It was 2011 when Siri first came out. The technology was a novelty, a cool tool to test out. Not many people predicted it would change the entire trend of search and information. Today, there are a variety of voice-activated technologies on the market like Cortana, Amazon’s Alexa, and Google Assistant. People also use voice search on their mobile devices, and more than 420 million voice assistant devices have been sold.
People already use voice assistants way more than they used to, mostly for simple commands like finding directions, playing songs, or searching for meanings, but looking at the rate these voice assistants are taking off there is a lot of growth potential for search marketing as well.
Since AI technology behind voice search has become immensely more accurate and reliable; many people are beginning to be dependent on it. According to Google, voice recognition accuracy has risen to 95 percent since 2013.
The Benefits of Voice Commands for Search
As voice recognition technology becomes more reliable and accurate, users are beginning to realize more of the benefits of using voice commands for search. According to Google, here are the top 4 reasons people use their voice-assistant devices:
- Easy to multitask
- Faster response than other devices
- Instant answers and information
- Makes daily routine easier
Optimizing for Voice Search in Search Marketing
Voice search is becoming a valuable tool to simplify the search process and quickly get answers without interrupting your other daily tasks. While the adoption of voice search is still growing, smart marketers are starting to optimize for it to get the most out of search marketing in the long run. Voice search optimization is already important for large and local small businesses as people often use voice search while driving, asking questions about business location, store hours, etc. According to Google, people want to get information about personalized tips, deals and sales, customer support, information about upcoming events, and more.
Here are 6 big changes you will need to make to optimize for voice search:
1.Keyword Research for Voice Search
You must consider the grammatical differences in queries as people type and speak very differently. You need to perform thorough research on what kind of questions people might ask related to your target keywords. Google search also has a “People Also Ask” feature which you can look into to get more question ideas.
2. Site Structure & Content Development
When building your content strategy for voice search optimization, you must map questions onto the various points of your customer journey, which ensures you’re available through voice search at any stage the customer needs.
Try to organize the questions into different categories. Many of the user’s questions fall into these three categories.
- Informational intent such as news, guides, prices, how-tos, etc.
- Navigational intent such as services, store locations, press release, and customer service info
- Transactional intent includes comparisons, videos, product information or product stories
3. Structured Data Optimization
Unlike with regular search engine results, where you get a lot of options to choose from, voice search usually only returns one answer to one question from the number one best-optimized result. So for Google to answer from your content you will have to make your content as relevant as possible with search optimization.
The other thing you can do to help Google better understand your content is to use structured data markup. Structured data markup helps you create metadata for your content that tells Google what it’s about.
4. Mobile-Friendly Is Voice Friendly
Search algorithm updates in recent years have already starting to prefer mobile-friendly websites. With the current growth trajectory of voice assistant services, you should be sure to expect the coming algorithm updates to prioritize voice-friendly results. Luckily, optimizing for each of these search experiences aren’t mutually exclusive strategies.
Most voice searches come from mobile devices and what you do to optimize for voice search is also beneficial for mobile-first optimization. You can optimize
5. Improving Site Speed
Voice search results load 52 percent faster than average pages, so by improving site speed, you are more likely to be preferred by voice search.
- Using AMP & Structured Data
Your content can be made more relevant for voice search results by using structured data. It also makes your content easy to summarize and consume in search results that appear on mobile phones. You also need to use AMP if you want to have Actions on Google app. AMP optimized pages are also greatly prioritized in mobile search results.
- Optimizing for Local Search Results
A much higher percentage of mobile and voice searches are location-based queries. People use both phone’s voice search capabilities as well as mobile phone’s web browser to get information, so when you optimize your site and content for local search results, it will be applicable for both kinds of queries. Claiming your business listing through Google My Business is the first step. Then develop content that easily answers location-based questions.
- Be Ready for Future Developments
Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and other major players in the area of voice search are constantly developing new features and capabilities. There are many steps that you can take to incorporate voice optimization into your SEM strategy. Keep yourself updated and get ready for future developments in voice search so that you stay on top of the game.
6. Consider Creating Google Actions or Alexa Skills
Another strategy to make content more accessible for home assistant users is by creating actions on the Google App or building custom skills in Alexa. These actions expand the abilities of Google Assistant or Alexa to access your content. These actions make it possible for users to have back-and-forth conversations with your content, making it more relevant and valuable to voice command users.
There is a possibility that voice commands will one day dominate search queries. If voice commands are going to change the way of buying and selling soon, adding these strategies to your search optimization efforts can immensely help you prepare to capture the new voice traffic.
