A couple of months ago, when you type the word Corona into Google‘s query box, the top results would include a Mexican beer brand.
But that’s no longer the case. Now, Google’s SERP for the term Corona has significantly evolved into a one-stop resource destination for COVID-19-related information.
But how did we arrive at this current state?
To answer this question, Search Engine Land charted an evolution of Google’s search result page for the keyword corona. It covers one month — between February 25 and March 23.
Let’s jump right in.
How Corona Evolved On Google’s SERP in A Month
Here’s a breakdown of how the keyword Corona has evolved on the search result page.
February 25
According to Search Engine Land, this is the earliest available snapshot from the Wayback Machine.
It featured a map of Corona, a city in California, above the Top Stories carousel. Meanwhile, the beer brand from Mexico, Corona Extra, appeared on SERP’s knowledge panel.
The top two organic listings belonged to the beer brand. Also, the third and fourth listings were Wikipedia pages for the city and the beverage brand, respectively.
However, Google had started showing COVID-19-related content in the top stories carousel, including the sixth, seventh, and ninth organic results.
March 2
Six days after the first snapshot, a COVID-19 SOS alert had appeared at the top of the result.
As you can see, the knowledge panel that showed the beer brand was gone. At the same time, a “Help and information” and “Safety tips” box had occupied the bottom of the top stories carousel.
Google still displayed the beer brand on the top two organic results, and its Wikipedia page had moved up to the third result. Meanwhile, Corona, California, no longer appeared on the first page of SERP, aside from the city’s website on the eight organic results.
March 9
Once again, the entire Top Stories carousel consisted of COVID-19-related articles. Also, the search result page now featured two organic results about the virus.
However, the beer brand’s official site and Corona city still maintained the same visibility as March 2.
March 20
At this point, Google had removed the SOS alert. Instead, the SERP now had a tabbed COVID-19 Alert section on the right sidebar where the Beer brand’s knowledge panel once occupied.
The new tab included information about the disease, which include symptoms, prevention, and treatment. There was also an overview section with the “Help and Information” box inside it.
While the beer brand’s website still owned the first and fourth organic listings, its Wikipedia page and Twitter account were now gone. Also, the result no longer featured sites related to the California city.
On the other hand, virus-related content now took up four of the nine organic results.
March 23
The COVID-19 Alert section was now on the left side of the result page. And its place was a statistic tab — part of the COVID-19 search experience that Google had previously announced.
The World Health Organization and the New York Times owned the two organic results on the search engine for the keyword Corona. Also, the third listing now belonged to Worldometer‘s COVID-19 tracker.
Other organic results on the keyword appeared below the top stories carousel. These include the beer brand’s two sites, Merriam-Webster‘s “corona” definition page, and the “corona” Wiktionary page,
The page also featured a gardening equipment company Corona Tools and a Washington Post article on the virus.
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