In the ever changing and growing world of Search Engine Optimiziation, trends appear quickly and fade away just as quick all the time. One topic of discussion that has been around for a little over a year now and is still generating buzz is the topic of voice search and how digital assistants can help or hurt local businesses.
When Apple first revealed Siri, the technology was very advanced for the time, but it was nowhere near what it was designed to be technologically. Today the Siri we know and use on iPhone’s is far more advanced, displays more results, and is more accurate with its information and listening skills. In fact, Siri’s voice recognition is over 95% for the English language.
What we are learning about voice search, and digital assistants is that they give us exactly what we are looking for when we are looking for it. When it comes to using technology, we want instant gratification, and voice search gives us that. As voice search technology has improved over the years, more people have begun to utilize it every day. 41% of all adults use voice search at least once a day.
It is interesting to note that while, yes, 41% of adults using voice search once a day is a lot of people, 70% of consumers have never used voice search for products. While this is damaging to people voice searching for things like ice cream, this is great for businesses that are service based. Typically when we use voice search for things, it’s for things we need right at the moment. More often than not, services and local businesses are what we want to know about in moments like these.
46% of people who use voice search look for local businesses. It’s also important to think about how people use voice search in opposition to how we use Google’s search page on our laptops, phones, or computers. At the base level, they are very similar. The keywords used in both searches are similar in nature, however there are slight differences in voice search keywords. When you use voice search, you say things like “find me.” This is because voice search has been developed in such a way as to seem like another person, simply assisting you; hence the name digital assistant. When we talk to other people, we use different terms and words to make it more personable than when we simply type in a search on our own.
Just like you would do keyword tracking for traditional search, you should be optimizing for voice search as well. This can be as easy as changing the wording to read exactly what you would say to your digital assistant. “Find me a local contractor,” is an example of a phrase that you could track and monitor for your website.
There’s no doubt that voice search is on the rise. With that being said, it’s important that you are doing everything you can to maximize the resources available to you. Monitoring keywords specifically targeting the voice search base is something that could help your rankings, as well potentially get you new customers. Make sure that you are using simple language, and focusing on fewer keywords as a whole. Digital assistants are different from regular search in that they don’t pull up and give you all the possible results for what you search. They only give you a couple results based on their algorithm. With that being said, simple keywords, that make the most sense for your business, will bring you the best results and potential customers.
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