"OK Google, find me the fastest route to grow my business"
Voice integration has been on top of the to-do lists for businesses to implement. There is a lot of talk about businesses jumping onto voice search as a business strategy with major voice products now looking to improve voice recognition for all different types of accents and voices.
Are you ready? Is voice recognition ready? Should all businesses start a strategy?
Let’s look at where voice recognition currently sits in its evolution, what are some predictions of voice search and voice recognition and what businesses should be thinking about from a marketing perspective from this point onwards to develop a marketing strategy to stay on top of voice search.
Where is voice search and voice recognition?
A parody ad about Amazon Echo shows a woman asking her voice search assistant to play “the country music station”[1]. The device mishearing her southern American accent, instead offers advice on “extreme constipation”. See the video here.
Based on a personal experience and coming from an eastern background, a family member tried asking questions and what I thought would be a hopeful conversation turned into frustration. The situation wasn’t as funny as above, although I did hear a lot of “Sorry, I do not understand”. This made me realise, there is also a lot of room for improvement before voice reaches an acceptable standard so that voice search can be effective.
The growth of voice search
The growth of voice has been phenomenal to reach where it is currently. Voice search usage has been increasing year by year. [2] Catie Leary, a content strategist at Southern Web mentions that at least half of searches come from mobile devices, and 20% of those searches are voice searches. In addition, [3] Smallbiztrends.com mentions that by 2020, 50% of searches are going to be made by voice.
Voice search is currently at its beginning, and growth will continue over the next few years.
Voice recognition technology is also set to improve its quality as per the economist article[4]. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is to learn and recognise different types of accents and dialects through different users trying to talk to voice platforms and thus self-learning begins for AI.
Voice Search and Marketing – What to think about?
At home, we have Google Home, which we generally talk to and ask questions if we need to find information. Generally, this is how it plays out (Note: The below conversation is based on a real-life situation, but the names used of any business may be fictional), when a conversation goes well:
Me: OK Google, where is a Thai restaurant around me?
Google Home: XYZ Thai Restaurant is in Kellyville and is 1km away.
You then go on to ask Google for its number and distance and off you go. Not only can anyone do this with their voice assistant devices, but you can search via voice on mobile or a desktop (with a microphone). The use of language, long sentences and questions is common amongst voice search users. Businesses should be thinking about how a voice marketing strategy will help their business and integrate different use cases.
Let’s look at a few of many voice marketing strategy methods that could relate to voice search.
Long-tail keywords: Think about what you would ask Google or Siri or Cortana or Amazon. Would it be a statement or a question? If you look at it from a B2C perspective, there would be more questions such as “Where is the nearest petrol station?”, whilst a B2B could be more statements such as “Find me an office removalist”. Although, it’s important to have a versatile keyword strategy, where you could target consumers making a statement and businesses asking question.
Content – This flows into the previous method about long-tail keywords. When thinking about what words to pick for your search or thinking about content to place onto your website, also think about natural words or colloquial words, not words written for computers or in this case ‘SEO’.
Mobile marketing: If users are using voice search via their phone, generally it would lead those individuals to mobile sites. Is your site mobile friendly? Ensure your site is mobile responsive and mobile friendly for a great customer experience.
Google Rich Snippets: Rich snippets in simple terms is information that Google can read and better understand, which in turn helps to display accurate information on the search engine when a user is searching for specific products or services. If you have a developer out there – use this link to help with Rich Snippets.
What next?
Voice Search and Voice Recognition are growing, businesses should start putting together strategies, beginning with small steps. By 2020, we will see 50% of voice searches occurring – that means more people talking to voice assistants. Be prepared to hear a lot more of voice assistants!
Researched and Written by Eijaaz Charania
[2] https://southernweb.com/2018/01/optimizing-business-voice-search/
[3] https://smallbiztrends.com/2018/02/online-advertising-trends.html