In 2017, Google launched its SOS Alerts feature that’s activated when a crisis occurs that endangers the public. On Thursday, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus outbreak a global public health emergency. And so, the Google SOS Alert for coronavirus switch was flipped.
While this may seem like a small effort against a potential massive outbreak, we’ve all used Google as a replacement medical professional before. Recent reports confirm a dramatic global increase in Google searches for “corona beer virus,” “beer coronavirus” and “beer virus.” It’s clear many users are in dire need of the correct information. So the search engine giant is doing us a favor by ensuring a search for the coronavirus churns out curated, accurate information. The Google SOS Alert for the coronavirus guarantees that when you run a search you will be shown results that include up-to-the-minute news, suggested safety tips from medical experts and links to information from the most authoritative sources.
Google works with global teams who are actively sourcing content from trusted media outlets, government agencies, NGOs and the like. The teams also look to Google News, Maps and Waze for any additional information they’ve missed. The coronavirus outbreak alert is currently a global alert, but it can become localized when the outbreak is eventually (hopefully) contained.
Here’s what they’ve listed on their website:
Google seems to have a keen sense of responsibility to its global community of users and steps up to assist when the world at large is under threat. It deserves all the kudos. However, this is also a great example of how comprehensive SEO strategies can get the right information out to the right people when they need it the most. Speaking of … Google has made some waves in the SEO community. Check out the latest SEO news below:
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Editor’s Note: “SEO News You Can Use” is a weekly blog post posted every Monday morning only on SEOblog.com, rounding up all the top SEO news from around the world. Our goal is to make SEOblog.com a one-stop-shop for everyone looking for SEO news, education and for hiring an SEO expert with our comprehensive SEO agency directory.