COVID-19 and Corporate Social Responsibility in Search Engine Marketing

The COVID-19 outbreak is shifting consumer behavior, at a time when marketing performance is relying on a company’s ability to respond rapidly and change strategies around real-time trends. Even as CEOs alter corporate travel plans and IT professionals are planning networks for an explosion of work-from-home traffic, marketing departments are planning for changes as well.

Global changes in human and business activities have already had resounding effects on search engine marketing (SEM) across several industries. The first aspect that could be found by several search teams is increased web traffic around certain goods or services.

So how has COVID-19 affected search engine marketing?

Increased search traffic for specific terms

Essential items

Just like customers are queuing outside grocery stores, e-commerce sites selling the same products are expected to see a huge rise in traffic.

This also shifts as news unfolds. For example, when issues like social distancing and shelter-in-place were introduced, impressions and traffic for “non-perishable food” spiked.

Due to the pandemic, people are searching for toilet paper, hand sanitizer, thermometers, and towels. This enormous increase in demand, as well as product shortages, have also generated new queries such as “toilet paper near me” and “hand sanitizer near me.” On the contrary, non-essentials such ‘makeup’ has seen a drop in search traffic.

Wellness and health

As a result of COVID-19, there is an unprecedented surge in impressions and traffic in the health and wellness pages.

It seems like that’s triggered mostly by questions such as “coronavirus symptoms.” On the other side, people tend to think even less for issues like intermittent fasting.

There also seems to be an uptick in queries on natural remedies, such as “antiviral plants.”

Travel

You would think that on the surface, travel websites are taking massive traffic hits because of travel restrictions and social distancing. However, their search traffic is booming. Impressions and traffic surges for requests such as “cheap flights” are seen. This is due to all the cancellations that airlines are forced to offer seats at super discounted prices.

Restaurants have to Pivot strategies

Restaurants are running at a limited capacity in many locations. In several others, restaurants and bars are absolutely closed. That means local restaurants who earlier relied on pre-COVID queries trending down. Delivery services such as UberEats, Postmates, DoorDash, and Grubhub are also trending more.

Effects of COVID-19 on Events

The COVID-19 outbreak has prompted many businesses to delay or cancel major events.

Proactive discussions with SEM teams about potential support for industry events and how SEM traffic could be impacted is important. Discuss the messaging strategy with clients who cancel their own events and decide whether there is a need to retain paid support for canceled event keywords to reduce ambiguity or disappointment within the event user base.

Track efficiency metrics such as click-through rate (CTR) and cost per click (CPC) to decide whether the nature of large search queries by individuals is changing. To assign value to return searchers, depend on remarketing and customer match audience types. Audit the prospecting and targeting strategies, pondering how to reduce the impact of COVID-19 on your usual marketing traffic.

COVID-19 and Corporate Social Responsibility

CMOs and their marketing teams have a responsibility to protect themselves, their colleagues, their communities, and the world from coronavirus hysteria through a fact-based dialogue. When businesses are constantly examined and scrutinized on social media, this is an opportunity for them to demonstrate their contribution to a healthy global community and to the protection of their workforce.