There is a new set of research published by Google engineered to assist marketers in responding to the changes that have occured due to the COVID-19 pandemic. More than four billion people are staying home across the world as of this week, Google says, which has led to significant shifts in online behavior. The research that Google has released highlights five key trends that demonstrate how consumers’ interests, expectations, and purchasing behavior have been altered. It’s key to stay on top of Google trends in order to keep your search engine optimization efforts on point, and to be able to stand out from your competitors in terms of SEO branding. In such a rapidly changing market, you don’t want to fall behind! MyCity Social is a top Tampa SEO agency providing digital marketing and SEO services. When you work with MyCity Social, you don’t have to do all the work and hassle of keeping up with SEO trends and constantly racking your brains for ways to improve your digital marketing. All you need to do is to focus on growing your business and making money, while we make sure you rank high in social media and Google search engines. Call MyCity Social for your digital marketing and SEO needs today! 

 

Five Key Trends In Google’s Report

 

The five key trends that Google’s report listed include:

• More consumers using multiple devices
• An increased reliance on Google
• People are creating and fostering relationships virtually more than ever
• People are adjusting their routines to be at-home-first
• People are practicing more self-care in general

 

We will discuss these five key trends and provide more insight into each of these trends based on Google’s latest data. Read on to learn more about what these Google data trends mean for you and your business, and how it impacts the way you are able to connect potential clients and customers with your products and services virtually as we are all mostly stuck at home right now and browsing the internet:

• Multiple devices- People are using multiple devices to browse the internet and go online at rates that have never been seen before, which has led to the consumption of content skyrocketing at an amazing rate. Basically, staying home has led to a 60% increase in the amount of content that is watched in the US. Nielsen data states that Americans are watching around 12 hours of media content per day. 
• Searching for key information on Google- There has been a huge increase in searches for critical information and content in order to meet essential needs:
  • Search interest in “online grocery shopping” and “grocery delivery” grew around 23% year over year in the U.S. Now that we’re all stuck inside and doing a lot of our own cooking, Americans are watching videos related to recipes and cooking at a rate that is 31% higher than they did in March 2019
  • Search interest in telemedicine is up by 150% week over week in the US, as it is more risky to visit overcrowded and understaffed hospitals. This can be seen as searches for “online pharmacy” have gone up all across the globe by more than 100% year over year.
• Staying connected with friends and family virtually- Since people are unable to be together physically, more and more people are discovering new ways to form connections and nurturing their relationships virtually. Some examples of how people are choosing to stay connected online through the pandemic from the data that Google released:
  • As of April, Google Meet has been hosting 3 billion minutes of video meetings and adding almost 3 million new users every single day
  • 50% of US consumers said that they utilized video in order to communicate with family and friends in March. Side note: Search interest for “virtual happy hour” has risen significantly, especially in the U.S., since bars in most places are not a viable option.
  • There has been a rise in “with me” videos on Youtube, where people film themselves going about ordinary everyday tasks such as cleaning, shopping, or cooking. Views of videos containing “study with me” in the title in the US are 54% higher compared to the same period last year.
• Adjusting Routines- Since there isn’t a surefire way of knowing exactly when this pandemic will end,  people are adjusting all of their daily routines to prioritize the internet, since that is where they get most of their interaction as well as fulfilling their daily functions like work and shopping. This is the natural fluctuation of people adapting their normal everyday activities to meet the demands of isolation. Some examples of such shifts in routine include:
  • Search interest for “telecommuting” in the US reached an all-time high on both Google and Youtube in the middle of March, and has continued to grow.
  • There is also an expanding search interest for “stationary bicycles” all around the world, along with exercise equipment searches such as “dumbbell set.” Now that people are no longer able to visit the gym, and have extensive periods of alone time at home, many people are shifting their routines to begin working out at home. 
• Self care- There are many challenges that people face, especially with mental health, in stressful times like these. Staying home, often by yourself, for such long stretches of time, can often be extremely stressful and it’s important to take care of your mental health the best that you can. This is a concept that is being more and more recognized and has grown exponentially, as can be seen in the data released by Google. As people cope with the challenge of staying home, they’re starting to focus a lot more on taking care of their own physical and psychological needs. Some examples of how people are choosing to focus more on taking care of themselves from Google’s data:
  • Views of videos related to meditation in the US are already 51% higher when compared to 2019. 
  • Searches for “bored” have managed to spike a significant amount in the month of March, showing that people are trying to cope with a lack of stimulation at home.
  • Searches for words like “games,” “puzzles,” and “coloring books” have increased a considerable amount throughout the month of March.

 

How You Can Use SEO Branding To Take Advantage Of This Data

 

As Tampa SEO agency MyCity Social has discussed above, there are significant changes that have occurred in terms of the digital market and the SEO world due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the changes that the current pandemic has wrought, it’s more essential than ever for your business to set up a crisis recovery plan in order to continue to operate amid the market shifts and to take advantage of the amount of content that is being consumed by potential clients and customers. Here are some ways that you can use SEO to combat the COVID-19 shift and also take advantage of this shift in content consumption that we have discussed:

 

• When focusing on crisis-related content, it is key to connect, adjust, and engage. The key channels for such content are your business website, SEO, local landing pages, and overall content. In this phase of content creation and COVID-19 marketing response, businesses need to maintain their website and increase digital relevance, while adding COVID-related content such as FAQs, policies, and banners. Businesses have to ensure that their local listings and maps are updated, and to begin developing new content.
• As we now shift into the recovery stage of the pandemic since many businesses are starting to open back up and a lot of normal life has begun to resume, it’s important to take note of the data shifts on Google in terms of content consumption and consumer trends and fit your marketing strategies into the “new normal” left in the wake of the pandemic. COVID-19 has changed the way many people live, work, and consume content, and it’s important to take note of this. The key channels of recovery should be focused on your business website, paid media ads, SEO (as per always), and email blasts. Throughout the recovery phase, it’s key to take into account the needs of your target audience and potential clients and customers in order to pinpoint exactly how to tune the business to the needs of the customers. A key component of this is to know how to package what you’re offering to your potential clients and customers in the most effective way, which is what digital marketing and branding is all about. Doing so will involve generating interest with unique offers, targeted relaunch of paid media, investing in SEO prioritizing schemas, voice, and technical health. It also involves optimizing mobile sites with AMP and superior navigation, which is something you should be doing anyways since more than ever consumers are browsing websites and doing everyday tasks on their phones. Email can be used to amplify omnichannel efforts.
• Once your business is more on your feet and you are back in the game, it is time to aggressively pursue growth. The best defense is a good offense, especially when it comes to digital marketing, branding, and SEO. You should focus your efforts on paid media ads, website content and quality, and SEO rankings so that you are able to harvest the content marketing efforts that you had sown the seeds of before. You can choose to aggressively scale paid media presence, and also leverage prospecting and lookalike modeling along with omnichannel synergies. 

 

Using Google’s Data To Focus On Your Digital Marketing Efforts

 

With the way that your potential clients and customers are consuming content, it’s more important than ever to cater to these shifts by making sure that your website is easy to navigate and utilize, and that any products or services you offer are clear, since people are shopping online more than ever. Here are some ways to focus your digital marketing efforts during the pandemic using the data that we discussed above:

• Improve your site- from mobile load time to navigation, from shopping cart to email capture, pretty much any website can use an upgrade. This is especially important as people are spending more time online than ever before, making your website a key way to connect to COVID-19 trapped consumers. If your website is not AMP-optimized or only provides limited mobile features, then mobile should have been a priority this year even before COVID-19 hit. In the majority of industries, more than half of all traffic now comes from non-desktop devices. 
• Shopping cart functionality- Due to the pandemic, the trend in online shopping has up-tick exponentially since people now have to fulfill their basic needs online if in isolation. While Amazon, OTAs, and other aggregators set a high bar, even some simple changes are able to lead to much better conversion rates and ROI.

 

Contact Us Today

 

With large shifts in consumer interest evidenced by Google data, it’s more important than ever to get your SEO branding on point and take advantage of the amount and type of content people are consuming at home. Call top Tampa SEO agency MyCity Social today for your digital marketing and SEO needs!