Technology has evolved at an unprecedented speed over the years. After the keyboard and the touch, here comes the time of the command by word. Today, voice search has managed to gain a foothold on the internet as most of the day-to-day task have been evolved, making our lives easier.
Now for example, just by using your voice you can do your daily tasks such as playing your favorite music, looking for best Chinese restaurant in a particular area or finding the shortest route to your home. It is undoubtedly a way to perform searches on the Internet that is steadily expanding among users in general. And this is a trend that must be taken into account to design the next marketing strategies of an organization. However, before explaining why voice searches are gaining ground on conventional searches, I would like to start by defining exactly this term, in case you still don’t know it.
What is Voice Search?
Generally speaking, it allows users to perform a search by speaking directly to a device, instead of typing the words in the search engine, and obtaining results. At present, voice searches are used through virtual assistants such as:
- Google Voice Search
- Siri (Apple)
- Cortana (Microsoft)
- Alexa (Amazon)
The beginnings of the voice searches were not easy
When the first voice assistants appeared, they were no more than the “ugly duckling” of the digital environment and many users made fun of them, for their difficulty in understanding and answering questions. Many users did not see it as a reliable tool and ended up using them for personal entertainment, with questions such as: “Siri, do you love me?” Or “Siri, where were you born?” At the end of the day, people gave up and did not just give it an optimal use, so voice searches ended under a gray cloud.
However, today there is a very different picture of the same. Voice searches have taken a 180-degree turn and, although they still have a long way to finally position themselves in people’s hearts, several experts say they are on the right path. Voice searches have improved and will continue to revolutionize the way we conduct online queries.
Although they have not had an easy route and in their beginnings they did not have great reception by consumers, it is important to remember that technological changes should not be ignored. On the contrary, they should be studied and, where possible, try to apply them to the business strategies.
Tips to optimize your website for voice searches
- Using conversational Keywords – With more and more people leaning towards voice search, the use of keywords is also evolving day by day. Keywords that were used in the past for “typed” searches will probably not work anymore. The reason is pretty simple: when people are using voice search, they are like talking on the phones to a real person. So, instead of typing “restaurants in China” or “best restaurants in China”, they will ask “What are the best restaurants in China?” Or “Tell me which are the best restaurants in China”. This gives a different long-tail formulation; we use the phrases and words that are most commonly used in the daily lives. Therefore, content optimization for voice SEO is very much important. Moreover, there are so many tools available in the market to help you optimize your business website. For example, Ahrefs – you can use to find out what kind of questions and phrases are relevant to create content that contains these keyword phrases.
- Claim your Google my Business listing – Whether you are looking to optimize your site for voice search or not, but this is one of the important tool to use in your business. This is a great way to let Google provide information about your business. Make sure that you have correctly filled in your address, your telephone number, your sector of activity, a description, and your schedules. Keeping your Google Business listing up-to-date will increase your chances of ranking higher in search results related to your niche.
- Improve your Local SEO – Local SEO is often overlooked in favor of general SEO and in some cases this makes perfect sense. However, you should seriously think about focusing on local SEO since most voice searches are aimed at local businesses. 39% of all voice searches are for companies, so you may find that this could be very helpful for you and your business. Usually, when people search for businesses, they get results based on their location. Be sure to keep your Google Business listing up to date, build your reviews online, and write content with relevant key phrases and using structured data.
Conclusion
The future of voice search cannot be predicted for sure; but, we are very sure that the use over time will only increase. It is up to your company how you incorporate this information into your Digital Marketing and SEO strategies. If you decide to incorporate the optimization of your site to adjust to voice search we are sure that in the short and medium term this can only benefit you.