Why It’s Important to Know Search Trends for Thanksgiving

Marketers, especially food brand marketers, should take note that the holiday responsible for the highest number of recipe searches is upon us: Thanksgiving! The Motherhood team was interested in exploring search trends for Thanksgiving and made a number of delicious discoveries.

Updated: November 13th, 2017

Perhaps unsurprisingly for a holiday focused on food, Thanksgiving generates the highest number of online recipe searches compared to every other holiday. But knowing exactly when holiday searches spike can be beneficial for putting your brand in front of users most interested in your content at the most opportune time. For example, in this case, the data reveals a certain amount of procrastination when it comes to meal prep — searches for Thanksgiving recipes peak on Thanksgiving Day! But few advertisers implement marketing tactics for the actual day of the holiday, when doing so could potentially lead to significantly increased visibility and last-minute ingredient purchases.

Suggested Strategy #1: Solicit Evergreen Branded Content

When it comes to holidays like Thanksgiving, evergreen content is key. Creating branded content focused on holiday events will live on in search and social platforms.

According to Google Trends, searches relating to “Thanksgiving side recipes” increase by 400 percent in the month of November, and searches related to Thanksgiving desserts, recipes and easy recipes increase by 250 percent. Unless users filter searches to include specific dates, then branded blog posts, reviews and recipes from previous years will appear in current searches. That is a huge opportunity for brands to be seen again and again, year after year.

Suggested Strategy #2: Use Targeted Tactics

Using the available data and knowing where and when to focus your marketing tactics will help you leverage search trends for Thanksgiving to make your campaigns successful.

Curious what consumers are looking for in different areas of the country? Google has segmented the most popular Thanksgiving preparations by U.S. regions, based on search volume. Brining the turkey is most popular of searches, especially in the Northeast. For the South, it’s frying, and for the Midwest, smoking the turkey methods are most searched.

In the dessert category, it’s no surprise that pumpkin pie holds the title of top searched pie recipe across the country. And the day after Thanksgiving, searches related to desserts and what to do with leftovers spike. In fact, searches for “leftover recipes” hits an all time high three days after Thanksgiving each year!

Social platforms require targeted approaches, as well. For example, Pinterest reported that Thanksgiving pin trends for 2017 include painted pumpkin centerpiece decor and specialty diet (paleo, gluten free, dairy free, etc.) friendly takes on classic Thanksgiving dishes — both trends that brands could piggyback on at the right time for high exposure.

A Look at the Facebook Data

During the weekend before Thanksgiving, The Motherhood tracked the increased Facebook conversation around planning for the holiday, and we found some insights through anonymous topic data:

• States most active in Thanksgiving cooking discussions: Texas, California, Florida, Georgia and New York
• State with the most men talking about Thanksgiving cooking: California
• Most popular topics: Turkey, easy, dinner, recipe, table (as compared to dinner, dessert, turkey, family, and cocktails in 2015)
• Images were the most popular media type for posts about recipes and decor (as compared to video for posts about cocktails in 2015)
• Most popular links were related to recipes and activities

Is your brand or blog aware of and taking advantage of these search trends for Thanksgiving?

We hope you enjoy a Thanksgiving full of good food (inspired by these great trends), friends and family!