You probably need to update your product descriptions. Here's why.
You should be updating your product descriptions seasonally to see the best results. Here’s why.
You’ve just put a batch of product descriptions live. Congratulations!
You’ve chased down product details from merchandising, waited patiently for the descriptions to be written and reviewed, swallowed down an anxious breath as branding combed through with the finest of fine-tooth combs, trying not to dwell on the impending major deadline.
And then it was all reviewed again, for good luck, or legal… or something. And then, someone (hopefully not you) had the joy of formatting the copy ready for your CMS or PIM – and then it was time for QA, and then for sign-off.
And if that was it – if that was all there was to writing product descriptions – maybe that would be fine. Tedious, time-intensive, and somewhat soul-destroying, sure, but… fine.
Unfortunately, product descriptions aren’t a one-and-done job.
You can’t just get them live and leave them to work their magic. Because, after a while, there stops being any magic. Keywords change, trends change, maybe your customers even change. What resonated in Winter 2025 feels outdated and stale in Summer 2026. A parka you called a “winter coat” in December isn’t going to see much traction in June.
Think of it this way. You wouldn't let your products go out of date – so don't let it happen to your product descriptions.
Products with time-specific keywords – ”Christmas gift ideas for dad”, “Mother’s Day favourite”, and so on – tend to do well for that one slice of the year, then fade into oblivion with the next big holiday. Updating your product descriptions on a regular basis helps you take advantage of more of these big swings, rather than throwing all your eggs in one basket. Suddenly, you’ve got the very same product popping up in searches for Black Friday, Back to School, Christmas, Eid…
And, while referencing seasonal trends helps you better resonate with your customers, regular product page updates also make a big difference to your SEO and AI Search visibility.
Like traditional search engines, most LLMs heavily rely on product titles and descriptions when answering a user’s conversational query. This means, if you ask ChatGPT for “winter coat recommendations”, ChatGPT is more likely to recommend coats that reference winter in their description.
In a similar way, search engines and AI Search tools alike favour websites that consistently publish timely and relevant content. Rather than letting older product pages lose rank over time, updating them regularly with fresh seasonal information, keywords, and visuals can revive their SEO performance and organic traffic.
How often should you update product descriptions?
Typically, you should be updating your product descriptions at least every 3-6 months. Time your updates to coincide with high-traffic shopping periods for best results.
These seasonal peaks include:
Christmas and New Year (December-January)
Chinese New Year (January-March)
Valentine’s Day (February)
Ramadan and Eid (Dates vary)
Easter (March-April)
Mother’s Day/Father’s Day (Dates vary internationally)
Back-to-School Season (July-September)
Halloween (October)
Diwali (October)
Black Friday & Cyber Monday (November)
Use your descriptions or product specifications to draw attention to any limited edition packaging, branding, or promotional gifts. Once you’ve updated your descriptions, try curating the products into a seasonal collection (like “Holiday Edit”, “Winter Warmers”, or “Gifts for Mum”) to maximise discoverability.
At the end of the season, take stock of what worked and what didn’t. Which keywords brought in the most traffic? Which products didn’t perform?
Here at Ocula, we recommend measuring your refreshed descriptions’ overall impact by comparing their results against a control group (that is, a set of lookalike pages which haven’t been changed at all). Analyse the difference in traffic and revenue on Google Analytics, and prepare to see some serious uplifts. As we head into peak season… good luck!
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