Recent stats from the U.S. state that due to Coronavirus, visits to bricks and mortar stores in the week prior to March 25th compared to that week in February have reduced by 90%. That’s likely to be a similar case in Australia, so it’s now more important than ever to have an online store or service, with an active Google Ads campaign to attract traffic to it.
Also currently, it’s vital to manage the campaign closely and make changes to it bearing in mind the effect the virus has had on search terms and volume. Especially by adding new negative keywords quickly to prevent campaigns from reaching irrelevant panicked searchers.
While Google search ad traffic is falling across all devices, it was felt much more on mobile and tablet devices than it was on desktop.
Since March 16, mobile traffic has consistently been down an average of 24% from the last week of February. Tablet traffic is similarly suffering from a 19% drop in the same time period. Desktop traffic is steadier, showing an 18% decline during the week and only a 7% decline on the weekends.
Mobile traffic’s sharply declining in the U.S. because more searchers are shifting back to desktops while spending more time inside. This shift has meaningful implications for management strategy in the coming weeks and device bid adjustments need to be made accordingly.
Mobile is generally cheaper than desktops, so as the bias of spend is adjusted towards desktops a close eye needs to be kept on the monthly budget, as that could be reached more quickly, with fewer clicks.
It’s also becoming more important to advertise across Google’s other networks if not already doing so, as Search and Shopping traffic is decreasing, even though people are spending more time online.
Another consideration is how the virus has impacted in specific markets. e.g. interest in take out food has increased whereas that in coffee shops has decreased. More info about that can be found here.
The main point in these uncertain times is to remain pro-active and act according to current trends indicated by Google and changing data sets from campaigns. These provide the required info to be able to adapt dynamically in this rapidly changing environment by processing that into essential knowledge which can be used to benefit from the situation.
If you’d like to know more about how get the best results for your business by utilising Ads management to its full potential please contact us for details.