Voice search is increasing in popularity, not at the blistering speed some predicted, however, it is growing. People are quickly becoming accustomed to using their voice to make a search thanks to the rise of mobile assistants like Siri and Google Assistant.
Voice search is increasing in popularity, not at the blistering speed some predicted, however, it is growing. People are quickly becoming accustomed to using their voice to make a search thanks to the rise of mobile assistants like Siri and Google Assistant. According to Google, 20% of all searches on mobile devices are now made using voice search and experts predict that 50% of all searches will use voice search by 2020.
For online search, this presents a unique challenge. How do you prepare your site for this new way of searching? Voice searches typically fall into two categories: location-based search and query search.
A location-based “near me” search is common for mobile users on the go. Instead of using a standard desktop search such as “hotels Preston” a user will more likely ask “where is the nearest hotel?”. The result of this search will likely depend on where a user is in relation to your business, so it’s more important than ever to make sure your Google listings are up-to-date.
For a more typical query search, other devices can come into play. For example, a user might ask a voice assistant like Alexa or Google Home for more information when their hands are full.
While baking a user might enquire “How long do I bake cookies for?” instead of typing in “cookie recipe”. A user wants the same thing in both instances but how they are searching is different.
The best way to cater to voice queries is to consider the user intent. In the baking example, answering questions about cookie cooking times and general cookie tips can help you appear for those type of voice searches.
Including content on your site that uses the type of language your customers will use when voice searching increases the chances of your content being used as the response by a voice assistant.
High-quality content is always the best way to improve your site’s organic performance. Adapting your content to suit user intent and the natural language they most commonly use may help your site perform better for all types of searches as well as voice search.
While voice search isn’t the most popular form of search at the moment, optimising for voice search now also increases your chances of ranking well for desktop searches and helps to prepare your site for the future.
For more information or advice on how to optimise your site, contact the Motionlab team.
