COVID WINNERS AND LOSERSComprehensive Google Trends case study, with 275 UK based search terms related to local businesses analysed
Local Business Search Trends After COVID Lockdown #
We have analysed the Google Search Trends for over 250 UK local business industries, and compared the weekly search trend before, and after the March 2020 lockdown.
The data below gives us an incredible insight into how certain industries are booming, while some others are absolutely being ravaged by the strict measures put in place by the government, in order to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
Not surprisingly, the biggest losers are businesses that are providing airport transfer, nightclubs, party venues, taxis and prom dress sellers.
Let’s dive into the data, and see exactly what we have found, in the infographics and charts below.
Biggest COVID Winners #
Surprisingly, the search term “SEO companies” experienced the biggest growth, out of the 275 search queries analysed, with a whooping 38.2% growth.
As shops and physical locations are closed, businesses are turning to the online space to sell their products and services, therefore, it’s totally understandable that they want to hire Search Marketing/SEO companies that can move them from the high street, to the biggest digital high street in the world: Google.
On the second place sits the search term “timber merchants”, with a 35.1% growth, and this is most likely due to more people staying at home, and getting involved in DIY projects.
“Skip hire”, “commercial cleaning”, “cycle shops”, “garage doors” and “paving” searches are also coming up on top of the list, as you can see in the infographic below, where we list the top 20 industries that are booming in online search trend.
Biggest COVID Losers #
As one would expect, businesses related to transportation, venues, entertainment locations, catering, and even boarding kennels, are making up a big part of the businesses that have seen their interest declining significantly, in the period following the March 2020 lockdown.
Top of the list is “airport transfer” with a shocking 48.2% decline, followed by “night clubs” with 47.3% less interest, and “party venues”, with 46.5% decrease in online searches.
Let’s see the top 20 most negatively impacted small business queries on Google out of the 275 small business related searches that we’ve researched, in the infographic below:
The Full Data #
Below, we have compiled the vast amount of Google Trends data that we have collected, and rendered it into nice interactive charts.
Note: Google Trends data or chart numbers on Google Trends can change in time (alhough the trend pattern is usually consistent). See how Google Trends works here, here, and here. This data was exported from Google trends on the 11th of November 2020.
Methodology #
We’ve used the keywords related to Yell.com most popular categories, and analysed the search trend for 275 keywords from that list, with Google Trends.
The date range for the trends data is from the 1st of January 2019, to the 8th of November 2020.
We calculated the average weekly trend for all the weeks before the 23rd of March 2020 (the lockdown date), with the average weekly trend after the 23rd of March.