I’ve recently seen a large drop off in traffic for one of my sites. Instead of adding more backlinks and H1 tags I decided to switch out the keywords. I figured that the issue wasn’t with the optimization tactics I was using but with the keywords that where being applied. According to Google my keywords where just out of season. Follow me on this one, using Google’s External Keyword Tool and selecting the “Show All” settings Google will give you an idea of when a particular keyword is in or out of season. Basically what month does the keyword get searched on the most. Using this information you may want to switch out, add to, or focus only on a set of keywords that well increase in search frequency.
Take a look at my example. Using the keyword tool I did a search for “Umbro Shorts”. According to Google this keyword increases in frequency around September. So if you had a site that sold these kinds of shorts you would have a general idea on when to start building up your strategies.
Of course a lot of this is common sense, but it’s still kind of nice to have a little more information on when you should expect to see a drop in traffic or a spike.