We are seeing a rapid increase in the use of voice search mediums (ie: Alexa, Siri, Cortana, Google Assistant). According to Google, more than 20% of mobile searches are done using voice. To optimize your website's search ranking, it’s important to understand how people are using voice search. Here are three key trends to keep in mind:
The majority of voice searches are questions, often beginning with who, what, when, where, and how. With this is in mind, understanding what your audience searches will allow you to have their answers ready to go.You can use tools like Google analytics to track most-searched keywords and questions. Google has also hinted at possibly including voice search information in its annual search analytics report, which would be helpful when creating your communications strategy.
How we speak differs from how we type. This holds true for search queries. The way we phrase our online searches depends greatly on whether we speak it or type it. Voice searches tend to be longer, more casual, and more conversational than typed searches, which are typically shorter and more concise.For example, a user searching for coffee would probably type something like “coffee Columbus.” But if they perform a voice search, their query would look more like “where can I get coffee,” or “coffee near me.”When preparing your search optimizations, it’s important to keep this in mind and cater to both voice and typed search queries.
People using voice search are three times more likely to be searching for something local. In fact, Google reported that “near me” searches have increased by nearly 130% on a year-to-year basis.To bolster your search rank, try including content on your website that describes your location: use landmarks, local businesses, and other surrounding nearby points of interest.Voice search has seen exponential growth in recent years, and its only bound to get bigger. For more information on rank for voice search, check out Google’s voice search guidelines here.[ninja_form id=2]To stay up to date with the latest from Embee Media, be sure to check out our other Spotlight Series and subscribe to our newsletter!