Seasonality
Seasonality is the regular variation in a variable, such as sales or searches, at certain times of the year
What it means, how it is used and where it comes up, with its related concepts.
What it is and how it works
It is driven by recurring factors: weather, holidays, festivities, the school calendar or retail events such as Black Friday. It affects demand, prices, advertising competition and keyword search volume.
Identifying it makes it possible to plan stock, budget and content in advance and to compare results fairly, for example against the same period last year rather than the previous month. Tools such as Google Trends help detect it. It should not be confused with a trend, which is a sustained change over time rather than a repeating pattern.
Also known as
Seasonal variation
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