Voice search has been with us for quite some time, but mostly in the business to consumer segment. Nowadays, voice search is used virtually for anything from finding the next step in a recipe to getting directions to a nearby store or restaurant. Because of the different purposes voice search is used for, its impact on business to business decision makers is on the uptrend.
According to research, 55% of teens and 41% of adults use voice technology daily. For teens, usage is mostly around schooling particularly help with their homework. On the other hand, adults use voice search for dictation of texts, which is convenient on small devices that are difficult to type on.
The main consumer benefits conferred by voice search are tied to enhanced user experience. Generally, voice search is simpler, faster, and more user-friendly. Internet users who find themselves navigating small website menus resort to voice search for a quicker navigation.
When it comes to accuracy, the voice recognition technology Google employs has a 95% accuracy rate. Therefore, there is no doubt that voice search is on the rise and the only way to be prepared as a business is to adopt the best practices that will put you at the frontline. There is a prediction that by 2020, voice search will account for 50% of all searches. Based on current numbers, this doesn’t seem impossible.
Below are 3 major ways you can prepare your business for effective voice search.
Targeting Longtail Keywords
Voice queries tend to be longer than the words typed on search. Also, they tend to have a more conversational language than the traditional search terms. For your business, this means finding longtail keywords relevant to your business and incorporating them into your content marketing. This will help in attracting search queries that have a more natural language.
Generally, longtail keywords refer to those phrases that string together 3 to 4 words. The advantage with such keywords is that they are specific to what you are selling. Because of this, online marketing specialists see longtail keywords as far more likely to convert to sales compared to generic searches.
Direct Attention to Mobile
By design, voice searches are likely to occur on mobile devices than any other gadgets. This is why it makes a lot of sense to optimise your website for mobile. The advantage with mobile optimisation or site responsiveness is that it makes mobile browsing much simpler. Close to 1.2 billion people today are accessing the web through their mobile devices. 80% of all internet users have a smartphone they use to access the web.
Combining all this with the prospects brought about by voice search, you can enhance your reach as a business without breaking much sweat.
Your optimization efforts must go beyond responsive design to improve page loading speeds, remove obtrusive interstitials, and format videos so that they can display in full screen when held vertically. An optimised website helps in improving the overall user experience of customers.
Targeting Featured Snippets
Devices using voice search are capable of reading aloud featured snippets as well as the source when the snippet is populated. What this does is, it creates a massive boost for brand recognition and authority because Google declares one particular company as an authority in a given subject. In voice search, position zero could as well be the new page one.
When optimizing your website for voice search, there are spillover benefits that improve your overall SEO as well. To reap the most from voice search, reprioritize your SEO strategy and best practices to accommodate it. An easier way to do this is to comb through your page one ranking keywords, analyzing search queries around those keywords, and thereafter updating your content accordingly.
