The Covid19 pandemic will not only define the year, socioeconomically, but it will set the chord for at least five years due to its massive impact on our lives.
Amidst the outbreak, the pandemic has caused a huge effect on the SERP, as the cause and its effect surpassed the numbers for daily weather and news searches, a Google spokesperson told the ABC.
Covid19 related searches on Google
As the outbreak is rising every week, it is dominating all the major areas of political, social, economical searches as well.
In fact, according to Google data, searches about the pandemic has exceeded other news, weather, politics, Google, Facebook, Amazon, or even porn in a huge number.
Even in advertisements, the outbreak has caused many industry’s PPC campaign.
In fact, reportedly, COVID19 searches are always spiked up in the early mornings and late at night.
Google trends reveals that the coronavirus is often on our minds, but especially when we first wake up and before we go to bed.
This trend is fairly uncommon as most of the search peak is generally during the mid-day working hours and after dinner.
But this situation compels advertisers to shift their accounts accordingly.
Major change in retail search trends
Online stores are going through extreme changes in buying trends.
Demand for household items and medical supplies are spiking up quickly so much that even Amazon is virtually canceling Google ads.
According to a Buzzfeed article, Amazon has reported a surge in buying that has necessitated hiring an additional 100,000 workers to meet the demand.
According to the article, “As Americans retreat to their homes to weather the coronavirus pandemic, they are increasingly turning to Amazon to get basic necessities such as groceries, as well as medicines, cleaning supplies, and, of course, toilet paper.”
Items like Yoga mats and Apple Air pods are listed as one of the most popular items for sale on Amazon.
Changes in ad impressions and PPC campaigns
Due to the social distancing, people are generally staying up or browsing through the internet longer than usual. This added to the late-night spike in Covid19 news search, the habit of online search has definitely changed. The search volume increases by 15% after midnight.
During most weekend hours, search volume is within 10% of it’s pre-pandemic averages.
Advertisers note between 10-25% lower conversion rates from their ads during these times. But late night search ads are having much lower conversion rates than they normally would. Also, with evening hours for Covid19, advertisers have noted a 30% lower conversion rate than they typically would expect at night.
How Google is feeding off the user’s location history?
Among all these searches, Google is showing exactly how much it knows about people in the world by its persistent tracking of where users go and what they do.
Google’s data gives an idea of public policy utility while providing data pulled off its global use.
The report “ COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports”, says “In Google Maps, we use aggregated, anonymized data showing how busy certain types of places are—helping identify when a local business tends to be the most crowded. We have heard from public health officials that this same type of aggregated, anonymized data could be helpful as they make critical decisions to combat COVID-19,”
What’s even more surprising is that the report consists of per country, per state downloads, which is further segregated into regions, with a full analysis of how community mobility has changed, as compared to a much normal scenario before the outbreak occurred.
Like for example, the March 29th statement showed a 47 percent drop in retail and recreation activity vs the pre-CV period; a 22% drop in grocery & pharmacy; and a 19% drop in visits to parks and beaches in the U.S.
What to do as an advertiser?
Rescheduling your ads performances
Go to the ad segment and change the time of the ads within Google Ads to coincide with the peak hours now.
Revising the bidding
The pandemic will have lasting effects for a long time. It will difficult for you to adjust campaigns within a budget. Try smart bidding and adjusting your CPC bids to match your goals.
Use data sources
Hire a company or agency to help with your data sourcing properly.
Use Google’s location data
Location based ads are crucial now to target your demography properly. Hire experts who know how to target your goals and do location based advertising.
If you want some help for your digital ad campaigns, contact Skyram Technologies. Our experts will help you find the right online campaign for your company!
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Till then, stay safe, stay indoors. Maintain the WHO protocols.
