How I Shifted from Google’s Timeline to Seasonal Content Planning [Sharing my 6 Steps]

Back when Google was still a search engine that sent people to websites, we tried to figure out what our potential visitors were looking for. Then, we aimed to create the best possible content to meet that user intent. Finally, we would publish a post.

And wait.

For weeks, and sometimes even months, Google took its sweet time crawling, indexing, and ranking pages on the Internet.

That setup didn’t really encourage following trends or seasonality. Sure, queries about gardening were on the rise during spring, but if you wanted a chance at ranking for them, you could have started publishing in October. It didn’t make much of a difference either way.

The Social Media Game Is Different

Whether it’s Pinterest, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, or even your own newsletter, we can now reach our audience much faster. And that puts a new spin on things.

We can now create content based on what our audience needs today. What’s more, you learn to anticipate just how far in advance people will begin to show an interest.

For example, Easter is next month, but if you’re in the recipe niche, you should start publishing your Easter content now while your audience is planning ahead.

Suddenly, Content Calendars Are A Thing

Content calendars can take different shapes depending on your overall site strategy, but we find them helpful. Instead of thinking, “Oops! Easter is next week, and we haven’t done anything yet!” we can start preparing the content weeks in advance.

In fact, a Yeys subscriber asked me just about that last week, which is why I’m writing this email. They asked if we were using content calendars. The answer is yes, and here’s how we create them.

It’s really simple. Don’t expect any earth-shattering secrets here; this is just me sharing a pretty basic routine.

1. We have an annual calendar of holidays

The main holidays often affect pretty much every niche. If Christmas is coming up, we can create content around that for every site we own. So, the basic annual calendar is pretty much the same.

2. Making additions per site

Once we have the overall picture of the main holidays, we start digging in to see if there are any minor holidays and events that could work for specific niches.

For example, the Super Bowl works well for a sports site but also for any site with content about hosting a watch party. It could be about buying a new TV, hosting people, baking for the game, etc. It won’t be relevant for a site about dogs (probably), but it could be relevant for a site about tailgating. I don’t know; I’m just throwing things out here when it comes to football. Whatever the event, you know your niche and your audience best.

And it doesn’t have to be a holiday or event. If you have a site about home maintenance, then spring cleaning could be a seasonal theme for you. If you have a site about traveling in a certain state, then the State Fair could be something to look into. Again, you know your audience.

3. What we don’t include

There are a gazillion little “days” that people and companies come up with. Pretty much any day is a “National Tapioca Day” or “International Talk Like a Pirate Day.” They’re real days, but even if I had a site about tapioca desserts, I wouldn’t include National Tapioca Day in our content calendar.

Here’s why.

I’m not looking for these events, just so I have something to write about. I’m looking only for events that people actually know about. Organically. Without me having to tell them about them. I’m tapping into the audience, not force-feeding them.

4. Using AI

You can find lots of content calendar ideas online. But you can also ask your favorite chatbot for the initial list and for additions. It’s pretty useful for brainstorming. I would just triple-check the dates.

5. From Content Calendar to Content

Now that we have a content calendar, it’s time to plan out the content. Depending on the site and event, we may want to publish 200 articles around a holiday or event, or maybe only one or two. In some cases, we already have existing content that we can revamp and update.

We generally address this level of planning once a quarter and may revisit these decisions again throughout the quarter. I won’t pretend like this is always simple. With so much volatility, planning ahead isn’t always a smooth process, but we do give it our best shot.

The idea is to break it down into concrete, actionable plans for each site.

6. Putting it all into ClickUp

Once we have our tasks at hand, they go into Clickup. We often tag tasks by month so we remember to get them out on time so the team has at least a week to create and publish the articles and another week to promote the items across our channels (typically Facebook and our mailing lists).

That’s it, in a nutshell.

Again, it doesn’t always work like some well-oiled production line, but it mostly does. Which is enough. Getting it right most of the time is what I generally aim for in life 😉

As always, let me know your thoughts. Do you use content plans? Do you have any tips for me on how to find what resonates with your audience and when? Drop me a line and let me know!