A smart WebmasterWorld member has offered sound advice for the holiday season: don't worry about fewer visitors but prepare by checking Google Trends:
For the majority of my websites (consumer electronics)this is a quiet time of year - visitors drop off, revenue goes down, and it can be too easy to think it's something to do with penalties, algo changes or other things out of my direct control.So what I do is punch in my most historically important key-words and phrases to Google trends and look at what has been happening over the last few years.
He adds that you can use these trends to build related content to get visitors. It's great advice.
Do you use Google Trends and find it reliable for optimization?
Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.