Advertisers have been advised to consider their search engine strategies prior to the holiday season.

According to Stephen DiMarco, in an article for MediaPost, search engine marketing "is a secret weapon" and one that should be harnessed as it has a measurable impact in a short space of time.

He recommended that advertising professionals observe patterns well ahead of the holiday period to see how search terms change on different days so that websites can be optimised to include relevant content.

It was also suggested that gaining knowledge of keywords and phrases could be beneficial.

"Start by looking at trended historical search data and identifying which paid and organic referrals have driven highly engaged traffic to your site and to your competitors," Mr DiMarco said.

This opinion was recently corroborated by Helen Leggatt, who noted in Biz Report that focusing on trends in search terms on days such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday is important as studies reveal people intend to do more shopping then.

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