When disaster strikes, keeping a business running smoothly becomes a huge challenge. No matter how well-prepared you think you are, emergencies can throw a wrench into any plans. The COVID-19 pandemic was a stark reminder that businesses might never be completely ready for such upheavals. Even the most prominent companies have struggled to find their footing during these unprecedented times, and while remote work has allowed operations to continue, managing marketing efforts has become more challenging than ever.
Fortunately, many businesses have realized how important SEO is for maintaining their online presence in the face of the pandemic. However, it’s crucial to adjust your SEO strategies to remain effective and visible online. Before diving into how to modify your plans, it’s essential to grasp the current challenges. Let’s explore how the business landscape has shifted and what lies ahead in a post-pandemic world.
Current SEO Challenges
Although restrictions are being lifted and businesses are starting to recover, things aren’t entirely back to normal. Some challenges will persist in the post-pandemic world that your SEO efforts will need to address.
Changes in Search Behavior
During the pandemic, people’s online search habits have shifted, with a focus on essentials and local businesses. Google Trends has shown an increase in searches for coronavirus-related topics and a boom in interest for healthcare, finance, and news media sites. Meanwhile, industries like travel, retail, and entertainment have seen a downturn in their search trends. With such unpredictable shifts in search behavior, traditional SEO tactics like content optimization and link building might not be enough. A different approach is needed now.
Facing the Reality of Recession
It’s clear that we’re heading into a recession, which poses another challenge that your future SEO strategy must account for. Businesses are implementing pay cuts and layoffs, and personal finances are under pressure. If you’re not selling essential items or services, you might find it hard to attract visitors to your website. Conventional methods to achieve high search rankings won’t be effective.
SEO Strategy Moving Forward
Understanding these challenges gives you the opportunity to devise a plan to tackle them. It’s easy to panic in such tough times, but that’s the last thing you should do. Instead, refining your SEO strategy is the smart move. Here are some steps to help you stay afloat:
Focus on Valuable Content
Right now, instead of just selling, your priority should be on creating valuable content. This helps keep your audience engaged with your brand, even if they’re not buying at the moment. People are looking for positive and informative content that offers value. Building strong customer relationships through such content can help sustain your brand and position it well when the crisis ends.
Keep Building Quality Backlinks
With business slowing down, you might be tempted to ease up on your SEO efforts, like link building, to save time. However, cutting corners here could backfire. Neglecting link building could lead to a drop in your rankings, costing you all the efforts you’ve put in over the years. Once business picks up and customers are ready to shop, you want your website to be visible, not left behind for competitors to capture.
Shift to Intent Research
While developing content and building links, it’s crucial to find keywords that are trending now. At this point, audience intent is more critical than just the search keywords. So, when researching keywords, focus on understanding user needs, expectations, and pain points. Your content should address these directly, showing that you’re committed to providing value, which can build trust and drive more sales.
Optimize Your Website for the Best Experience
Conversion optimization is just as essential as content and keywords for SEO. High-ranking sites won’t benefit from traffic if the user experience isn’t great. With some downtime during the pandemic, you can work on enhancing your website’s UX. Improve design, content, and navigation so users feel compelled to complete their journey and only leave after converting. This sets the stage for higher conversions when search volumes increase and traffic returns.
Don’t Pause Your SEO Campaign
Even if traffic and sales have slowed due to the pandemic, stopping your SEO campaigns isn’t advisable. You’ll need a strategy that’s both cost-effective and time-efficient to adapt to the new circumstances. This is the time to go above and beyond in showing your values to customers, employees, and the broader community. Eventually, things will return to normal, and SEO will remain a powerful tool to connect with potential customers. Even when budgets are tight, sticking with your SEO campaigns now can give you a competitive edge when the market rebounds. Competition tends to decrease during economic downturns, making it an opportune time to gain more while spending less.
