How Voice Search Will Shape the Future of Marketing

Voice Search Optimization Marketing

Are you missing out on traffic because people aren’t searching the way you think they are? If your website isn’t optimized for voice search, then this could be the case. These six timely SEO strategies and resources for voice search will not only help you get more traffic from people using Siri and Alexa, but they will also become important pillars of your entire SEO strategy.

Why You Need to Optimize for Voice Search

Despite how ubiquitous digital technology is, there are still some people who haven’t fully jumped on board with the concept. In fact, according to research by Digital Marketing Specialist, 5.5 million consumers are currently using a voice-activated assistant device in their homes. And if you add in smartphones, computers, connected speakers and more, we’re probably looking at somewhere around 50 million people currently using a voice assistant device in their home. That’s a lot of people, and if you’re not doing the work to compete in voice search, you might end up losing some of that massive market share.

The Importance of Conversational Language and Voice Search

Without context, it’s difficult to talk to voice-activated virtual assistants (like Alexa and Siri) and decipher what they’re really saying. That’s why the industry is shifting to more conversational language. Google even announced that it would be changing its search engine from “lookalike phrases” to “intent-driven queries”, meaning that it would be looking at how people ask questions rather than what they say. In other words, your website should follow the user’s questions and help them find answers. Why is this important? Well, it means that instead of Google searching for “blahblahblah”, it will search for “blahblahblah but why”. This allows Google to understand the intent behind the question.

How to Optimize for Voice Search6 Strategies and Resources

1. Feature Research Research the top voice search related terms and phrases for your industry, so you can include them in a keyword strategy. Use tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs to find top sites that use those keywords. Also consider Moz’s traffic findings for voice search, and Google Trends to find similar searches. 2. Product Architecture When someone asks Siri for a specific result, you’re not likely to hear “Siri!” Google Assistant isn’t a bad replacement for Siri, however. It’s important to plan and design a website that offers related content, such as FAQs or a library of content, that will help users quickly get the information they want. Check out this link on UX design for information on how to create a welcoming environment for users with questions. 3.

WHY YOU NEED TO OPTIMIZE FOR VOICE SEARCH

Voice search has started to outpace traditional desktop searches by quite a bit. It’s no longer a hypothetical. We can all see that more people are using voice assistants like Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, or Microsoft’s Cortana, and it’s starting to infiltrate our every day lives. You may not be hearing the voice assistants quite yet, but you might be seeing them in action. Siri and Alexa have become omnipresent on cars, light switches, thermostats, and other devices in people’s homes. The real question is: are you getting the search volume you should from these devices? Siri, Alexa, and Cortana are key players in this burgeoning search revolution. Their adoption will drive more traffic to your websites and help you get more leads. So, how do you optimize for voice search?

-Voice search is the fastest growing way that people find information online.

-How will voice search impact marketing? -How to optimize for voice search -7 Actions to Take Now to Ensure a Voice Search-Appealing Website -6 Actions to Take Now to Ensure a Voice Search-Appealing Website  -Bing’s Voice Search Review: What We Learned and What You Can Learn -Top 10 Most Valuable Voice Search Strategies -10 Important Voice Search Trends of 2018 1. How to Optimize for Voice Search – How to become a savvy voice searcher! Voice search takes the internet to a whole new level. As voice search becomes more prevalent, businesses need to take a keen interest in understanding how people are searching for information, and what sort of tactics they’re using to find the information they’re looking for.

-Voice commands are more natural than typing in a word or phrase, so people tend to speak longer and more naturally when they’re using voice search.

-Because people usually don’t type full words into voice-first search, they naturally give less background about the terms they’re looking for. For instance, people are more likely to know a question and to search for information about a specific restaurant or to ask a question in response to an advertisement. -If someone asks to see “pictures of cars that I can afford”, they’re more likely to want to know what size and other details about the car, rather than the price. -If someone asks Alexa for information about cats, she can better respond with information from Wikipedia because she’s able to hear and understand more detailed information in that way.

SECTION 2 – THE IMPORTANCE OF CONVERSATIONAL LANGUAGE AND VOICE SEARCH

Conversational language is nothing new. As a child, I can recall my parents’ interactions with their Alexa-enabled devices. By asking questions, they would be able to ask Alexa to play music on demand, help them keep track of their schedule, find restaurants, and more. All of this was enabled by the Alexa Voice Service (AVS) API, which allowed developers to build “skills” that could work with Alexa’s AI. How big is the voice search industry? In 2016, more than 500 skills were available on the Amazon Alexa platform. That number is expected to balloon to more than 10,000 in 2017. But it’s not just the development of skills that is expanding voice search. Voice search is also expanding the “user experience”.

-Using conversational language helps your website rank better in Google’s search results.

-How Siri and Alexa drive conversions through predictive and prescriptive actions. -How to craft the perfect link back to your site. -Your head has to be in the game. -This list will make you a better voice search marketer. 6 Practical SEO Resources 1. Search Engine Rankings Research “Search Engine Ranking Research” is a great place to find insights and methods to help keep your site on top of search results. The second half of the book “Search Engine Optimization” focuses on how search engines will change in the future, and this is where search engine optimization (SEO) research becomes especially important. “Search Engine Ranking Research” is the work of Seth Godin, who also wrote “Think Like a Freak,” one of the most important SEO books of all time.

1. Use Custom Audiences for Voice Search Not everyone in your audience should see the same text. So before building out your meta tags for the rest of your website, consider adding custom audiences for voice search in order to be sure people searching for terms that would not otherwise be searched for in your target market will find your content. Custom audiences are useful when your audience and market overlap. For example, if you are in the market for home rentals in your target market and someone searches for home rentals for area codes around Washington D.C., the first thing that Google will do is throw up this type of targeting audience on the page.