Google released a healthcare infographic this month that detailed the amount of cold + flu searches, presenting the opportunity for healthcare businesses to capitalize on these search volume peaks.
According to Google, people in the U.S. get 1 billion colds a year, which is about 3 per person throughout the year. Flu + cold searches begin in September and reach their peak from December to February. But for what are people searching?
They, of course, want cold + flu remedies, whether it be medicine or just things that might make them feel more comfortable. This can impact a number of different industries aside from healthcare and pharmaceutical companies. If you’re a tea or soup brand, you could add in keywords like these during the fall and winter months to capture audiences who may need to consume a comforting, hot fluid. Companies like Netflix could add in these keywords to capture people who might be sick in bed and wanting to stream movies. In short, staying abreast of search volume trends that seemingly have nothing to do with your business may actually pay off in the end. Your competitors might not be thinking of varying their keywords for search engine marketing and may be missing out on opportunities like these.
This infographic also affirms the mobile search growth. There was an 88% increase in the 2010-2011 year for healthcare-related searches. People may be searching from the couch or on the go, but the key is for your brand’s marketing initiatives to be mobile-friendly in order to capture these visits from potential customers. Now, isn’t that more than you expected to glean from a simple infographic about cold + flu searches?