How SEO Strategies Are Evolving to Help Ensure Successful Relaunch Strategies, Post-Coronavirus Lockdown

As lockdown measures continue to decrease, with most non-essential retail opening on 4^th July in the UK, we have been compiling reopening strategies and plans together to help enable a successful relaunch for our clients.

Optimising for a new scenario

As part of any SEO strategy, keyword research is a vital component to understand what and how users search. This data then enables us to make informed decisions around the optimisations we conduct and the content we create. Using keyword research data we can understand seasonal trends of years prior and how different users in different countries search, however as so much has changed over the past few months, the way that users search may be different from how they ever have before.

If we use a restaurant’s website as an example, we would usually optimise towards their locations, their type of food, etc, however, will potential customers now start searching for terms around ‘socially distanced restaurants’, ‘clean restaurants’ or even COVID-19 related ‘restaurant’ terms? 

The answer is, we don’t quite know at the moment and therefore we have to make optimisations and add content based around how we think users will be searching based on the current global situation, which will include terminology around cleanliness, hygiene, and social distancing. 

An impact on conversion & revenue

Not only will including information around this bring potential SEO benefit, but we believe that it will impact the conversion rate. If the content on your website includes safety and hygiene procedures, and social distancing measures, a potential customer may feel more inclined to visit your restaurant, book a stay at your hotel, or visit your store. Regardless of which channel the user comes in from, this content and messaging will be vital for all businesses as part of their reopening strategy.

So why would we optimise now, if we don’t fully understand how users are searching? 

With adding and creating content around hygiene, safety, and social distancing now, we are ensuring that our clients are one step ahead of the curve. Content can be re-optimised at a later date, once we better understand the exact terminology users are searching for related to their industry, however, putting this content live sooner rather than later will allow time for your site to begin to rank for relevant keywords, whilst also driving conversions as mentioned.

Google Trends data can give us a good indication of what people are searching, however, we can’t fully compare on scale without keyword search volume data. Search volume data from Google Keyword Planner can take over a month to be updated, therefore if the content is not created until keyword search volume data is available from Google, then we are putting our clients’ sites at risk of being overtaken by competitors for the relaunch and the weeks following.

How else can SEO can help contribute to a successful relaunch?

Google My Business offers another key opportunity to capitalise on increased search interest and potential “revenge spending”. Updating Google My Business profiles with the latest opening times and dates for reopening is vital, failure to do so may result in potential customers being unaware that you are open and a loss of business offline.

Adding safety and hygiene measures to Google My Business posts will also help contribute to a successful reopening. This information may result in users not clicking through to the site, but may result in them visiting your store/restaurant, etc or calling to make a reservation.

To summarise…

To summarise, the way that users will now search as lockdown measures ease and businesses begin to open will be different from how they have searched before, and therefore the content and messaging across the site must adapt.

Ensure content is written around safety procedures, hygiene, and social distancing measures your business is taking to ensure your clients’ wellbeing.

Conduct keyword research post-launch to see where optimisations can be made based on user search behaviour. Utilise Google Trends data for an indication of this before search volume data becomes available.

If you have any questions or would like to know more about how to ensure your business is in a strong position for reopening, then please get in touch.