As the human population grows more accustomed to using technology in a way that serves our every whim, voice search marketing becomes an exciting tool to capture new audiences. With 50% of all searches predicted to be voice searches by 2020, there’s no better time to jump onboard this budding revolution.
To begin with, what does voice search marketing entail? Moreover, how can you leverage this trend to your advantage?
In my post, I examine how you can use voice search marketing to boost sales and traffic and change the way you plan your strategies.
Voice search SEO
Equally important, here, is the emergence of Google’s own mobile-first index. This bases ranking on the mobile version of given sites instead of desktop versions. Together, these developments demand that you optimise your site and its content for mobile search – a practice soon-to-be synonymous with voice search.
As millions of people around the world begin to rely on voice searches as a way of gathering information, SEO needs to be tweaked considerably to meet the semantics of the spoken word.
Here, you must think about the way users are going to phrase their queries in the age of voice search.
Say you’re looking for a party planner in Sydney. How you’d likely search for this on a desktop device would be to type ‘party planner Sydney’. Once entered, you usually find a listing of contact details along with numerous other links to party planners in the city.
Understandably, businesses who use relevant keywords and have installed Google My Business, find their businesses being listed.
But how would this change for a voice search that takes the form of “Alexa/Siri, find me a party planner in Sydney’?
Here’s where featured snippets become important. More on that in a bit.
Local SEO is about to become more important
Nearly 22% of voice search queries are about location-based data. From the best Italian restaurants to medical services, thousands, potentially millions, of people use voice search for location recommendations.
That’s why it’s crucial that you build and refine your local SEO strategy. This helps you drive online traffic, foot traffic and sales to your stores.
To improve your strategies, begin by creating a Google My Business account if you don’t have one or update and optimise your existing account if you do. In this process, try and get as many positive customer reviews online, add local keywords to your content, and create location-specific pages on your site if you operate multiple outlets.
Focus your attention on featured snippets
Featured snippets are the search results displayed right at the top of Google’s organic search result pages. These are, more or less, the top results for particular queries and are a useful way to drive traffic to featured sites.
Moreover, these are what digital assistants parrot out when voice searches are made. Can you see now why this is so important?
To organise your content in a way that makes it likely to get featured, make sure you’re creating content that answers specific questions. You can even organise your content in a Q&A format to make the process easier and tidier.
This format alone, however, won’t get your content featured. You also need to present high-quality, well-written content that’s both concise and informative. It’s also important to use natural and conversational language that corresponds to the way voice searches are made.
Stay ahead of voice search marketing to take your business to the next level
Voice search marketing is emerging as a top priority for business owners and for good reason. With Forbes citing that 30% of all website sessions will be conducted without a screen by 2020, we – i.e. our websites – need to be prepared for this incoming revolution.
By concentrating your efforts on delivering quality content that’s organised coherently on your site and by leaning on the tips I’ve outlined, position yourself as the go-to business in your industry when voice search takes over.
For voice search marketing that doesn’t disappoint, find out more about our marketing consultancy services!