Hey Google – Is Voice Search the Future?
9th January 2018
Back in 2011 Apple launched their virtual assistant, Siri. This was one of the first voice-enabled services to be widely received. Users of the latest iPhones were able to now speak to their phones, from asking about the weather to Siri writing out text messages. The arrival of this advancement of technology didn’t take long to adjust to, and soon millions of active smartphone users had Siri integrated into their everyday life. Since then numerous other voice activated assistants have come out on the market. – Google Home, Amazon’s Alexa and Microsoft’s Cortana.
What are the benefits?
The main benefit of voice activated content is that it’s easy. Have a question? Just ask your voice assistant and have the answer in seconds. Driving and need to make a call? Ask Siri and you could be talking to your mum in a matter of rings. The speed and ease of using any one of these devices means that we have let AI technology into our everyday lives. Dominoes have even jumped on the bandwagon. Yes that’s right, you can order a pizza without having to even pick up the phone! Is this revolutionary technology really necessary though or is it just turning us into a lazy generation?
How does this affect your business?
Now we’ve already spoken about how easy it is to search for content via voice assistants. So it’s pretty clear that this can be used for your business. For example if you owned a shoe shop and a customer is using voice search to find the answer to the question ‘What are good running shoes’, then by providing an answer with a clear call-to-action your customers can access everything they need to buy the product straight from you.
However it can also impact your SEO. When we type there is a difference from when we speak. Typing out a search we are much more likely to use keywords compared to a voice search where it’s more relaxed, more conversational language. For example if your trying to locate a restaurant you may type into Google ‘Nearest Nandos’. Using voice search however you might say ‘Where is the nearest Nandos located?’. This means that as voice search continues to grow bigger and bigger we need to adjust for searches to become more conversational. Therefore it is important to have a good SEO that can handle this.
Final Thoughts
As voice searches continue to grow and develop, they are becoming a bigger part of our daily lives. There’s nothing we can do to stop them so now it’s all about getting onboard and being ready. Transform and adapt your SEO strategy to keep up with long tail keywords and strong call to actions. And don’t forget that as most voice searches are done via mobile to make sure your site is optimised for all screens.
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