Impact of COVID-19 on SEO-2020

In this outbreak of the Coronavirus disease a.k.a. COVID-19, it has created global upheaval as the priority shifts from business and economies to human life.

As we all are aware of the sad reality of COVID-19, it is spreading quickly and will continue to spread for a while. We just need to calm down and keep ourselves healthy. Also salute, to the Government who is taking the front-foot measures to stop the connectivity of Coronavirus.

While newly imposed government measures restrict movement and foot traffic, that leads to determining creative ways to provide services virtually. So, Is it an opportunity for SEO Specialists to boost their business?

To know this. Let’s take a tour of this blog!

Well, looking into the SERP fluctuations of the last 30 days of 2020, it is difficult to determine whether it is an opportunity or a threat as every other business is getting affected by COVID-19.

Is selling the necessities on high stake is what we call business? The one thing as a human one should understand that every problem is not an opportunity. For the sake of humanity, don’t exploit the COVID-19 situation in the name of marketing.

As the whole world is affected by COVID-19, the business will be affected by its repercussions. According to recent data, the percentage of affected is dropping and we can think that the virus will slow down, still, the businesses are going to struggle for well over a year because they will have to make up for their losses.

The traffic impressions are affected by the breakdown of COVID-19. Only a few industries are active or should say is working in full force against COVID-19, other industries are working but productivity is somewhere affected.

Now, from an SEO standpoint, there is a huge drop in organic traffic for most industries as shown in the chart below (compares last week to the previous week).

As it is hard to predict how long COVID-19 will impact the economy, businesses should be aware of how SEO benefits in the short and long-run marketing strategies and how they can effectively plan for marketing-SEO during this period.

Short Term implications - (Q1-Q2 of 2020-2021)

• Adapting the significant changes:

Top Digital Marketers, SEO Strategist, SEO Freelancers or Online Marketers all need to closely monitor Google Trends, Google Search Console, and other keyword tools to understand shifts in search interest for your brand and industry during this time.

Monitor the website performance to understand the factors affecting the conversion of users on the website during this time. Also, forecast the factors which would play an essential role in reporting under the impact of COVID -19.

• Prioritize Content Initiatives:

Online Marketers should develop SEO-informed guides and other informative content around the product-services to build-up Expertise-Authoritative-Trustworthiness (E-A-T) signals.

As consumer behavior is likely to shift from actively converting over the short-term by E-A-T signals, the content initiative can benefit future consumer behavior with information for your business products-services.

Long Term implications - (Q3-Q4 of 2020-2021)

SEO Freelancers, Digital marketers, SEO Strategists should leverage the long-term nature of SEO working to ensure that the website ranks high-volume and high-competition keywords that are forecasted to be on the peak. 

Preparing for future upswings is what we call full optimization of resources and time in the stressful environment of COVID-19.

Consider this time as a challenge and plan things that can digitize your product-services or moreover your brand to future proof for future emergencies.

Impact of COVID-19 on specific areas of SEO

Content Strategy:

• Consider having content related to the current scenarios, like, Coronavirus.
• Leverage SEO insights to spread awareness through quality content, videos, etc.
• Ensure new FAQ contents are updated timely on the website.
• Consider some DIY topics in and around your product-services, so that the users can value their time in the isolation and social distancing period.
• Cleaning and Care Instructions on the physical products and Self-care instructions on services that you provide can be included.
• Brands should be mindful of potential changes in SERPs and Google Algorithms when developing content and monitoring performance.

Technical SEO:

• SEO is very dependent on implementations, the focus should be given on the ability to perform necessary technical updates in the short-term.
• Bugs are the hurdles and to fix them should be one’s first priority and the Site’s health should also be closely monitored.
• One can also leverage new Coronavirus schemes and attributes if applicable.

Data and Analytics:

• SEO Freelancers, SEO Strategists should be mindful of the data and analytics when monitoring organic search for the brand.
• A decrease in sessions and impressions can occur, but if rankings are maintained, the declines can be shown under the effect of COVID-19.
• If downfall in conversions and stagnant sessions and impressions are observed, it indicates that people are interested in your business but not conversion ready.
• Changes in the search volume or average key metric for keyword research will be impacted due to averaged out over-time.

Takeaways:

• Try to isolate and stay healthy. Hopefully, this time will pass soon.
• As far as SEO is concerned, double your efficiency as when the world is lost this is the time for you to set the trend.
• Update yourself with the latest SERPs and Google Algorithm to lead in the SEO World.
   

Update your website 

In this pandemic, we the Freelance Digital Marketers are here just a call away to help you implement the changes updated by Google in its Algorithm and help you rank your website on Rank #1, that too for complete 360 Degree Digital Marketing Services.

To understand the requirements of our client in one-take is what makes us special and different from others.