- What Is Voice Search?
- How Does Voice Search Differ from Conventional Searches?
- How Is Voice Search Used in Digital Marketing?
- 7 Tips to Optimize Your Voice Search Strategy
With the constant advancements in technology, users are enjoying new ways to access and utilize the internet. One such advancement is voice search technology, which has been gaining popularity with consumers because of its speed and convenience.
One reason for its growing popularity is its seamless integration with everyday technology such as smartphones and smart speakers. Although voice search itself isn’t exactly new, it has adapted in recent years and has become more complex and precise.
These developments in artificial intelligence and machine learning have enabled voice search to deliver faster and more accurate results. Google’s voice recognition, for example, has a 95% accuracy rate.
But what is voice search technology and how will it continue to change our daily lives? What impact will it make in 2023 and how can you prepare for it? This article will help you get a better understanding of what voice search technology is and how you can craft a relevant voice search strategy for 2023.
What Is Voice Search
Voice search is a voice recognition technology that lets you perform searches just by speaking to your mobile phone or other smart devices, instead of typing in your query or its keywords manually. To access a device’s voice search feature, you can use hands-free voice commands or click the microphone icon on the screen, like the one that you can see at the end of Google’s search bar.
According to Adobe, the increasing popularity of smartphones and smart speakers has contributed to a 10% year-on-year growth in voice search usage. Some of the popular voice assistants being used today include Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant.
Many consumers are turning to voice search not only to make queries, but also to find and know more about a local business or stay updated with the weather. Additionally, users can turn to voice search for:
- Making calls
- Creating reminders
- Setting alarms
- Launching an application or program
- Conducting product research
- Shopping or creating shopping lists
- Playing music
While popularly used for simpler tasks, voice search usage falls when it comes to more complex tasks, including:
- Planning their travels (11%)
- Finance management (5%)
How Does Voice Search Differ from Conventional Searches
Think of it as having a conversation with the search engine. Instead of typing or saying, “plumber near me,” you’ll ask your voice assistant, “Hey Siri, where can I find a plumber near me?”
With conventional searches, you’re using shorter keywords, as opposed to voice search where you use longer keywords and inquire in a more conversational way.
How Is Voice Search Used in Digital Marketing
Voice search has come to play a crucial role in digital marketing. As with any other media, marketers and ecommerce brands are leveraging this technology to become more visible to their target market.
Moreover, voice search can benefit your business by:
- Spreading brand awareness
- Bringing more traffic to your website
Nowadays, voice search, like its traditional media counterparts such as print, TV, and social media ads, has become an avenue for voice ads. What’s surprising is that consumers tend to view voice ads as less intrusive compared to traditional advertising forms.
In fact, more than a third of consumers find voice ads to be more engaging.
Voice search technology, particularly smart speakers, is also a viable means by which brands can improve their visibility and brand awareness. Through voice search, brands can let consumers know about:
- Promotions and other offers
- Personalized tips
- Updates on events
- Customer support
- Business information such as location or contact details
7 Tips to Optimize Your Voice Search Strategy
Voice search is changing the way consumers look for and interact with brands. This is why it’s important for you to develop a voice search strategy for 2023 and integrate it into your digital marketing plans.
It’s not just about keeping up with the latest technology. By employing voice search, you’re giving your business an advantage, especially if you’re in a competitive industry or located in an area where a lot of businesses are providing the same products or services.
By optimizing your brand for voice search, people will be able to find your business quickly. You’ll also be able to enjoy improved search engine results pages (SERP) rankings, better sales and revenue, and increased audience reach. Furthermore, you’ll be able to deliver a better customer experience for your clients.
Here are seven tips you can use to create an optimized voice search strategy for 2023:
Know who your customers are
Use data to gain a better understanding of who your target customers are and what their behaviors are. Find out if your clients are engaging in voice search and how they’re using it. You also need to determine what their needs and pain points are and come up with comprehensive answers to some of their most frequently asked questions. When answering queries, try to give answers that are clear and concise.
Optimize your Google My Business listing
Your Google My Business page is an important factor that helps customers find your business. Aside from providing them with relevant business information, such as your address, store hours, and contact details, it helps search engines identify your business for “near me” searches. Another thing you can do to rank for “near me” searches is by employing local keywords. You can then complement this by using schema markup to improve the performance of your content.
Make your website mobile-friendly
Voice search is increasingly becoming integrated with mobile devices. As such, it’s important that you focus on making your website more mobile-friendly. This means prioritizing improved user experience, and having faster page load speeds to create a more mobile-responsive webpage.
Identify long-tail keywords and use them in your website
When incorporating voice search into your digital marketing strategy, you need to focus on identifying relevant long-tail keywords. Consumers are using conversational language when using voice search. This entails longer and specific search phrases.
Use schema markup
Schema markup is an important tool that can help organize and contextualize your content, enabling search engines to better understand your website.
Organize your pages
How you organize your pages and your content also contributes to voice search optimization. Try to restructure your content to make it more voice search-friendly. Avoid creating blocks of text as these can potentially affect your ranking. When creating content, it’s also important that you try to keep things simple and concise, all while considering factors such as speech patterns and idioms.
Don’t overlook your FAQ page
Create a FAQ page that’s well-structured and is able to answer common queries in detail. Consider long-tail questions that usually start with “who,” “what,” “where,” and “how.” Provide comprehensive but easy-to-read answers to these questions while maintaining a conversational tone.
Final Thoughts
Voice search technology is here to stay. The technology itself is complex. Aside from incorporating relevant keywords and other search engine optimization (SEO) best practices, you need to optimize your site for “near me” or hyper-local searches.
Despite its complexity, voice search is full of potential. As voice search technology rapidly evolves, it’s crucial for brands to develop an optimized strategy that will allow them to fully utilize the potential of voice search technology.