There‘s no denying it—voice search has hit the mainstream. With over half of smartphone users now regularly searching by voice and smart speakers in millions of homes, brands need to pay attention to this major shift in consumer behavior.
Optimizing your website and content specifically for voice search queries can help you effectively reach and connect with this growing audience segment.
As an online privacy expert and tech industry analyst, I‘ve been closely tracking the voice tech space. In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll provide recommendations on how to improve your voice search visibility based on the latest trends and best practices.
Voice Assistants Lead the Charge
The rising popularity of voice assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant has fueled massive growth in voice search adoption over the past few years.
As per Comscore, 55 million Americans now regularly use voice search each month, conducting over 30 million daily voice searches just on smartphones alone.
And when you factor in smart speakers, that voice search number jumps significantly higher. There are now over 100 million smart speakers in the U.S. and nearly 200 million globally as of early 2022 according to Canalys.
I expect voice search usage to keep accelerating as more consumers get comfortable with voice assistants. Voicebot forecasts there will be over 8 billion voice assistants in use globally by 2023 as adoption spreads beyond homes into autos, wearables, appliances, and more.
Brands that don‘t start optimizing for voice search soon will miss out on this opportunity to effectively connect with consumers.
Understanding Voice Search User Behavior
To optimize for voice, it‘s important to first understand how voice search behavior differs from text-based searching. I‘ll quickly break down some key patterns exhibited by voice search users:
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Longer queries – Voice searches average about 3 words longer than text queries, as people speak conversationally using full natural language sentences.
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More natural language – Queries typically resemble or directly match conversational speech rather than keywords.
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Local intent – A majority of voice searches are local in nature, looking for nearby places, businesses, etc.
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Follow-up questions – Users frequently ask follow-up questions, indicating they want an actual conversation versus just a single canned answer.
These types of user behavior have critical implications for brands shaping their voice search strategy. You need to match the more conversational, localized and contextual nature of voice queries in your content and optimization approach.
Technical Tips for Voice Search Optimization
From an on-page optimization standpoint, here are some best practices I recommend for improving visibility and performance specifically for voice search queries:
Leverage structured data – Implement schema markup like FAQPage, HowTo, and QAPage to help voice assistants better interpret your content‘s structure, entities and relationships.
Focus on long-tail keyphrases – Research and target longer, natural language queries that real users would likely ask around your business or products. These tend to convert better.
Optimize for featured snippets – Many voice results prominently surface the featured snippet box. Try optimizing pages to rank for those coveted top spots.
Highlight your business info – Clearly display your business name, phone number, address and operating hours on your homepage for easy identification.
Develop audio content – Create audio versions of your top content and integrate with major voice assistant platforms to increase discoverability.
These on-page optimizations are a good starting point. But winning for voice search requires a much more expansive strategy.
Elements of a Voice Search Strategy
While the voice tech landscape continues evolving rapidly, brands should look to incorporate these core elements into their voice search strategy:
Claim and optimize listings – Ensuring your Google My Business, Apple Maps and other listings are claimed, verified and fully optimized helps surface your business for relevant local voice search queries.
Focus on customer experience – With conversational search, brands need to provide intuitive responses and seamless user experiences that feel more human-centric.
Experiment with audio – Develop custom audio briefings, podcasts and other voice-first content that offers added value to consumers using voice tech.
Monitor performance – Use tools like Alexa Rank and Google Search Console to track voice search visits, measure rankings for voice queries and benchmark performance.
Address privacy concerns – Voice data collection remains a hot button issue. Brands need clear disclosure around data practices as regulation mounts.
Winning brands will take a comprehensive view spanning content, design, tech integration, analytics and customer experience.
Preparing for the AI-Powered Future
Beyond just search, advancements in AI promise to soon usher in a new era of digital engagement powered predominantly by voice.
As machine learning and language processing improves, voice assistants will become vastly more conversational, contextual and personalized. Brands that best tap into these capabilities to connect with consumers stand to gain the most in this voice-first landscape.
For example, imagine asking your voice assistant for gift recommendations for a 10 year old niece interested in science and having it synthesize the perfect options based on a detailed understanding of her preferences and interests.
That hyper-personalized, context-aware experience is where voice AI is headed. And brands need to prepare for consumers that expect nothing less.
Key Takeaways on Optimizing for Voice Search
Here are the big key takeaways for marketers and brands getting started on voice search optimization:
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Adoption of voice search and voice AI solutions continues its meteoric rise with no signs of slowing down. Having an optimization strategy is vital for future success.
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Voice search queries differ substantially from text – they are more conversational, contextual and focused on natural language. Keep this in mind when analyzing questions and shaping content.
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Start with some quick technical wins like optimizing listings, leveraging markup and targeting long-tail queries. But don‘t stop there. Winning for voice requires a comprehensive content and customer experience strategy.
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Look ahead to the voice AI-powered world on the horizon. Brands that unlock hyper personalization and deeper customer connections will see huge upside.
The world of voice tech is changing fast. But brands that move swiftly to build relevance in search alongside delightful voice experiences will separate themselves from those still reluctant to adapt to this voice-first future.
