on a page that gets stronger each time rather than starting again.

What to do with the genuinely dated ones

Three options, and the right one depends on whether anything still arrives at the page.

Update it into a permanent version, where the subject recurs and only the specifics were dated. This is frequently possible and rarely attempted.

Redirect it to whatever superseded it, where something did.

Leave it with a note saying what period it refers to, where it has historical value or still receives visitors.

What to avoid is silently leaving stale information live, which is the most common outcome and the one that produces a customer acting on something that changed.

The seasonal calendar worth having

A short list, once, of what your year actually looks like.

When enquiries rise and fall, what people search for in each period, and when they start searching relative to when they need the work. That last one is the useful part and it is visible in your own Search Console data year over year.

From that, the publishing schedule follows: three or four seasonal pages, each updated and promoted at the right point, rather than a page written whenever somebody remembers.

For most trades that is a genuinely small amount of content doing a large amount of work, since the seasonal searches are high intent and predictable.

Where it connects to everything else

The same page feeds the seasonal email, the social posts, and the reminder to past customers, which is where most of its value is actually realised.

A page about preparing for winter, published in August, updated each year, and sent to your customer list every September, is one piece of writing doing four jobs annually and improving each time.

That is the argument for treating seasonal content as an asset rather than as an annual task, and the length it should run to depends on the subject rather than the season, which is covered in how long should a blog post be.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between seasonal and dated content?

Recurring seasonal applies every year and should be a permanent page that gets updated. Genuinely dated applies once and expires. Most seasonal content is the first written as though it were the second.

Should the year be in the title?

Only where the content is genuinely about that year. Otherwise it needs replacing annually, and a new page each year splits the standing one page would have accumulated.

When should seasonal content be published?

Two to three months ahead, since search visibility takes months to establish. A page published when the season starts has already missed it.

What should the annual update involve?

Checking facts, adding what customers asked about last season, updating photographs, refreshing the reviewed date, and leaving the address unchanged.

What should I do with old dated pages?

Update them into permanent versions where the subject recurs, redirect them where something superseded them, or leave them with a note saying what period they refer to.

How much seasonal content does a business need?

Three or four pages for most trades, updated and promoted at the right point. Seasonal searches are high intent and predictable, so a small amount does a lot of work.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Seasonal pages that go stale every January?

We rewrite them to be reused, and set the calendar so they are updated and live before the searches start.

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