Despite the financial hit of the Coronavirus and an antitrust lawsuit, The Ad Firm believes Google will come out of 2021 strong.
Protecting Ad Revenue
Despite its attempts at diversification, Google’s still an ad-based entity. Revenue from search results and properties makes up 80% of Google, and the company plans to continue investing in online ad features.
Device Adoption
Google joined forces with ADT. The company isn’t necessarily looking to get into home security. It hopes to use ADT’s techs to install Nest devices — Google’s smart thermostats. Google wants Nest owners to use their devices for voice queries. This gives Google the chance to collect customer data and improve ad products.
New Markets for Google
To expand, the company announced a $10 billion investment in India. As the world’s largest democracy, India is an excellent investment. Google plans to bring Google Cloud to the continent, as well as education and other Google services. An SEO marketing company can see the benefits of this move. Growth is about widening your footprint.
Expanding Local SEO Efforts
COVID-19 saw the growth of services to aid local businesses, and Google was at the forefront. That’s only logical. Its revenue greatly depends on user activity and local searches.
The company hopes to increase the validity of GMB listings to business owners. To better update GMB profiles, Google expanded its GMB business messaging system. Now, performance analytics are easily accessed. These are smart SEO marketing company strategies.
 Google officials said the company would offer ad credits to COVID-affected small businesses. Google also updated its Google Maps. Rebuilding traffic data for pandemic travel, Google plans to make the platform relevant to current times.
Healthcare & Google
As the Coronavirus continues, Google looks to partner with healthcare systems. Google operates a healthcare-specific cloud. Google algorithms manage patient data in compliance with HIPPA.Â
Google will make a move into virtual care. Google’s partnership with Amwell is a strong sign of the company’s intent to provide healthcare solutions.
Education
Google’s virtual learning platform, Google Classroom, relaunched with 50 new features, just in time for the new school year. Those controls were engineered to secure online learning, particularly for younger children.
Google also developed a certification program. Part of its plan to deal with the pandemic, this initiative is a six-month course that’ll cost much less than four years of college.
Privacy at the Forefront
The Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit continues to haunt Google. It argues, “By restricting competition in search, Google’s conduct has harmed consumers by reducing the quality of search (including on dimensions such as privacy, data protection, and use of consumer data), lessening choice in search, and impeding innovation.” SEO agencies understand the need to combat bad perception. In that regard, Google’s made significant steps to show its appreciation of consumer privacy. This included an ad disclosure schema that allowed users to see all cookies tracking them on Chrome.
What’s Coming
The pandemic continues to force us to reevaluate everything lifestyle and business. Regardless of the motive behind its efforts, Google will be at the forefront, providing a high level of leadership under extreme circumstances.
Google has seen the impact of COVID like the rest of the world. The result is Google’s become a stronger ally to educators, businesses, and healthcare providers. It’s also extended its reach to the global consumer, offering security and certainty. The Ad Firm expects Google to do more in 2021.
