Keep Your Customers – SEO During Coronavirus Times (COVID-19)

COVID-19 is spreading across the globe, and we’ve all read dozens of articles about how the job market has been hugely affected and how small businesses risk bankruptcy due to the new guidelines from the Public Health Agency of Sweden. Retaining your customers, even in a different form, is extremely important for survival. Here are some tips on what you can do to try to keep part of your revenue during these uncertain times.

Follow the guidelines and adapt your business

At Brath, like many others, we follow the guidelines of the Public Health Agency of Sweden. Right now, all employees are working from home — a luxury for us since our work is done in front of the computer, allowing us to be there for our clients just like usual (apart from physical meetings). For other industries, however, isolation hits harder: restaurants, hotels, and the travel industry are struggling. For them, margins are already small, and empty restaurants or hotels simply don’t survive.

Businesses need to adapt to withstand the crisis. Many restaurants have started offering takeout instead. Some have even hired drivers and provide home delivery in their local area, all to keep customers coming back. Other companies are encouraging customers to buy gift cards to use at a later time.

Once you’ve found a temporary solution, customers need to know about it. They also need reassurance that you are doing your part to ensure hygiene and safety in your business.

Schema.org adds new tags due to COVID-19

Many business owners use their website primarily as a communication tool. The coronavirus has created major changes in all industries that businesses must address. Events are being canceled or postponed, some products disappear from shelves, and others have had to shut down entirely (hopefully temporarily). All these changes must be communicated to customers, and this is where structured data can help.

Changes in events and meetings

Just a few days ago, schema.org released new structured data tags. One of these is the eventAttendanceMode tag, which helps businesses indicate whether an event is online, offline, or a mix of both.

This is particularly useful for industries like real estate, where agencies may consider organizing virtual viewings via streaming instead of inviting people into properties for sale.

COVID updates directly on your site

Another new tag is SpecialAnnouncement, which you can use for dated text updates that are important for readers. Many businesses have already started adding notices and articles about how they’re handling the COVID-19 outbreak.

The public has many questions, and not all of them are answered directly by the Public Health Agency. Searches like “is it safe to eat out?” or “how is company X handling hygiene at work?” are too specific for government agencies to respond to. Here, businesses themselves need to provide answers. By using structured data, Google can pick up the message and present the response to those searching. This can even lead to featured snippets.

Authorities can also benefit from these tags

Two additional tags have been introduced specifically for hospitals and authorities: CovidTestingFacility and hasDriveThroughService. These make it clear on a site where people should go to get tested for COVID-19 and whether a location offers so-called “drive-through testing.” These two tags may not be as relevant in Sweden since the number of tests being performed has been reduced, but we believe they are still important to mention.

Create a COVID-19 page & update Google My Business

If you’ve made changes due to the outbreak or want to reassure your customers that you’re continuing as usual, create a temporary landing page or FAQ on your site that’s easy to reach from the homepage. Inform visitors about how you’re handling coronavirus and add structured data for the chance of even better visibility.

Have you switched from pickup to delivery? Do you now have shorter or longer opening hours? Have you closed certain offices? All these changes should be added to Google My Business to give customers up-to-date information from your company.

Take the opportunity to digitize your business further

With declining sales comes less pressure. While that may be negative, you can turn it into something positive. We’re already seeing older generations start to learn how to shop more online. Now that they’re isolated and can’t go to the grocery store or pharmacy as usual, they’re using the internet in entirely new ways.

The same thing happened in China when SARS swept the country in 2004. It was during this time that JD.com began selling online, and they are now the country’s largest online retailer. People started shopping more online, got used to it, and kept the habit even after the fear of SARS had passed. Businesses that were able to digitize their operations therefore had a greater chance of survival.

Educate yourself and your employees

There’s plenty of free material available for you and your employees to take part in. Learn more about selling online, read our blog and brush up on your SEO skills, or listen to educational podcasts while you work! If you’re receiving fewer orders and assignments right now, use the time to prepare for the future. Once the crisis is over, you’ll be a stronger and smarter company than you were before!

Maintain your reputation – don’t exploit the situation

No company will be praised by customers or the media for raising the price of hand sanitizer from SEK 163 to SEK 749 per bottle. Creating discount codes with names reminiscent of coronavirus will not go unnoticed either. Exploiting the situation to make extra money from people’s anxiety is not the right path.

Be factual and don’t spread rumors

Make sure the information on your site is factual and relevant. Refer to authoritative sources such as the Public Health Agency of Sweden and 1177. This is where you should get your information — what newspapers and Facebook groups write is not as reliable. Don’t become part of spreading rumors or misinformation! Ensure that all claims you make come from trustworthy sources.

Remember the basic rules currently in place (2020-03-19):

Read more detailed instructions from the Public Health Agency of Sweden.

• Stay home if you are sick
• Wash your hands often with soap and water, for at least 20 seconds
• Cough and sneeze into your elbow or a tissue
• Try not to touch your eyes, mouth, and nose
• Avoid visiting nursing homes
• Avoid close contact with people in risk groups (especially the elderly and those with weakened immune systems)
• Do not go to a health center or hospital if you think you are infected: start by taking the new self-assessment test and then call 1177 for further advice
• Avoid unnecessary travel
• If you can work from home, do so
• Use hand sanitizer if you don’t have access to soap and water

And last but not least, it’s important that we all help each other. Support a local restaurant by buying a gift card, shop for local goods as much as you can. As long as you are healthy, you can help your elderly neighbors buy food and medicine.

And for heaven’s sake, don’t hoard toilet paper!

Good luck!