Are you already thinking about voice search? You should be
Within the world of search engines, everyone is talking about how voice search is going to become the “Next Big Thing”. Many digital marketers can’t see the opportunities that voice search technology offers right now and are waiting to see where it takes us.
Voice search is already here and growing at pace. We think you need to get voice search ready now, to get ahead of the curve, rather than waiting for it to become the latest go-to search marketing technique.
Voice search is on the march
The volume of voice searches has been increasing so quickly that if you don’t start right now, the growing momentum may mean you find yourself playing constant catch-up in the future. Google has just announced it’s adding more languages to its assistant, increasing the potential global audience size, and therefore driving faster international growth in the voice search market.
Don’t get stuck at the back of the queue
Some of the core things you can do now to take advantage of voice search opportunities include making structural and technical changes to your website’s code.
Implementing changes to improve your site for mobile search, site speed and making sure you have structured data correctly set up, will all benefit your SEO now as well as help with voice search as its prominence grows.
All three of these elements will require making changes to templates and content on your website. For many businesses, this will involve putting technical changes into a development queue. If you delay making these changes now, the wait for implementation time later could lead to missed visitors and revenue.
Jack be nimble, Jack be quick
Mobile is already key for SEO, so aside from the additional benefits for voice search, you should be factoring this into your current work plan already.
Google’s mobile-first algorithm is being rolled out to more websites, and in January, Google announced that speed would become a ranking factor for mobile search results. So, the rate at which your website loads will soon be critical to your SEO success.
Get local
Another aspect of mobile is the use of local SEO. More and more people are searching with terms that contain the words “near me” or using a voice assistant on their mobile phones. This is an excellent opportunity for businesses with bricks and mortar locations as well as national e-commerce brands. Use mobile and voice search to get more people into your physical stores or on your website by increasing your visibility in local organic results.
Ask me a question
Good quality content will always help engage potential customers and can be used to boost your SEO by broadening the bank of keywords for which you are visible. Content that answers your customers’ frequent questions can help you rank in Answer Engines, as well as search engines, and will help attract visitors to your website for long-tail search terms.
The content crown goes global
International content will also help your voice search success.
From an international perspective, good quality, well-localised content, tailored to the needs and interests of your audiences in each market you are targeting, will help you grow your brand across the world. Siri and Google’s home assistants already speak many languages. Google has more on the way, and Amazon has plans to launch 50 new languages, so voice search is not just an English-centric activity. Our research shows that many customers who have learned to search in English will use their native language for voice search. Ensuring you have a genuinely global approach to content will help you perform better now, and set you up well for voice search in the future.
Volume voice search is coming down the track towards us at pace. It will inevitably play a huge role in the way people search, and it will change the way we think about our search strategies. Although the full commercial benefits of voice search haven’t yet been realised, implementing some core SEO elements now will benefit your current search results, as well as getting you in prime position for the ‘Next Big Thing’.