When an economic downturn looms, forward-thinking marketers take steps to adjust their search optimization focus. Here’s how.
Shift your SEO approach to align with the information consumers want most in times of uncertainty.
By Jim Yu
While some analysts predict a downturn in the economy, two facts are predictable: Consumers will still use search engines and executives will make kneejerk reactions to slash spending.
I speak daily with Fortune 500 brands refocusing efforts and budgets away from expensive paid advertising and doubling down on SEO. They see good SEO practices not only as a cost-effective channel but as a strategy that works in any economic fluctuation. But the latter only happens when the company creates and updates content aligned with the evolving consumer intent.
Google’s recent “helpful content update” reflects that. The algorithm update penalizes websites with large amounts of content that doesn’t help the reader – content written for the sole purpose of search engine rankings.
Let’s look at how you can use SEO insights about demand and intent to weather the market.
SEO data provides real-time customer insights, which are essential during tumultuous market conditions, to inform content, product, and sales. Seventy-one percent of marketers say SEO data does or will feed directly into their company’s business intelligence.
During the peak of the global pandemic, SEO insights (like the ones below) informed marketers about consumer demands and interests. For example, search volumes for keywords related to digital marketing, pet adoption, and garden and patio categories were below average the weeks before the pandemic hit but skyrocketed afterward. While the opposite happened for keywords around concerts, hotels, and things to do, they were above average in the weeks before the pandemic but plummeted when it hit.
At a macro level, when SEO data reveals purchase intent is low, brands can elevate content designed to educate, inform, and build trust with key audiences.
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