We reported last week that Googlers are being encouraged to work from home and many cancelled speaking events. It seems like Google has grounded international travel for its employees. John Mueller from the Google Search Relations team (formerly Search Quality Analysts) said on Twitter "Various people depend on us."
He added "luckily there are so many ways to be involved nowadays without being somewhere in person."
Here is the tweet:
I'm now working from home, and all international work travel is canceled on Google's side. Various people depend on us (everyone, including you all!) to be "fine & fit" :-) - luckily there are so many ways to be involved nowadays without being somewhere in person.
— 🍌 John 🍌 (@JohnMu) March 9, 2020
Yeah, we currently can't travel internationally, so unless someone sells the UK to Switzerland, that will be hard :). I have a bit of practice joining events virtually though :).
— 🍌 John 🍌 (@JohnMu) March 9, 2020
It is very true - there are so many of us that depend on John and his team. If he and his team need to communicate through virtual measures to ensure they stay healthy and are able to continue to do their job - so be it.
Wishing everyone, including Googlers and the SEO/SEM community all stay healthy and safe!
Forum discussion at Twitter.