Search Engine Land: Voice & Local Search
As we wrap up our last article in the world of search, today we find ourselves reaching the topic of voice and local search. Just like SEO is to search engine optimization. VSO is to voice search optimization. To start off, I want to provide a few statistics about why voice search is becoming more and more important:
- Research from ComScore says that by 2020, 50% of all searches will be voice searches.
- There will be an estimated 21.4 million smart speakers in the US by 2020, according to Activate.
- About 30% of all searches will be done without a screen by 2020, per Gartner.
Voice Search
Voice search allows people to search without typing their query out in the search field, they instead use their voice (duh!). With the rise of AI personal assistants integrating into smartphones, laptops & tablets, and smart devices like Amazon's Alexa, Facebook's Portal, and Google's Nest Hub, using voice as a way to communicate with devices is becoming better and more popular. To put in perspective the capabilities of these devices, Amazon Alexa now has over 80,000 skills. To put in perspective the scale of AI-assisted software, by the end of last January, Google's AI voice-driven helper (Google Assistant) was on 1 billion devices..
How do I optimize my business for voice search?
- Think about how people search. For SEO, we are used to "typing language". As an example, if you are looking for a place to eat you might type "best restaurant in Seattle", conversely with voice you might inquire, "What are the best restaurants in Seattle?" Notice the difference. One is a statement, the other is a question and theres some reasons behind it. Voice searches are more likely to contain question phrases.
- Are they researching or ready to purchase? Similarly to my first point, think about how a user starts off their phrase. Christi Olson, a "search evangelist" provides a really great example of why it's important, "For example, if a consumer asks, "What is the difference between an infant car seat and a convertible car seat?" they are likely just researching. But if they ask, "How much is a Mesa car seat?" or "Where can I buy a Mesa car seat?" they are much closer to taking action"
Local Search
Local search marketing is anything you do on the web to promote a physical business that makes face-to-face contact with its customers. In our case, we are going to focus on why local search is important to consider in combination with voice search.
According to Juniper Research, voice commerce is expected to reach $80 billion by 2023, and businesses that update their digital platforms to support voice search can look forward to a 30% increase in sales by 2021. People are using voice search for local search. Not too long ago Google announced that "near me" searches have increased 130% year over. A few things are important to consider in optimizing for local voice search:
- NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number). People want information instantly and it's important that when someone searches for a relevant local search, your name, address and phone number needs to be consistent across all your web presence.
- Google My Business. Improve your local search ranking by improving your business's information. Consider things like entering complete data, verifying your location, keeping your hours accurate, and adding photos can help. After all, Google determines local search rankings by relevance, distance, and prominence.
Takeaway
Voice and local search are things you are going to want to work on. As people shift to voice search, the way we think of SEO is going to change. With the growing market in AI-powered personal assistants, more and more people are going to rely on using their voice to get the information they need.
To the Google Search Analytics fans out there, Google has hinted that it wants to “make it easier to pull out what people have used to search on voice and what people are using by typing." In other words, voice search analytics might be finding a place in Google's Search Console Analytics.
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If you enjoyed this, you might also enjoy my previous article where I compare Bing Ads to Google Ads and talk about how Bing Ads can complement your other marketing channel efforts. Bing's audience spends 35% more online when shopping from their desktop computers than average internet searchers... some food for thought!
If you're interested in learning more about what I do, check out a spec ad I made using Spotify on my personal website below.
Written by Judd Bobin