How is COVID19 Crisis Affecting the Traffic on Online Platforms?

The COVID-19 has changed the entire scenario of the business world as due to this global outbreak almost every business sector (whether it be offline or online) has somehow impacted. Moreover, as the pandemic has changed the online behavior of the audience, online businesses are finding themselves in a tough position to fight with this situation and enhance the traffic on their platform. They are required to make some actionable strategies and planning to reduce the negative impact of the crisis and mitigate the losses.  

Meanwhile, the online platforms (or you can say websites) are seeing their usual traffic graph fluctuating either upwards or downwards. And, with the same concern, let’s take a look at several major online platforms and how they are affected due to this worldwide crisis.

1. E-Learning Platforms

As all the students (and working professionals as well) are forced to stay at home due to this nationwide lockdown, they are left with the only option to continue their learnings and upgrade their skills and the option is E-Learning Platforms. As per the reports, E-Learning Platforms (Websites, YouTube Channels, Mobile Applications, etc) are experiencing a significant surge in usage since this outbreak. And, the renowned platforms like GeeksforGeeks, BYJUs, etc are offering various distance learning programs in this lockdown period for the ease of the students. Meanwhile, E-Learning Platforms are playing a crucial role and so is enjoying the high-traffic benefits as well.

2. E-Commerce Sites

Fortunately, during the COVID-19 outbreak, e-commerce websites seem to be in a better place in comparison to other sectors. The major reason for e-commerce platforms experiencing decent traffic in this situation is the temporary closure of physical stores and consideration of social distancing as well. Hence, people have no choice but to visit these websites to purchase the required goods. As per the reports, in the last 3 months, 50% of the consumers have ordered the products online that they would usually purchase from the store. Also, the high demand for the products related to this pandemic such as hand sanitizer, wearing masks, etc. is also the reason for this adequate user traffic.

3. Travel & Tourism Websites

It is one of the most negatively impact domains due to this COVID-19 outbreak. However, if we take a look at the reports, travel websites like flight booking, etc. are still having impressions and traffic enhancement due to the cancellation, rescheduling, pre-booking of the tickets for future, and similar aspects. Moreover, if we particularly consider tourism sites such as hotel booking, off-country visits, etc., there is an overall decrease in the search traffic as no one is doing such plannings in this situation. Although, it is obvious that people are practicing social distancing and avoiding unnecessary trips, at least for the upcoming few months.

4. Online Food Delivery Platforms

Although people are forced to stay at home in this lockdown period, hence they are expected to rely more on the online food delivery platforms. But the stats are showing something opposite, yes as people are more concerned about maintaining social distancing they are avoiding to order outside food. As per the reports, giant players in the industry like Swiggy and Zomato have faced nearly 55-60% drop in their usual search traffic in this outbreak. Moreover, these online food delivery platforms (apps, websites, etc.) might be going to struggle for a while with the low traffic but they can overcome this situation easily as there are a lot of opportunities to grow in this particular sector.

5. Healthcare & Wellness Websites

It is one of those few sectors that are witnessing a stable (or even increased) search traffic. There may be various reasons behind that as people are becoming more concerned about health issues and searching out various websites and resources over the web to deal with the stress and maintain stable health in this pandemic. Secondly, various sites are providing content related to COVID-19 disease or other medical information and are getting a lot of traffic. Apart from the existing platforms, this outbreak has created various new opportunities as well for the healthcare & wellness websites that can be considered.

As of now, you have known about how the online platforms are getting affected by the coronavirus pandemic and witnessing a fluctuation in their search traffic volume. Though several essential tips are mentioned below that can be considered to maintain the traffic on online platforms effectively.

• Focus on SEO Strategy: Whether it is any pandemic situation or not, SEO is a must! Meanwhile, when everyone is forced to come online for every single task, this is the ideal time for you to work upon your SEO strategy and get visible to your audience in SERPs. Moreover, you are strongly recommended to work on the local SEO strategy as well.
• Strong Social Media Presence: As in this lockdown tenure, when you’re not expected to connect with the people physically, social media is the best way to do the same. You are required to build a strong social media presence, connect with the people, update them with your platform services in context with this outbreak.
• Prioritize Your Products: Yes, you need to make significant changes with your platform givings. For example, if you’re having an e-commerce website, you’re required to focus on the important products as per the situation such as sanitizers, groceries, etc. instead of the irrelevant or unnecessary items and display them at your homepage as well as product page.
• Create a dedicated COVID-19 page: This is something not mandatory but strongly recommended. You can have a page on your website or blog to get some more traffic. Meanwhile, do not provide any restricted or unwanted content on this page instead you can update people regarding what your platform is doing beneficiary for them in this outbreak.

So, this is how the COVID-19 crisis has affected the traffic on online platforms (and going to affect for the upcoming few days or months as well!). But this is also the time to take up the challenges, analyze the situation, and prepare a worthwhile plan for the online business and for the society as well!!