Voice search.
It’s not just a new, trendy buzzword making the rounds in the digital corridors.
No, it’s rapidly becoming a game-changing innovation reshaping the way we interact with our digital devices and, more importantly, how businesses market their products and services online.
Some of the largest companies in the world are releasing powerful virtual assistants like Siri, Alexa, or Google Assistant, and as such, the rise of voice search is a reality contemporary marketers cannot ignore.
In this piece, our specialists will explore what voice search is in more detail, as well as how this technology is set to revolutionise the way potential customers can find your offerings.
Voice search utilises speech recognition technology to recognise spoken commands and enquiries from users, rather than forcing them to type them in. Such innovative capabilities are providing new ways for people at home, in the office, or on the go to perform quick, convenient online searches. With such convenience, voice search is becoming increasingly popular, with billions of voice searches taking place each month.
Business owners or marketers who fail to capitalise on this new technology risk being left behind. The future of SEO is morphing toward voice search optimisation, and companies should integrate voice search queries into their content and strategies to ensure they maintain an online presence.
What sets voice search apart is how naturally and conversationally users can make their searches. It poses a considerable opportunity. If a well-optimised site implements voice search SEO, you open up a brand new avenue to attract organic search traffic and enhance your overall SEO and ranking.
The growing adoption of voice search tools presents businesses with a new way to boost overall SEO rankings and drive organic search traffic to their landing pages. We’re not just talking about any kind of traffic, either; voice search results can generate highly valuable traffic from people who already know what they want.
Imagine the power of your business being just a voice command away!
To get through, however, you need to understand the role of featured snippets in voice search. Think of them as little sneak peeks or trailers of your content, living right at the top of Google’s search results. Almost half of voice search results come from these snippets, as they are perfectly placed to answer your users’ questions directly, thereby increasing your chances of landing in that coveted position on search engine results pages.
Begin by shaping your SEO strategy to include voice search optimisation tactics, such as:
Implementing these techniques into your regular marketing efforts allows search engine algorithms to better understand and rank your content. For example, more structured data, such as through the schema markup, works like a road map, guiding search engines to the most relevant parts of your site. When used effectively, it can significantly improve your odds of search engines selecting your content for a featured snippet, making your brand easily accessible to users who opt for voice search.
If you need help with this, explore working with an experienced SEO Sydney specialist.
Many voice search queries have a local intent, especially when users are on the move, trying to locate the nearest cafe, shop, service station and so on. So, while you may have worked for many years to establish a positive reputation for your physical store in a local area, you also need to bring the same efforts into the virtual realm.
How do you go about this? Start by claiming your Google Business Profile to ensure your business’s name, address, and phone number (NAP information) are correct and consistent across all online platforms. Review your business category to align with how your potential customers might refer to your service or products.
Try to cater on-site content to local search results, too, focusing on local SEO. Introduce phrases and terms your local customers might use. If your business serves multiple locations, consider creating separate pages on your website with relevant NAP information and keyword-rich content for each location.
When someone engages in a conversation with their smartphone or smart speaker, they expect an instant, accurate response to their questions. Of course, you cannot plan ahead for every possible phrasing, but thanks to the power of semantic search, your pages may still be in front of potential customers in real-time.
Semantic search is a technology that understands user intent and the contextual meaning of terms as they appear in the natural language.
With semantic search, your devices can handle more conversational, practically nuanced queries, making voice search an increasingly convenient option for information seekers. It offers speed and provides a seamless, highly personal user experience ― a trait that makes businesses sit up and take notice.
If you can effectively incorporate relevant, conversational keywords into your content that reads in a natural tone of voice, you will have a higher chance of a strong ranking in voice search results. It helps your business establish itself as a trusted friend to potential customers, elevating the possibility of capturing organic search traffic and bolstering your website rankings.
In short, provide high-quality, valuable content that adequately answers your users’ queries — just as you would in a face-to-face conversation.
The days of robotic voice search queries are long gone. The engineers behind search engines like Google are continuing to refine their algorithms to interpret longer, more complex, and conversational queries. To keep up, optimising website content to satisfy voice search queries now requires careful keyword selection and an understanding of your potential customers’ conversational nature.
Businesses ready to adapt and use voice search tools hold a significant industry advantage. Always remember, though, that the digital world is ever-evolving. Keeping up-to-date with trends and technological advancements will help you stay relevant and competitive long term.
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