Web traffic can come from many sources, but in general, they come from either mobile or desktop.
With the many people using their mobile devices to browse the web, webmasters and web owners should see that users of mobile devices may become their primary audience.
But as the coronavirus has been declared a pandemic, things are changing.
Rik van der Kooi, Microsoft Advertising’s corporate vice president, noted that in the last downturn of 2008, “search outperformed all other formats. Given stay-at-home and online media consumption, consumers are doing more online research, search and shopping.”
And here, "search is more important than ever."
This also happens during the pandemic, the traffic from desktop searches are increasing due to people staying at home.
Microsoft has seen a big shift in PC search share since more people began working from home.
“We’re seeing that that’s the device of choice when people have the choice,” said van der Kooi. And because the Bing search engine is built into more than 1 billion Windows 10 devices, the company is seeing this segment as the strongest source.
During this time, Microsoft noted that customer journey should be different and longer during this time.
"As you think about attribution modeling, as you think about ‘Where do I want to show up,’ ensuring that your advertising campaigns and remarketing opportunities are really maximized as consumers do more research and visit more sites,” said van der Kooi, suggesting that marketers should be more flexible with their ROI and CPA threshold, in order to “ensure that you can still close the deals” during these longer cycles.
On its blog post, Microsoft also highlighted shifts and insights seen across several key verticals.
For example, those in the travel industry should see that many of their audience are canceling their travel plans. Using “cancelable” in ad copy performs well as consumers want assurances they’ll be able to get refunds if their travel plans are upended by travel restrictions.
For retail, work from home-related queries for things like hardware, services, tools, technology and furniture are rising. For this reason, searches for online and delivery grocery terms have increased.
Financial services on the other hand, perform rather poorly, But with the markets on a rollercoaster and interest rates low, refinance queries are up, including credit card searches that also see an increase. But Microsoft said that consumers are looking for cash instead of points rewards.
As webmasters, web owners and markers are adapting to a changing way of doing business due to the pandemic, Microsoft also shared some educational information and resources to help them during this crisis.
"We’ve heard from many of you on your business concerns during this time, and we’re here to help you in whatever way we can. While the situation continues to evolve, we’re learning quickly and are focused on how we can support you to prepare for, and face the challenge of, working in different ways," said Microsoft.
"These are uncertain times and we recognize they create unexpected challenges for businesses of all sizes."
"To help you adjust to the rapidly changing environment, we want to arm you with insights and knowledge to make informed decisions."