We are living in a world where -over everything else- TIME is what people value the most. Let me give you an example that we’re all too familiar with. When you’re using your phone you’re used to clicking on some app, your Instagram Feed, Maps, etc. and seeing it load instantly, within a fraction of a second, right? Well, when for some reason your internet speeds are just slightly, slightly slower to where it takes just an extra second, just ONE EXTRA SECOND, to load, you start getting irritated. You are aggravated because it took one second longer than you expected to connect to a satellite in space. Think about that!
That’s why voice is going to win. Because it saves you seconds throughout your day that you are fighting for desperately. But just as important, voice allows you to multitask, or do several things at the same time! For real! So if it saves you just 2 seconds instead of pulling your phone out of your pocket and typing something in to just say “Hey Alexa, or Google, or Cortana, or Siri, or whatever, What’s the Capital of Zimbabwe?” then you’re going to do that instead. And if you’re driving or cooking or have your hands dirty while you use your voice commands or call up your favorite podcast, or order products online, book your next hotel or flight for you without even touching a computer, now you’re saving real time!
Thinking about postponing your voice search marketing strategy for another year? Read on please…
- 58% of consumers have used voice search to find local business information within the last year.
- 46% of voice search users look for a local business daily.
- 27% visit the website of a local business after conducting a voice search.
- 76% of smart home speaker users conduct local searches at least once a week.
- 53% of smart home speaker users conduct local searches daily.
- We make an estimated 1 billion voice searches/ month as of Jan 2018
- 55% of people age 18-49 use voice search
- 37% of people ages 50 and older use voice search
Source: Voice Search Statistics
This means one thing—voice search optimization should be your top priority. Adapting your existing SEO strategy with voice search in mind is not only needed but essential at this point. It shouldn’t be too hard if you have a good SEO plan already in place, however, you will still need a few tweaks.
Key points to keep in mind when setting up your website for voice search optimization:
- Focus on Local SEO – the majority of voice searchers are looking for a local business
- Focus on Mobile Speed – when people search on mobile they are less patient than when they are searching from a desktop computer. That’s why it’s important to consider…
- Mobile AMP for Google – Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) load much faster than regular pages and provide visitors the information they need right away.
- HTTPS Pages Dominate – if your website is not secure by now, you have some serious catch up to do!
What’s different about voice searches versus traditional typed text searches?
With voice search, users have a stronger intent to convert rather than browse. When users search utilizing voice search, generally they aren’t just bored browsing the web. Verbalizing a need for a product or service means the user is more likely to be in market for their search than a standard web search.
When a prospect utilizes voice search to look for your product or service, they are not just typing in a keyword to Google. You need to assume they are asking a trusted friend a question and generate copy to reflect a response. In other words, your prospects want to convert.
More extended queries means mapping out to even more prequalified traffic. Long tail keywords are your best ally in this case. Generally, people are far more specific when verbally asking to look for a product or service than when they type one in. This could be due to a variety of factors, from laziness at the keyboard through a stronger intent overall. You’ll have a much better idea of what a user is looking for, and will have the opportunity to show content specifically related to it.
What to expect when you’re (voice) prospecting.
- Long tail keywords show higher intent. Verbalizing intent reinforces desire to convert
- By the same token and because of the above reasons, this is not the type of campaign that will drastically increase traffic to your website.
- Long tail queries make it less likely that a user will be typing in a term exactly as you’re predicting.
- Some of your terms may say “Low Search Volume” when you set your ads and associated keywords and that’s just fine in this case. We’re looking for quality and not quantity.
- You Can VERY LIKELY Expect a Lower CPA With This Campaign. Less Competitive Market = Less CPC
- Users Know What They Want. Your ads match their specific needs and your ability to deliver. So when you meet their needs, you will likely have an increased conversion rate.
It’s adapt or die time again, only in the digital marketing arena, you must adapt quickly if you don’t want to fall far behind. If ComScore is right and 50% of the searches will be voice searches by 2020, will you be ready for it?
Thank you for reading, until next time, this is Manuel Gil del Real (MGR).
Sources: WordStream, Voicebot.ai