It is natural that some companies are seeing it logical to cut their spending on Google ads or stop them completely in view of the current climate. Data from the US shows that there is a decline in clicks on ads.
Since the pandemic in the US, conversion rates on Google ads have also fallen, meaning that conversions from enquiries or interaction on an advert to a sale have fallen. However, this presents an opportunity.
As more advertisers see it necessary to discontinue ads, the cost per click on keywords will reduce, opening an opportunity based around the decreasing competition on search keywords. While the hardest hit has been, amongst others, the travel and tourism industries, there is now an opportunity to improve keyword rankings above competitors. If this is done, when businesses open again, there is a good chance that companies who continued with Google ads will have a higher ranking than a business that previously had higher rankings – who will then have to catch up.
Businesses that continue to place Google ads will see a reduction in their cost-per-click as more competitors stop advertising. This means that their budget will go further, and less competition means that existing ads will have a higher search priority. We anticipate that Google will list advertisers that continue to advertise with a higher SEO ranking on their existing and new keywords.
When advertisers return, they will need to recover lost ground in their SEO rankings, whereas businesses that continued with Google ads will more than likely have gained in SEO rankings during this “quiet” period.
We, therefore, believe that it is a good strategy to continue with Google ads during this time.
