Have you noticed any change in the user’s search behavior as the Covid19 pandemic unfolded?
I bet you must have.
Because in the current wake of the global crisis caused by Covid19, the business climate has been encountered with a lot of challenges and difficulties.
Especially if you are a business owner, you can understand my point well as you already observed all those grave impacts on consumer behavior that has shifted abruptly, in fact dramatically!
I understand that every industry has been struggling and suffering a lot from the prevailing effects of deadly coronavirus outbreak where people are instructed to isolate in their home and companies are mandated to limit the working hours.
Now the surprising element is, people are responding to the situation in different ways. Some of them are feeling anxious, worried, and distressed while others are rolling with the flow and continuing general life activities.
But the fact is, financial uncertainty is at the peak everywhere and consumer behavior is rapidly changed on a massive scale. Some of the industries have seen the biggest falls, and some of them have witnessed an exceptional increase in growth & development.
Here we have examined search variations that spiked during coronavirus, and some important industry segments that have seen the sharp fall.
Segments that have seen some biggest gains during Covid19
There are lots of sectors that capture a great share of the market and enjoying the highest profits in today’s critical situation.
Here is a less predictable rise in search variations in different sectors that happened during Covid19.
Health
Health and medical-related searches have dominated the web all around the world. Because people are finding advice, tips, and suggestions to keep themselves safe & protected amid coronavirus.
They are looking for steps and precautions to reduce the threat of the disease and also looking for ways to maintain good immunity to fight back against the situation.
People are searching for vital medication instead of finding restaurants and traveling destinations. That’s the reason, online buying, and selling of medicines and dealing with healthcare factors have seen a major increase as compared to the normal period before Covid19.
Here are some common search terms that have spiked over the last few months.
- Searches for the ‘emergency’ keyword has increased by 100%
- Searches for the term ‘hospital’ has also increased by surprising 67%
- 180% increase has been witnessed for the term ‘online doctors’
- ‘telemedicine’ searches have also made the share with 120%
- ‘telehealth’ search term is also not behind the race and contributing with 160%.
According to Google Trends, COVID-19 searches have been usually made early in the morning as well as late in the night, speculated as to the first and last thing on everybody’s mind.
Finance
Whether you are a small business owner or running a giant corporation, admit the fact that you have also been facing adverse effects of corona outbreak.
Business owners are looking for the best funding opportunity and finding small business grants so they can pay their employees and manage other business expenditures.
So, the fact is, searches related to finance management have seen a great splurge in the past few months. Other than that, loan searches were increased by 24% due to a decrease in funds.
Information Technology
Companies that have the best means and resources preferred to work remotely so they can reduce the prevailing threats of Covid19.
Some convenient tools and software like Teams are also much eager to adopt efficient practices when businesses are required to work from home and communicate with other team members.
Therefore, people are avidly looking for the best tips to work from home without disturbing their daily work schedule.
That’s the reason, I believe online communication channels like Google Hangouts as well as Zoom meetings saw a major influx over time.
I think software and IT companies must reevaluate the entire marketing strategy so they can analyze how they should better lean in and support their companies in critical times.
Here are some important search terms related to technology that skyrocketed the web
- Searches for the word ‘online’ significantly rose by 54%.
- Similarly, ‘web’ searches went high by 25%
- ‘Best tips for working from home’ also seen a major increase of 1,350% in Google search results.
- ‘Practices for working from home’ got high by 450%.
- While ‘Zoom video communications’ received a whopping 400% increase in Google searches.
As virtual workforce trends are promoting during covid19, it’s essential to implement some better software and tools that further ease the part of working remotely and adapting to the new conditions.
Life Insurance
Insurance companies have been dwindling greatly for the past few years, but this is not the case anymore!
Due to such an increased amount of uncertainty, more and more people are looking for life and business insurance solutions.
Unemployment insurance, health insurance, support in businesses, and other related search trends are rapidly growing. According to Google reports, the number of people looking for unemployment insurance has risen by 650% in one day.
Here are some more search variations analyzed through research.
- ‘Life insurance’ searches are raised by 4% in total.
- ‘Health insurance’ searches went down by 5%.
- ‘Business insurance’ saw a whopping increase of 48%
- ‘unemployment insurance’ searches are analyzed by a 40% increase.
According to CNBC, today a lot of companies have experienced a double-digit increase in life insurance plans during the coronavirus pandemic as compared to the last few years.
Real estate
Common people like you and I will never commit to buying a property during these corona times, honestly!
But the astonishing fact is, a great number of people are still looking to buy new homes at comparatively low rates.
Searches for ‘home building’ have increased by 15%, while searches for ‘real estate’ are lowered by 17%.
Have a look at a few more stats
- ‘Banking’ searches have increased greatly by 8%.
- While ‘New home’ searches are also on a great rise of 75%.
- But unfortunately, ‘Real Estate’ searches are now being dropped by 17%.
In order to save people from a severe situation, property dealers are now taking important steps to help residents in financial interruption.
Segments that have seen sharp search fall during Covid19
Here we have pinpointed some major industries that have seen a sharp fall in searches while practicing social distancing.
Travel
Since a massive population is practicing social distancing and following all the necessary measures to flatten the curve, more and more people are avoiding traveling amid coronavirus outbreak.
I wonder ‘things to do’ keyword has the highest search volume in Google once, but now it has fallen by 72% during the lockdown period.
Meanwhile, searches for ‘outdoors’ have grown by 45% in the same period of time.
Let me tell you another surprising fact, the popularity of the keyword ‘hiking’ has been grown by 58% in the last two months- which is definitely a big loss for the travel industry.
Searches regarding flight cancellations have been quite high and some relevant ads shared on different pages also dominated high in search engines.
In recent research, Facebook has estimated that the travel industry might take a long time to recover from this situation as today’s central focus is promoting cheaper fares, canceling flights, and making new adjustment plans for necessary traveling.
Food
With most of the population preferring to stay indoors, the freedom to travel to the desired food destination is limited during Covid19.
As a result, food searches went down by 47% within two weeks, and searches for the term ‘food delivery’ already rocked the world by 113%.
However, you must have seen a great response in local businesses that are proactively adapting to this new situation by providing curbside food delivery, texting for order pick-ups, and dropping off the items at the customer’s doorstep.
In New York alone, there are more than 7,000 restaurants that have now swiftly changed the overall business model to provide safe and convenient solutions to online food searchers.
Automotive
According to recent research, the automotive sector would not be recovered until the end of 2020.
The reason is, there is already a lot of inventory available in the market that isn’t sold yet, and the industry is facing a lot of issues for the new building.
That’s why search volumes for automotive businesses have declined dramatically as the audience’s priorities are changed and people are only leaving their homes for managing basic life needs.
Manufacturing
Unfortunately, the manufacturing and industrial goods industry has suffered a lot in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
We have seen a huge drop in search traffic that is specifically related to manufacturing- but the good news is, according to the estimates, the sector could immediately bounce back once the situation gets under control.
Final thoughts
Every business industry is reeling from the harmful effects of Covid19.
That’s the reason, user search behavior is also forced to shift towards some more concerning matters and people are moving to online mediums for their own good.
But the fact is, there is still great scope for new opportunities. It just needs a little change in mindset and approach to a positive attitude.
While following all the tactics to adapt to this completely new environment, businesses must plan to retain investment in online marketing so they remain competitive in the industry while meeting the needs of their audience.
