The current global pandemic has become a part of our lives as we are now acclimating to its adversities. While on the one hand, people are struggling to survive the crisis, on the other hand, online businesses are brainstorming ways to hold onto their market share. Also, their efforts are essential to keep the economy alive. But have you ever wondered what the search engines like Google, have on their mind? They are also leveraging the opportunity and striving to position themselves as essential for online operations. And it was visible in the significant steps taken by Google in April, making it free for the US businesses to list products on Google shopping and looking forward to rolling out the change to the other parts of the world, later in 2020.
The amendment was an advancing plan to ensure that small businesses are still able to survive and transition to selling online when every other source of income seems to be dried up. Since the healthcare crisis is leaving a great impact on our lives and businesses around us, the new features are expected to have lasting relevance as well. But what exactly will be the impact of these updates on search marketing in the coming years? Let’s dive in for better cognizance.
Think with Google: Rising Retail Categories, this new tool has the potential to show search intent for different product categories and how it has risen over time. This product-oriented version of Google Trends displays a list of top trending categories on a weekly, monthly, and annual basis. Marketers can drill down into it and view the search queries for a given product category. Though for some reason the percentage increase in the trending category isn’t useful because nobody can discern the previous percentage of search interest or even the present figure. Regardless, the users can drill deeper into each category to understand the impact of searches for specific brands or products on the upticks of their search interest. The small retailers and businesses will be benefited the most with this tool as they will get a steer in uncertain sectors.
Local Inventory Ads: Curbside Pickup Badges has already been there before this contagious outbreak, allowing people to collect goods from the store itself without even leaving their vehicle. But after the emergence of this virus and the following lockdown, it has been favored as a way of minimizing the risk of infection and delivery cost. It is a spiritual successor to Google’s store pickup feature, informing people whether the product is available in the store for a pickup or not. Although its trend is estimated to fade away as the global pandemic allays, the tech giant is willing to highlight the information to accentuate consumer confidence and click-throughs to the local storefronts.
Earlier in May, the tech giant launched the Support Links feature to provide businesses with additional ways of bringing in revenue. Companies now can add donation and gift cards links to their Google My Business Profile and appeal to the customers to support them. While the donation link has been the result of a partnership with PayPal and GoFundMe, Gift cards are the product of an agreement with Square, Toast, Clover, and Vagaro. These links gave new hope to the businesses, especially those whose physical storefront is shut since March.
For how long the current pandemic is going to stay between us is highly uncertain and we can’t let that uncertainty take a toll on our businesses. During coronavirus, digital marketing, in fact, is the only thing that can keep you going despite the plummeting market share. So, be it any of Google’s new updates, you should use them to the best of their potential.
