🔍 Content during coronavirus: How to stand out + keep your long-term SEO goals in focus

Apr 13, 2020

Good morning search marketers, have you had this feeling lately?:

"I was starting to get lost in the weeds, as I'm hearing so much about content content content."

That's from an SMX attendee I met last fall who DMed me on Twitter with some questions about content strategy. I can empathize. During this time, it can be hard to know where to start with content, whether you should shift your strategy, how to differentiate your content from everyone else right now — and continue to keep your eye on your long-term SEO goals.

"Remain laser-focused on audiences' most pressing needs by continually gathering feedback and closely monitoring engagement rates on new content being published," is just one tip from Meghan Keaney Anderson of Hubspot and other content experts we asked about this challenge.

Some thoughts I had in that DM conversation were to look to see how paid search queries have changed, look at internal search queries in analytics and also see if there are specific pages getting more traction now than in the past. These might all speak to new customer needs and pain points to begin focusing on in your content.

With many pulling back on paid search spending now — eMarketer has slashed its paid search forecast by billions — focusing on SEO and content can help position your company better when we come out of this crisis.

Speaking of paid search, Frederick Vallaeys shares a new script for charting the impact of COVID-19 events on your PPC performance in today's Pro Tip below.

Ginny Marvin,
Editor-In-Chief

Pro Tip

Track PPC performance during specific COVID-19 events

"We're in uncharted territory with COVID-19 and its impact on lives, the economy and our PPC campaigns. With my skills as a PPC expert, the best I can offer is to help people get clarity so they can make the best possible decisions in uncertain situations," explains Fred Vallaeys of Optmyzr. "I'd like to do my part in helping advertisers in the form of a Google Ads script that overlays government actions related to the pandemic on Google Ads performance metrics. The idea is to help you see if certain events, like store closures, the start of shelter in place, the closing of schools, or the introduction of social distancing correlates in any way with drop-offs or spikes in performance."

Get the script »

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Search Shorts

Order food directly from the search results, contact tracing and endorsing SEO.

Google buys TheOrderingapp. Google has purchased TheOrdering.app, a platform that enables online payments and ordering for local restaurants. It's mission "is to drive customers to order directly from your website, or directly from the search results they get on Google." Although there's no delivery feature, it's competitive with existing food ordering platforms such as Uber Eats, Grubhub and DoorDash.

Apple and Google combine efforts to track COVID-19. The companies announced a joint effort to use Bluetooth and mobile devices to create a COVID-19 contact tracing capability. It will involve downloadable apps that determine whether users have come into contact with infected persons. Participation will be voluntary and anonymous and, the firms say, privacy safe.

Google's Gary Illyes new podcast idea. The webmaster trends analyst started a Twitter poll asking whether his idea to start a weekly podcast in which he comments on SEO articles is a good idea. SEOs are voicing their opinions in the comments.

Should Google endorse the good work SEOs do? John Mueller thinks so — "SEO is not a 4-letter word, folks should be proud of the good work they do, and it should be celebrated. It doesn't mean they're perfect, but it's still good work," he tweeted.

Stay up-to-speed on modern marketing

How will your martech stack and processes be impacted by COVID-19? How can you deliver a personalized user experience without betraying privacy? Get the answers to these and more crucial questions April 21-23 at Discover MarTech!

See the agenda! »