The coronavirus is very much in vogue

Rarely does a topic captivate the entire world to such an extent, yet the coronavirus is receiving varying degrees of attention in different countries. Search interest clearly shows that some countries are more interested in the topic than others.

Is it the topicality, the explosive nature, or the serious danger posed by such a pandemic, which was not recognized in the respective countries for a long time, that is prompting people to seek more information on the subject? Or how else can such large differences between nations be explained?

It is clear to see that today (as of March 31, 2020), search interest in Uganda is the highest worldwide, while search interest in Germany ranks “only” 50th.

Are we in Germany already fed up and just can't hear or read about it anymore? Do we believe that we are already well enough informed here that we can save ourselves the trouble of doing any research? Or has the Chancellor's speech reassured us to such an extent that we can now turn our attention to other interests and problems?

For example, search queries about the time change spike in the days leading up to it. This makes sense, because people want to know whether they need to set their clocks forward or back. The titles of evening television programs are also extremely fascinating to searchers. Who can blame them, when they have to stay at home?

We cannot answer why there is less general interest in the coronavirus in Germany than in the rest of the world, but it remains a topic of national interest. Here, too, there are differences between the federal states in Germany, although these are not nearly as great.

Another very interesting question is what exactly searchers are looking for in relation to the coronavirus.

It is clear that people are interested in the causes, symptoms, and current statistics. Understandably, the most popular topic is, as mentioned here, “tips” for dealing with the coronavirus.

There is also a high demand for information on protective and preventive measures. This includes the need to wash hands properly or at all, to use disinfectants or where to obtain them, and to protect oneself with a mask. This topic was already very popular before. Perhaps there are also a few requests for specific preferences (of course, we are referring to our popular masked or unmasked spoken word artists), as well as questions about whether a mask for the face would be an upgrade or whether we should finally come to terms with it.

Corona has even overtaken the weather as the most popular topic of conversation. But seriously, who cares about the weather when we can't talk about it with our colleagues? And the two new “colleagues” we've been dealing with lately in our home office, the kettle and the microwave, aren't particularly talkative either. (I keep turning them on, but nothing happens—I must have lost my charm, or maybe it's because I've been wearing the same outfit for the last few days.)

Finally, I would like to advise you to take a look at Google Trends yourself and find out what could be useful for you and your business. By playing around with this free tool or using it in a targeted manner, you are sure to come across areas that your clients or target groups are interested in. What questions are currently bothering them or what concerns do they have? With the knowledge you gain, you can better answer their questions, concerns, needs, requests... oh, sorry, that was my military service coming through... and possibly drive more traffic to your website.

Oops—did we just do some SEO on the side? Oh well, I don't think it's that easy! ... Or is it? If you have any further questions on this topic, please feel free to contact us at pole-position@drive.eu.

Here are a few ideas:

Source of all images: Google Trends