Search Trends During COVID-19

Businesses around the world have been working quickly to adapt to the dramatic changes in consumer demand, behavior and expectations as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is particularly true in the Healthcare space, which has been uniquely impacted by the pandemic. Patients and health care professionals alike have been turning to Google during these unprecedented times for information.

The graph below shows the volume of Coronavirus searches. A steady increase in February & March, after the World Health Organization declared a Global Health Emergency, with volume peaking in the US around mid-March, when a national emergency was declared.

As to be expected, this year telemedicine has seen 4x the search volume so far compared to the same time frame in 2019. While the overall volume has increased, it is also important to call out that the tone of the queries has changed. In early 2020, queries were education-focused and information seeking (what is coronavirus, how is coronavirus spread). However, as time progressed the queries shifted to take a tone of more concern, preparation and statistics (how many people have died from coronavirus, how many cases in the us, when will coronavirus end). 

The symptoms and treatment category search volume, particularly related to COVID, has increased in the first 6 months of the year, with cold & flu category seeing +125% YoY growth, seasonal allergies seeing +37% YoY growth, multivitamins seeing +49% YoY growth, vaccines & immunizations seeing +48% YoY increase and trauma & stress disorders seeing +40% search volume growth. 

Conversely, categories including dental health, lupus, arthritis, and certain types of cancer have seen YoY decreases in Search volume. 
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