The coronavirus has shut down wide swathes of our economy, but that doesn’t mean that business owners can stand idly by and wait for someone to rescue them. Those commercial entities which survive this public health crisis will be those which leveraged SEO to ensure they remained popular with consumers who are now stuck within the confines of their homes. Ignoring SEO is foolish in the best of times, but to do so these days is deliberate commercial suicide. Luckily, some helpful tips can ensure you improve your SEO performance despite all of the chaos that’s currently defining our lives.
Embrace keyword research like never before
People who know anything about SEO will readily tell you about the importance of keyword research. If you’re not familiar with keywords that customers and digital users are relying upon, your SEO efforts will likely be in vain. Despite the importance of keyword research, many businesses are turning a blind eye towards it right now, especially since it can be a costly endeavor and they’re trying to save as much money as possible. While things may be tight right now, investing in keyword research is essential to both your short and long term SEO success.
Review a guide on keyword research if you’ve been ignoring this, as your SEO efforts will produce lackluster results until they’re informed by accurate keyword research data.
Analyze how user behavior has changed
People change their behavior in a time of crisis; pandemic-induced behavioral change is so well established that we now know that people even change their eating and shopping habits during public health pandemics, according to recent research. If you’re not carefully monitoring how user behavior on your webpages is changing, you’re missing out on key insights which could inform future SEO operations. If certain pages are being visited (or shunned) more often than usual thanks to COVID-19, you should be keeping track of it to gauge SEO performance.
Remember to maintain a local focus
SEO efforts at a national or even international level can be incredibly effective when they’re properly managed, but everyone knows that maintaining a local focus is of the utmost importance. This is because, in all probability, the vast majority of your customers or clients are likely near to you and your business rather than being far away. Local SEO services generally produce more success than those SEO services which are distant, unfamiliar with local consumer trends, and less likely to meld with your unique business.
Don’t forget about your existing content
If you can’t afford to produce new content, don’t worry – just revisit and refresh your old content. Failing to update old pages renders them obsolete eventually, so regularly updating your content is very important. Hiring creatives might be necessary, but your existing staff (or even you!) may be able to do this with little effort, particularly if the pre-existing content was already excellent.
Keep an eye on search engine evolution
Finally, you should constantly be asking yourself how major search engines like Google are changing the way they crawl the web in response to COVID-19. If you fail to adapt alongside these major search engine companies, your SEO performance efforts will be in vain. By ignoring how major tech companies evolve with the changing tides of time, you’re dooming your business in more ways than one.
