For many businesses, COVID-19 has been a game changer. Physical operations may even have closed down, and it’s easy to stop marketing your business when you think it’s over. However, digital strategies like search engine optimization (SEO) are more crucial than ever, and it doesn’t require a ridiculous budget like a paid search campaign.

In this guide, we’ll show you some of the SEO strategies that are helping businesses continue marketing during covid.

Why Search Engine Optimization During COVID-19

Much of the data shows that search engine optimization is still the best way to gain organic traffic. Through your content, your business can earn visitors 24/7, but it’s up to your marketing team to create the landing pages and content to bring in customers. Coronavirus marketing strategies focus on learning about the changes that your audience has gone through as well, such as the reliance on home delivery, voice search, and convenience.

To get ahead in today’s digital marketplace, businesses need to think about their SEO strategies and update their content to match what audiences are looking for. Determining search intent and updating your keyword strategy is a good place to start.

1. Stay Consistent

While optimization seems easy to set and forget, that’s not the best way to bring in traffic that will convert. Optimization is like planting seeds through content on your website. If you stop following the data, you’ll never harvest the traffic.

In other words, don’t ignore your search and keyword strategy during COVID-19. Now is the time to update old content, add new strategic content, and find long-tail phrases such as questions that you can answer for your audience.

2. In-Depth Content

One way to update your content is to look up keywords on AnswerthePublic.com. This website provides you with the most common questions being asked about all topics.

Most consumers research everything before they purchase, especially when money is tight. Audiences have more time right now to conduct research, and they have plenty of search tools, such as voice searches through Siri, Alexa, and Google Home.

To enhance your ranking in Google, you’ll need to write longer content. A study from Backlinko showed that the average organic result on the first SERP has an average of 1,900 words. However, as long as you beat your competitors on page one of search results, then you’re in a good place to outrank.

3. Focus on Local

Local businesses have to work extra hard to get business during coronavirus, as many audiences are looking for home delivery and more convenience. With local search and delivery options, you can get ahead with your business.

If you haven’t done so already, you should create local search content on your website and add your business to Google My Business. It’s also important to think about social media and creating local content to keep your audience plugged in.

4. Target COVID-19 Keywords

While search optimized content is definitely a long-term strategy, businesses can still bring in more traffic in the short-term by targeting coronavirus-related keywords. To start, think about long-tail, specific keywords in your niche that relate to coronavirus.

For example, “stop joint pain while in quarantine” may lead to a blog post on your therapy website about getting treatment during COVID-19. This strategy can apply to all kinds of niches, but it won’t help for long-term traffic goals.

In addition to keywords related to quarantine or coronavirus, you can also focus on current popular themes for audiences seeking information and help. For example, try keywords related to “virtual doctor appointment” or “zoom lawyer consultation.” These are keywords that include the convenience most audiences are relying on during this time when they must stay and work from home.

5. Update Old Content So It’s Relevant Again

Coronavirus marketing strategies should also include more time to look back and review the content that’s pulling in traffic on your website, as well as the pages that need help. It’s important to re-optimize content so that it’s newly relevant and easy to read for today’s mobile audiences.

You don’t need to produce any new pages of content, but you’ll need to research current search trends, compare your content rank to competitors, and add new questions that relate to what audiences are searching.

If you don’t have any content related to coronavirus or if you have content that relates to coronavirus topics, it’s easy to internally link the two. You’ll simply create relevant content and spruce it up to attract more traffic.

6. Target New Terms for Coronavirus

There are entirely new queries trending right now due to the pandemic. For example, “drive-by birthday party ideas” and “zoom for remote workers.” You’ll need to think about the buyer personas you’re trying to rank for by reviewing their interests, pursuits, needs, and desires. You should be able to come up with a handful of unique topics and keywords to create new content for.

7. Conduct Content Audits and Optimize

While you have this time to optimize, it’s important to look back at older posts, especially top-performing content. What can you polish up and optimize even more? Here are some things to look for in your content:

• Add new questions and information
• Add more images and use captions to add modified keywords
• Update older content and images
• Add higher-quality external links
• Check all headings have keywords
• Install tool like SEMRush Writing Assistant to get more suggestions on keywords and readability
• Change your title tags for more impact

8. Update Your Google My Business

One of the most important things to do for your business is updating your Google My Business profile with new information, especially questions and answers. It’s an important source of data for Google Maps and search. In addition, you can add your hours and any other pertinent information that customers will need, especially if anything has changed due to coronavirus.

While marketing during covid may seem tricky, you can easily update your profile and content to get more traffic during the pandemic.