Firstly, the good news: Central Coast SEO & Web Design are OPERATING AS NORMAL during the time of COVID-19 because Google is the cloud. And quite honestly, the cloud is the safest place to be right about now!

The only difference for an SEO company like us during this pandemic, is that our team are now working remotely rather than coming to the office. Which is something they do from time to time anyway and we’re obviously already set up for this, as staff have access to our secure cloud, and only need internet access and a computer to do their jobs. So, rest assured the SEO work is still being done each month and that your Google rankings are safe!

Digital Marketing in the Time of COVID-19

We’re living in crazy times. There are no two ways about it. And amidst all the chaos there are a few questions that keep popping up from current and prospective clients that I thought warranted a post to answer them:

Existing clients ask:

1. How will my SEO campaign be impacted by what’s happening with COVID-19?

While new SEO clients ask:

2. Should I start an SEO campaign now or wait for COVID-19 to pass?

And new web build clients ask:

3. Should I launch my new website now or wait until the COVID-19 pandemic is over?

Let me answer these in order, as they’re all very valid questions given what’s happening in Australia and the world at large.

Q1: How will my SEO campaign be impacted by what’s happening with COVID-19?

The short answer is: IT WON’T.

There’s not much to smile about in the midst of this pandemic, but the good news is that so far as Google and your digital marketing is concerned, it’s business as usual, as all of Google’s algorithms exist in the cloud. And all the SEO magic we have to do on a week by week basis for your website, also happens in the cloud. And when people search for what you do and where you do it, they’re doing it in the cloud. And the cloud is the one place COVID-19 can’t get to!

Now, more than ever, it’s IMPERATIVE to maintain your Google rankings. Because while all small businesses are suffering in the short-term during this pandemic (to a greater or lesser degree) it’s now more important than ever that we keep working on your Google rankings, because if we don’t, your rankings will plummet, and it’ll take six months to a year to get them back up to where they need to be to make the phone ring. And in three to six months, when we all come out the other end of this craziness, you’ll be needing the phone ringing more than you ever have before. And if you’re not doing SEO on your site during this time, your rankings will drop as surely as the sun rises in the east. And you only need to see the chart below to see how dropping even a few positions in Google can impact how much traffic your website gets. And by extension, how many phone calls or enquiries you get.

It Takes a Minimum of 3 Months for Google to Trust Today’s SEO

Everyone knows that it takes Google a minimum of three months to start caring about whatever SEO we do on or for a website, today. It’s the very reason that a standard SEO contract is 12-months long, because it takes a MINIMUM of 3 months for Google to start trusting whatever we do on or for your website, today. And it takes on average 6-12 months (or longer) to properly convince Google to trust and rank your website. The rule of thumb being: the more competitive your industry vertical is, the longer it’ll take to trust (and rank) it.

The first three months of an SEO campaign is always ‘Getting your house in order’ (or ‘fixing whatever someone else has done wrong!’). While the second three months is all about ‘Getting Google to understand that your website is legit and that they should start to trust your website – and by extension, rank it’. With months six to twelve (and onward) being all about continually reminding Google that ‘Your website is THE most important website in your industry vertical’.

Anyone who’s ever done SEO knows and appreciates these facts. They know how long and hard it was to get those Google first page rankings in the first place. They also know how competitive it is online to maintain their hard-fought rankings. And they know how easy it is for those rankings to fall away if regular week by week, month by month SEO isn’t being performed.

Q2: Should I start an SEO campaign now or wait for COVID-19 to pass?

If you’ve read the above section, you’ll already know the answer to that question is: YES – YOU SHOULD START YOUR NEW SEO CAMPAIGN NOW because it’ll take the better part of 6 months for you to start getting some serious rankings for your site. And if you want the phone to ring when this pandemic is over, you need to START IT NOW. Because if you only start it when things have returned to normal, the phone won’t ring for another six months. And as stated above, when you come out the other end of all this COVID-19 craziness, you’re going to need the phone ringing IMMEDIATELY, not six months later. Because by that stage you might not have a business to market.

As the old saying goes: ‘You don’t wait for the well to run dry before you start looking for water’.

Q3: Should I launch my new website now or wait until COVID-19 is over?

This question is a little trickier to answer, and depends on how you plan to market your new business website once it’s online.

If you’re not planning on doing any SEO for your new website, and are basically just wanting a website built as a kind-of ‘on-line brochure’ that you can direct clients to for information, then maybe you can think of holding off launching your new website until COVID-19 is in the rear view mirror, and business is getting back to normal.

However, if you’re launching a new website in order to GET LEADS, then you’ll naturally need to do SEO on and for your website in order to make that happen. And as stated above, SEO TAKES TIME MANY MONTHS TO WORK. So, if you want the phone ringing in 3-6 months, then absolutely you need your website built now. And if you don’t, then by all means hold off until your cash flow is back to normal.

Though as Central Coast SEO & Web Design now offer the ability to get your website built today, BUT PAY FOR IT IN A YEAR, INTEREST FREE, there’s never been a better time to get your new site live. And with websites starting at just $68.20 p/m and all of them coming with 12-months free hosting (and many with also including free content), maybe you might want to reconsider waiting, and build your new website today.

Use the Downtime to Work on and Improve Your Website & SEO

The other thing to consider during this time of COVID-19  (and we’ve got many clients doing just this) – is that if your business is quieter than usual, now is the PERFECT time to do whatever you can to it to help with the SEO and to help with conversions. That can be either involve adding LOTS OF NEW CONTENT to the website (because Google loves well SEO’d new content added on a regular basis) or else it could mean GETTING A WHOLE NEW WEBSITE BUILT. Because with things being quieter than normal, now is the perfect time to do what you’ve been talking about doing on or for your website for year, but never seem to have the time to do.

Call Today to Discover How We’re Supporting Businesses Just Like Yours

Call (02) 4339 4034 today and let us help your small business during the COVID-19 pandemic.  As the old saying goes:

‘A Year from Now You’ll be Glad You Started Today’.