Whether you are a business owner or a digital marketing agency, you are likely feeling the pain and stress brought about by Covid-19, also known as the coronavirus. It has brought about intense fear and worry, but business owners still need to soldier on and reach their audience. The solution? Adapting your search engine optimisation is an ideal place to start.Â
You should adapt your search engine optimisation strategy to the new norm that is Covid-19, which can be tricky if you are not sure how. You could start by having a dedicated Covid-19 page listing what efforts you are putting into place, look into developing more video and visual content to entertain your audience, and try to prioritise top or mid-funnel content. Not sure where to start? Below we give some top tips on how to adapt your SEO strategy for Covid-19.Â
Prioritise Top-Funnel Content
People online today, thanks to Covid-19, are not looking to spend money on items that are not deemed as essential. With this in mind, your business should prepare for a shift in the consumer mindset and should invest in top or mid-funnel content.Â
This is content that helps users who are shifting back towards the awareness and consideration stages of their buyer’s journey. They are likely not actively making purchases, so your content should focus on providing answers to solutions or problems and not a hard sell. Develop relevant and valuable content that will still maintain your SEO rankings without overselling your products to consumers.
Monitor Keyword Shifts
You can continue to create content during this period but be sure to monitor the shifts in keywords that consumers will be using. For example, while we might not be allowed to head out to restaurants and shopping centres at the moment, the keywords people use, such as “coffee shops open near me†can help you to create content to help customers when we are able to leave home.Â
It is highly likely that keywords such as “working from home†and similar phrases will see a massive surge in use, so you can use this for your content to help it to rank for these keywords. Writing blog posts or even infographics using the keywords you have discovered will help you to maintain your rankings, but be sure that the keywords make sense for your business, brand, and industry.Â
Have A Dedicated Page
With Covid-19 being such a serious issue, and with so many people wondering how businesses are managing this new normal, having a dedicated Covid-19 page showcasing all of your information is not only good for business, but can also help to improve your search engine ranking as more people will be searching for this type of information.Â
You can also link to key areas of your website in this information, driving traffic to other pages and maintaining your SEO efforts. This dedicated page should be updated regularly using correct and accurate information from reputable sources. Be sure to link to these sources to improve the authority of your content, which is a metric that Google uses to rank websites and webpages for search results.Â
Amp Up Visual Content
With more people being in lockdown and not able to leave home, you can create entertaining and helpful video content for your brand which they will watch. This can help to improve brand awareness and, by using keywords in your descriptions, you will also boost your SEO presence. You can use the insights from analytical tools to see what content is trending at the moment.
You will need to ensure that any video or infographics you produce do not use alarmist language and that any facts you use are accurate and verifiable. Your visual content can be shared on your own website as well as on your social media platforms. This can help to improve engagement with your content as well as the visibility of your content, as hashtags and social media posts are indexed by search engines.Â
Fix Website Issues
One of the major ways to adapt your SEO strategy is to focus on fixing known and expected website issues. During the Covid-19 lockdown period, more and more people will be online, and if your website is too slow, is not intuitive or has no meta-descriptions, it will likely be underperforming and losing out on rankings.Â
There is ample time during this period to optimise your website, and rather than focusing on implementing new features, focusing on improving what you already have. If your website operates smoothly and is not slow, your rankings will be improved and you can maintain your position in search results. If you would like to adapt your SEo strategy for Covid-19 but have no idea where to start, speak to NetMechanic today about what we can do for you.Â
