COVID-19 Effects on Search Traffic and How SEOs Should Respond!!
March 27, 2020
Because, Search engines reflect human behavior and COVID-19 is affecting worldwide and almost every industry rather it’s off line or online bear too much loose. As the news unfold to everyone “Social Distance” is only cure until discovered!!
Based on latest updates Covid -19 also effecting SEOs and Digital World and we need to respond it.
But the question is, where and how Covid -19 Effecting SEO and how we can handle in full lock down situation not in a country but whole world.
Some of industry almost seems dead in this year and it may be take long time to stable again.
In this Article I will highlights and some basic and effective solutions which helps to at least make their presence alive on Search Results
Let Discuss one by one!!
1: Travel and Tourism Websites
Top of the list that hit so hard. No one can even imagine that traveling across the world will be bane. In my whole life I had never heard this natural disaster before, that almost break down the whole travel industry. Every link domain like hotels also hit badly
Coronavirus hitting travel industry so hard and its estimated cost more than 46.6 billion dollars. Accordingly global business travel association, due to virus airlines restricts to cancel upcoming flights and business has been canceling their major conference and events
As per my notice, Due to travel restriction and social distance, travel website lost their huge impression and traffic. if people queries for “Cheap Flights” and visit the website to cancel , refunds or delay their trip until future updates. Or there are wondering for super discounts
How to Respond:
As travel media expert: Travel companies must shift to customer support and reputation management, not acquisition. They must know their visitors interest. Where they are shifted
Travel Seos Expert, can help this efforts to closely analysis the data which they are getting via Google analytics user queries section.
Once they get to know their customer interest they must launched some out of the box offers and discount which helps your user connected with you and update with them upcoming travel happening and possible solutions for them.
Keep working on Content management and marketing and keep update your websites blogs and social networks not to out rank from the organic places. Make your online organic presence strong for future challenges.
2: Online Shopping Sites/Ecommerce Sites
Ecommerce sites that sell essentials and surgical equipment seems huge spikes in impressions and trafficThat’s coming from “Hand Sanitizer” “Masks “and other products that is related to pandemicQueries Related to “Hand Sanitizer Near to me “Sound more in demands. On other hands cosmetics and other fashion related products seems low impression and will be in low demands.Same as for gyms people will switched to “online workout” or “workout from home” and so on.
How to Respond:
Due to high demand, SEO should create a high demand product pages, based on impression and clicks data, make them user and mobile friendly and crawl those pages with error free. Create specific sitemap with high priority and index them on search console to make it fast visible to search results. Create some possible some knowledge blog content about products.Keep Engage your visitors with latest offers, and alternative products on social business pages.
3: Health and Welfare Sites:
As a result of COVID-19 the health and wellness site will take over all large impression and traffic, People more likely to search “Symptoms of Coronavirus” etc.Recently Google has been cracking down on content that provides advice and information on things like medical issue accordingly to their quality rate guidelines holding to a very high standard.
How to Respond:
Follow E-A-T rule in making links with user. Striving for expertise, authoritativeness, and trust with this type of content is more important now than ever.
Because for medical issues people turn to search engines and this responsibility can’t not be taken light.
4.Recipes Websites:
Due to lock down and social distance remedy restaurants and food points will close for long that why it more likely to get more impression and traffic on recipes website as many people try to make their own meal and will search highly for easy made foods.
How to Respond:
Use recipe structured data to enhance the visibility of your recipe with easy available ingredients.Pick daily food list to that locally people most. Options of snacks with evening tea etc
5: Publisher and news website:
This is no surprise that news and publisher website will hit huge impression and traffic now a days.People will search for upcoming updates and follow the daily routines.
How to Respond:
On journalist continuously report, publisher offer some support in many ways
- Like: Make sure AMP pages work fine and did not serve any errors
- Analysis and make sure all the pages crawl accordingly
6: Local Business Website:
If you are serving local business like restaurant bar store etc. It will clearly seems its impression and traffic gone down as its seasonal issue like coronavirus
How to Respond:
Try to work on holiday’s hours on Google My Business and make a question and answers list to make your audience alive and keep updating your future deals like free delivery etc
Conclusion:
In this time brands reduce their campaign budgets and focus on organic search and SEO may be more important now than ever so your website insight and data will be king!!
You are responsible of your own data to benchmark this will help you to identified your user needs
So you are ready to meet those needs or not!
Author
About the Author: webessen
