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In the earliest days of search engines, people logged onto desktop computers and pecked out search terms on the keyboard. Many of us still do that. However, more searches today happen on mobile devices or home assistants via the most natural human interface: voice. The rise in popularity of virtual assistants such as Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, or Google Home mean that content marketers need to adapt to SEO for voice search.
In 2013, Google’s Hummingbird update began to take language and semantics into account for the purpose of search optimization. It tracked conversational phrases and began divining searcher intent by parsing the language people used. A few marketers on the cutting edge began to try and build business channels based on voice search. Domino’s was one of the first companies to let Alexa users order pizza by voice through the home device.
Admittedly, speech hasn’t taken over search yet.
Google has stated that this year, people use voice for about 20 of mobile search queries. This number will continue to escalate, however. Companies that rely on SEO (which is pretty much all of them) need to adapt, according to Marketing Week’s Sarah Vizard.
“Instead of consumers seeing a long list of results and being able to pick the most suitable one, most voice results will probably serve up just one answer,” she wrote. “The types of search queries are different too. When typing, people generally input queries such as ‘weather’ but in voice they might ask, ‘Do I need an umbrella today?’. That offers more context and therefore more chance for brands to show up relevant content, but that requires a change of approach.”
While keywords aren’t going away anytime soon, they may become longer thanks to voice search.
Someone might type “Frigidaire Dishwasher Model 367 User Guide” into a search engine. By voice, they might instead ask, “What’s the best way to clean soap scum off the inside of my Frigidaire dishwasher?”
While the intent is the same, the method used to get results is very different.
Beyond home-based virtual assistants, more people today are using “chat bots.” These automated chat channels also work via natural language rather than manual entry of short keywords.
Gartner has predicted that 30 percent of Web browsing sessions will happen without a screen by 2020. Beyond that, the research company has also predicted that voice will help expand digital commerce itself.
Ensure voice and natural language searchers can “find” your company.
At Keyword Performance we help marketers optimize their search strategies to prepare for higher rates of voice search. That way, competitors won’t leave them behind when voice search becomes a larger part of the search industry.
Our AI SEO services help businesses prepare for voice and AI-driven search. Our SEO consulting services can help you decide how much to invest in voice search.
