How Voice Search Will Change the Way You Market

July 25, 2018
2:24 pm

Posted by DMA Solutions Team

Gone are the days of turning to your desktop or mobile keyboard in search of answers – smart home devices are here to stay. Last year, Time Magazine included Amazon’s Echo technology in their list of 30 Ultimate Tech Gifts for the holidays – not just once, but twice. Google and Apple have also entered the smart technology space, offering products of their own to serve as a solution for consumers seeking to upgrade the technology in their homes.

So how has this technology innovation changed the landscape for marketing? These tools introduced voice search, through which consumers can ask their devices questions about anything and everything, from the weather forecast to instructions on how to change a tire. The devices use search engines like Google to generate answers and read them aloud to consumers.

Voice search is rapidly increasing in popularity, and some estimates report that by 2020, 50% of all searches will be voice search. So how will this technology phenomenon affect the way you market to consumers? Keep reading to find out.

Your optimized web pages will see more views than ever

Let’s say you search “apple pie recipe” on Google. That search will result in about 320 million different ways to pair pie crust and Granny Smith apples. But chances are, you won’t look beyond the first link, because it’s already presented you with steps 1 through 3 in a list that’s easy to digest.

This list is what Google calls a featured snippet. The search engine has rewarded All Recipes for formatting their recipe in a list by featuring them first on the page – even above ad placements. Google is also rewarding All Recipes because it can use the numerically formatted instructions as an answer when someone uses voice search to ask “how to make apple pie.” You see, instead of presenting the searcher with several different recipe options, Google can start to read aloud this answer step-by-step.

If your website content is already optimized in an easy to read list format, you can expect to see those pages attracting more and more web traffic. If your website is primarily made up of paragraphs of text that aren’t easily digestible, you may want to consider revising and removing some copy.

You’ll see keyword SEO strategies shift

Traditionally, marketers have sought to optimize their websites for short keywords or phrases. This SEO strategy was best practice for building authority around those particular words. With the introduction of voice search, it’s important to optimize for longer search queries that aren’t as broad. In other words, using the specific phrase “how to prepare an artichoke” will reap greater rewards than “artichoke prep.” Don’t shy away from using this kind of language in your web copy! The helpful headlines will make your content easier to read, and you’ll optimize yourself for voice search in the process.

You’ll need to change your tone

Technology like Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri are cutting-edge, partly because of the humanized, approachable tone the tools use when “speaking”. To optimize your content for voice search, keep this in mind, and write in a more conversational tone. When you relax your tone with your web copy, you may also find yourself connecting better with your audience.

Voice search is here to stay, and the digital marketing landscape is sure to feel the wake of it’s arrival. Whether your next search begins with “Alexa,” “Okay Google,” or “Hey Siri,” we hope you’ll be thinking of the brands behind the answers. Interested in learning more about optimizing your website? Reach out to us for an assessment! We’re happy to help.