Covid-19 has impacted search traffic. The question on the minds of concerned individuals and companies is that “How is the Coronavirus impacting SEO metrics?” There shouldn’t be any surprise here. The answer, as usual, is that it depends.
Since search reflects human behaviour, SEO services in Canada are clearly stating that the dreaded COVID-19 is impacting each industry differently. And now, SEO’s need to respond accordingly.
Well, here are some ways in which COVID-19 is actually affecting SEO metrics, and then we shall also simultaneously talk about how to consider responding.
Ecommerce Sites That Sell Essentials have hiked up
Right now, the people are actually looking for toilet paper, hand sanitizers, thermometers, etc. And clearly product searches that are related to the pandemic have surged up! This big surge in demand, and also the product shortages, have even resulted in new queries like “thermometers near me” and “hand sanitizers near me.”
On the other side, the non-essentials are experiencing drops in search traffic. Say the products that are related to travel, like luggage, suitcases- these are also experiencing big drops. But there is also this possibility that things that are non-essentials one day might as well become essentials.
Demand is really high as of now but that demand has actually shifted to the commodities that people need to prevent themselves from and/or deal with the pandemic. Ecommerce SEOs should consider creating some high-demand product pages, depending on the impressions or the traffic data.
Health & Wellness Sites Are also Surging Up
As a result of COVID-19, health and wellness sites are benefitting a lot. These sites are experiencing an overall hike in search traffic and impressions.
It looks like there are a lot of queries regarding health. And that is understandable. This is primarily being caused by queries from people all over the world. People are enquiring about “coronavirus symptoms.” There also seems to be a hike in queries for natural health remedies.
What is needed to be done is that we need to strive for E.A.T. Strive for expertise, authoritativeness, and trust with these types of contents. This is actually more important now than ever.
People are resorting to search engines to for their medical questions, and this is a responsibility that we shouldn’t take lightly.
The recipe websites are experiencing huge traffic! Just huge! And this was bound to happen. All these websites have experienced an increase in impressions and clicks, although not quite as drastic as essentials retailers or health sites. But yes, they have. People are sitting at home, and learning new food recipes.
How to Respond
Now, if you are related to the concerned business, you should try and use recipe structured data to improve the way the recipes are being displayed in the search results for capturing some of that increased demand for recipes. Try publishing and promoting recipes that make use of fewer ingredients and ingredients that are easier to get right now.
This is not a surprise. Right now, the publisher websites are experiencing really big surges in impressions and traffic.
People are searching for updates. Updates starting from “coronavirus cases” to how coronavirus is impacting the business market- are filling the searches!
One thing is for certain. All the people right now have been glued to the news.
Times are really uncertain! However, one thing is for certain – the present volatility is affecting just about every website right now. In these times of uncertainty and volatility, empathy and your business website’s data should be the main key factors! Benchmarks are really needed, but make sure you are viewing your own query data.
AT this time when companies and other brands are having to lessen their campaign spending, there is one channel that will not turn off even during budget cuts. That channel is the organic search.
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