Seasonal trade: when to be visible and when to save
The season is too late to start. A profile reads as current once the three month window that 74 percent of consumers look at contains activity, so the work that makes a season visible has to happen in the quarter before it. The quiet months are the working months.
Why the season is the wrong time to start
Visibility accumulates. A profile only reads as current when the three month window contains recent activity, and 74 percent of consumers look specifically at that window.
So a business that starts collecting reviews in the first week of the season is visible by roughly the second month of it, which is when the season is half over. The same effort applied a quarter earlier lands before the first enquiry.
The same is true of consistency. Correcting four identity values across six sources takes about 20 minutes, and the only reason it does not happen is that nobody has twenty minutes in July.
Which makes the quiet quarter the working quarter. It is the only time when the work is cheap and the deadline is real.
What to do in the quiet quarter
Collect the reviews from the season that just ended. Customers still remember, and a request four weeks after the visit still lands. At 3 a month for the 3 quiet months, the window holds 9 when the season opens.
Correct the identity block: 4 values across 6 sources, 24 comparisons, one sitting. Then the hours, including the seasonal ones, entered in advance rather than on the first busy morning.
Then write the one page that answers the seasonal question. A visitor arriving in the first week asks whether you are open and whether you have capacity, and those two answers written in advance are worth more than any campaign run during the season itself.
| Period | Work | Why then |
|---|---|---|
| Quarter before | Collect reviews, fix data, enter hours | The window needs three months |
| First week | Nothing structural | No time to check anything |
| During | Ask and reply | Immediate effect, no setup |
| Quarter after | Collect while memories are fresh | Feeds the next season |
What to do during the season
Ask, reply, and nothing else. 19 percent of consumers expect a response the same day, and in season that is the only marketing decision with an immediate effect.
Leave the structural work alone until it is quiet again. A change made in the busiest week is a change nobody has time to check, and an unchecked change to the hours is the most expensive mistake available.
Note what goes wrong during the season instead, and work through it in the quiet quarter. A ten line list written in August is the plan for November, and without it every quiet quarter starts by asking what needed doing.
Questions and answers
When should seasonal work start?
Can I collect reviews after the season?
What should I not do in season?
How many reviews does the window need?
Sources
- BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 The recency window and response expectations
- schema.org, openingHoursSpecification The structure for entering seasonal hours in advance
