Having the SOS alert at the top of the search page alert will provide direct access to news, safety tips, information and resources from the WHO website, and the latest updates from WHO on Twitter.
Paid Ads Suspended
In order to minimise the spreading of fake news and prevent people from capitalising on the situation, Google has put a suspension on paid ads using the term Coronavirus and other related key terms.
As panic started to set in amongst many, and cases continued to spread around the globe, there was an increase in online ads for hand sanitisers, gloves, masks and other products purporting to prevent sickness. However, Google and other companies such as Facebook have put policies in place to stop such ads from appearing.
Google released a statement last week which said: “These Shopping results violated our ad policies and we removed them immediately. Since January, we’ve blocked tens of thousands of ads that attempted to capitalise on the coronavirus situation and we continue to take action to prevent these ads from serving.”
The Latest Trends
In order to understand the impact that the coronavirus is having on search terms, Google Trends is a good place to start.
The graph from Google Trends below shows us that the interest in the term ‘Coronavirus’ across the world over the last 90 days has risen significantly. Terms associated with the virus, such as ‘self-isolation’ and ‘face masks’ have also reached an all-time high over the last couple of months.
It also shows you where that interest is coming from, by region. With the country being placed on lockdown and currently having the most confirmed cases in Europe, it is no surprise to see Italy on top of this list.
The impact on businesses and the rise of digital working
It is certainly interesting to see how the spread of the virus is impacting Google Search from an SEO and content marketing point of view. However, one other emerging trend is the increased usage of digital technologies to facilitate working from home.
There are businesses out there with a brick and mortar presence that will be unable to avoid a decline in productivity due to a slow down in the production of goods and an inability to provide a service to their customers. However, where possible, businesses are having to embrace the "working from home" culture in order to continue to operate whilst trying to stop the spread of the coronavirus. And technology providers are stepping up to help this shift.
Microsoft is currently offering free six-month trials to the premium version of Microsoft Teams, which will give businesses access to features such as video conferencing, group chats and document collaboration.
In addition to their work on Search, Google is also helping businesses make the transition to remote working easier by giving free access to some of their “advanced” features for Hangouts Meet.
Planning for office disruption
For businesses who are new to remote working, it is important to put contingencies in place if you are unable to work in your usual environment, and taking advantage of these technologies will help you and your employees carry on, business as usual.
Here at Gecko, the concept of remote working is something we are familiar with due to the fact that we have team members located not just across the UK and Ireland, but also in Portugal and as far away as Australia. We use tools such as Slack and Basecamp to allow us to communicate and manage projects away from the office, and Google Business allows us to access documents and emails remotely as required.
Gecko has contingency plans in place that will allow us to work at full capacity in the event of an office shutdown. Meaning that we will continue to provide a dedicated service to our clients, regardless of where we find ourselves working.
In order to make resources regarding COVID-19 easily accessible, Google has partnered with the World Health Organization in a bid to help those affected by or looking to learn more about the rapidly spreading virus.