The numbers keep rising and the world is watching. Currently, the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting millions of lives worldwide. With over 10 million cases globally as of writing, COVID-19 is not expected to go away soon. As many experts say, we are currently in a “dangerous phase” as governments are beginning to ease restrictions, despite the number of cases and deaths increasing daily.
Medical professionals and scientists from around the world are bolstering their own initiatives to create a vaccine to end the pandemic once and for all. However, there is no exact assurance when this will be available for mass production. At present, the end of COVID-19 is not yet in sight.
It does not come as a surprise that COVID-19 dominates a huge part of everyone’s thoughts, actions, and decisions. That said, many are left to their own devices, and the fight against COVID-19 has, in a way, become every man or woman for themselves.
In a time of technological and digital innovation, this independence opens up many opportunities for brands and businesses that are looking to improve their SEO and visibility amid COVID-19.
What is SEO?
SEO refers to a ranking system that allows search engines to determine how reliable your website is.
If you have your own website, you should know that building a website is just the first step in creating an online presence or platform. Without proper search engine optimization, your website will only get lost among the vast ocean of websites available on the internet. That said, you need to find a way to make your website “discoverable” for potential clients. This is where Search Engine Optimization comes to play.
How does SEO work?
Statistics from webhosting.com shows that there are over 1.74 billion websites in the world today. This means that in order to be “discoverable” for search engine users, you need to have a competitive SEO strategy that makes your website more reliable and relevant, according to the standards of search engines.
Whenever potential clients wish to find something on the internet, they search through keywords. Your goal is to make sure that your website is the first to show whenever a potential client searches a keyword that is related to your business. Some examples of search phrases include “hair salon in Fairfax, Virginia,” “coffee shop in Los Angeles, California,” or even “affordable restaurants in Las Vegas, Nevada.”
As a business owner, you need to be knowledgeable about what your potential clients may search for. After that, you must make sure your business website appears on the first page of the search results. Having a website that ranks any lower will get less clickthrough rate, denoting an ineffective SEO strategy.
Why is improving your SEO more relevant today?
Now more than ever, it is important for a business to start taking its SEO seriously. If traditional methods of marketing have allowed businesses to prosper in the past, this won’t be the case with the entry of the “new normal.” COVID-19 has brought changes to our daily lives, whether we like it or not.
Given that customers will be discouraged to visit physical stores, they will be relying on the internet to gain access to their needs and even wants. If a business does not adapt, surely, there will be competitors that will stay ahead of the game. In a time when finances are uncertain and global economic decline is inevitable, there is no valid reason for not creating an effective SEO strategy. Although a lot of companies believe that logistical matters such as providing delivery and different payment options are the only necessities, you must remember that providing ease of access begins with visibility. Even if you have all logistical matters in order, if you cannot draw customers to your services, no potential clients will wind up buying your goods or availing of your services.
Including COVID-19 in Your SEO Strategy
This is not the first time that the state of global health was challenged. In fact, there have been deadlier pandemics that broke out in the past. However, the innovation present within our time has truly changed how the dynamics of how the world copes with COVID-19. One of the most important things to highlight is the advancement of the world’s information systems.
According to data from Google Trends, Coronavirus-related searches have increased to up to 5,000% globally. This means that a lot of people are trying to catch up and read what they can about the ongoing crisis. If you have a business that is looking to increase your visibility at the time of COVID-19, utilizing the COVID-19 as a way to boost your SEO rankings can be a smart decision for the following reasons:
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Improvement of Search Engine Optimization is Easily Observable
Unlike marketing strategies that only manifest their effectiveness after observing returns, you can almost see SEO improvement instantly. It is objective, thus making it easy to improve. The easiest way to determine whether or not you have an effective SEO strategy is by checking if your website appears high in the search results. If you don’t see that your website is doing well in search rankings, the easy fix is to research better keywords and implement other SEO techniques, including link-building. By nature, SEO strategies and initiatives manifest in a reactive manner. As such, when the right changes are done and the identity of a website becomes clear, a search engine can appropriately make it visible or searchable to the right audiences. Through SEO, a business can attract the right clicks that could lead to a sale.
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With the Emphasis on Reducing Human Contact, People Are Opting to Shop for Products Online
At present, stores providing non-essential goods and services have closed their doors to prevent or lessen the movement of people. This is in accordance with the known measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 – social distancing, lockdown, and quarantine. Because a lot of the stores are no longer physically accessible, a lot of individuals have decided to move their shopping activities online.
According to statistics on consumer behavior amid COVID-19, 52% of consumers are no longer planning to do their grocery shopping in stores, even if the pandemic is over. Since March, it was seen that grocery shopping online has increased to about 400%. As many consumers were made aware of how convenient online grocery shopping is, many of them are planning to maintain this behavior. Not only that but 58% of the respondents also believe that their online shopping habits will extend further as a way to reduce their exposure to COVID-19. Given that there is no end to COVID-19 in sight, a lot of consumers are taking extra precautions by engaging in online shopping.
3. Regardless of COVID-19, Consumers Still Need Your Goods and Services
Although a lot foresee the decline of consumer purchases, contrary to what a lot of people say, this won’t be because of people’s desire to limit spending. In fact, the decrease in spending is mainly due to the lack of accessibility to some products or services. However, if the said products were to remain accessible and safe for consumers, it is highly likely that consumers will continue to avail themselves of these services. Partly, a lot of consumer spending behaviors remain the same as they were pre-COVID-19 because a lot of people crave a sense of normalcy amid the uncertainties of COVID-19. Maintaining their behaviors as consumers became a coping mechanism for some. Thus, even if COVID-19 has brought a lot of changes to the world lately, it does not change the fact that there will always be individuals who are in need of your products and services.
4. Having an Effective SEO Strategy Will Help Bolster Your Business After the Pandemic
Right now, with no end in sight, it is best to set up your business for success once the pandemic is over. Despite the seemingly endless rise of cases, COVID-19 will end eventually. Once the pandemic ends, the pressure is on businesses to recover after the tremendous losses. Right now, this stagnant period must not go to waste. An effective search engine marketing can surely be of great value.
One thing that must be noted about SEO ─ SEO is long-term. Improvements in your SEO won’t last for only a short period of time. It can benefit you for years and years to come. If you make your website reach the top of the search results, it will likely stay there. Not only that, even if you lose the top spot, making it back to the top would not be difficult. A few tweaks and improvements in your content, keywords, and link-building will bring you right back up.
With that, there will definitely be long-term returns for those who decide to invest in their SEO strategy. This investment will surely turn into helpful instruments that will allow your business to recover from the foreseen economic losses and the downturn brought by COVID-19. This is among the reasons why SEO remains to be a valuable asset for businesses amid the pandemic.
5. Investing in an Effective Search Engine Optimization Strategy Is Not Costly but It Has High Returns
Unlike other marketing strategies, Search Engine Optimization is an affordable way to increase sales. If you don’t plan on purchasing software or tools to help guide your SEO strategy, engaging in SEO is practically free. Other marketing strategies such as paid advertisements, events, or even working with celebrities and influencers are costly methods of driving sales. Not only that, but these are also high-risk strategies considering how costly paid advertising is and how failure in these strategies could result in a huge loss for the company.
A number of things could go wrong in a paid marketing strategy. You might be targeting the wrong people, as such, not effectively reaching your target market. Additionally, there is always the possibility of accidentally creating unappealing or even distasteful advertisements. Once this happens, people may be driven away from a brand, instead of towards it. However, with an SEO strategy, creating that kind of impression on clients is necessary. Customers coming from search engines are most likely already searching for your product or service. As such, the determining factor to whether or not they engage with your business is if the exact product they are looking for is available in your store.
Given that the customers themselves are looking for products to purchase, the best thing you need to do is to make your product more accessible and make your website discoverable. For SEO strategies to bear fruit, all you need to do is put out great content that adheres to the specifics that search engine algorithms are often looking for.
6. Taking Time to Understand SEO Will Help You Gain Access to Useful Audience Metrics
Improving your SEO strategy will allow you to learn more about your website visitors. You’ll begin to see what people often search and which popular search query will make them visit your website. Knowing these will help you have a better idea of your consumers’ objectives.
For example, a pharmacy gains data about the searches that led to their website and sees high searches for “compounding service.” With this information, you will be able to deduce that a lot of audiences are looking for a compounding service. Building on this knowledge, a business can formulate an informed decision about its future SEO strategies.
It would be best for them to create content about the search result that gains the most traction. With that detail in mind, they may begin adjusting their SEO strategy as this will help their business rank higher in search results. Additionally, this helps a business create content that is relevant to the search queries of their customers.
Some Ways You Can Improve Your SEO Strategy Through COVID-19:
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Create Informative Content About COVID-19
With many individuals searching about COVID-19, now is the right time to create COVID-19 related content. For example, restaurants can publish their safety procedures and protocols in serving food. This will be relevant for consumers who wish to put their anxiety at ease whenever they order food. Barbershops and salons can publish content on how to do proper hair care, in lieu of professional hair care services.
At the end of the article, professional hairdressers can advertise their home hair care services. Electronics companies can encourage viewers to buy their products. They can cite the importance of having reliable gadgets during the “new normal.”
Remember that even if the physical world has come to a standstill, the digital world is still up and running. Thus, there will always be a way for your business to provide relevant information to your clients, regardless of what your business is.
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Optimize Your Keywords According to the Popular COVID-19 Search Queries
It is important to pair your COVID-19 content with relevant keywords. Your COVID-19 related articles will not create leads if they are not discoverable through searches. Additionally, be smart with the keywords you use. Unless you own a healthcare agency, creating keywords that directly mention COVID-19 might not be beneficial for your SEO strategy. In fact, keyword misuse can rank your website lower. Given that those who directly search COVID-19 are likely looking for health information. Instead, be creative with your keywords and perform adequate keyword research. Key phrases such as “service + home service” or “product + delivery” might be among the most adequate searches that will help clients find your business.
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Revisit Your Old Blog Posts and Try to Keep Your Site Content Updated.
We must remember that the conditions prior to, during, and after COVID-19 are not the same. As agreed by experts worldwide, COVID-19 is big and impactful enough to bring changes to the status quo. Hence, there are some inputs in past blogs which will no longer hold true in the present. If you wish to maintain relevant information, ensure that your old content remains useful. Check your old content, update previous statistics, and maybe tailor your blog posts to fit the current pandemic. Timely content will send a good signal to search engines. This allows them to identify your website as a source of accurate and useful information.
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Time to Improve Your Local SEO Strategy
COVID-19 is predicted to have long-lasting effects on consumer behavior, especially on their interest in purchasing international products. It could not be denied that COVID-19 is a backlash of easier transportation across countries and continents. The benefits of collective international efforts are also important factors in ensuring immediate and widespread medical efforts to solve COVID-19. However, it could not be avoided that individuals will still have a slightly negative perception of an “open” world.
As a consequence, it is predicted that consumers will prefer goods and services from their country. For a business, this is great news. Having specific keywords trims down the competition that a business may encounter. In a larger search area, a business website will need to compete with thousands of others that try to rank for the same keywords. However, in a localized area, the competition will be significantly lower. This allows a business to have higher chances of high SEO rankings. A few examples of specific localized keywords include “Repair Shops in Phoenix, Arizona” or “Repair Shop Near Me.”
How Can Proweaver Help You?
As a consequence of COVID-19, a lot of businesses have been forced to adapt to the digital space. Unfortunately, not all businesses are ready to make this shift to the digital platform.
Here at Proweaver, we make it our goal to provide easy web solutions for businesses in need. Especially at this time, we believe that our expertise is as relevant as ever. We are dedicated to helping businesses connect with their clients. Thus, we make an effort to provide affordable, dependable, and fast digital services to our clients.
The Steps You Need to Take
Here are what you need to do and the things you can expect when working with us:
In order to properly connect with your client, you will first need a custom made website.
Proweaver is an expert in creating custom websites, according to your interests, specifications, and needs. We will first try to get a better gist of your vision for your website. Based on the initial information we gather, we will try to capture your vision by providing you with two mock-up designs. These mock-up designs will be further modified until it matches the website you envision. After we receive your approval, the website creation process is finished within just 3 days. Our skilled content writers will create personalized content, according to your instructions. After this, our trained developers will expertly execute your vision into the perfect website. When the website is modified, completely according to your vision, it’s time to launch. You will have your own website, with no recurring fees! It’s that simple.
Next, you will need to improve your search engine optimization strategy to make your website discoverable among prospective clients.
As explained above, creating a website is just the first step to connecting with your clients. The next step is creating an SEO strategy. Are you rank higher in search results or new to making your business online? If so, there’s no need to worry. Proweaver can take care of your SEO for you. If you have specific keywords in mind, we’ll work around your interest to help your business score high in SEO rankings. Our SEO specialists will research google search trends and apply them to your website. All you need to do is sit back and relax while we help you work your way to the top.
Lastly, we can help boost your business through other online platforms.
We also have services that allow you to effectively market your services to a wider platform. Our team can manage your business’ social media accounts. We will create relevant and engaging posts that are sure to pique the interest of your clients. We can also properly advise you on the different post boosting and initiatives you can do to improve your social media performance. With our services, you are sure to kickstart the success of your business. COVID-19 won’t be a hindrance to our digital services.
For more information about how we can help, contact us today!