“Hey Siri, what’s the weather report for today?”
“Hey Alexa, order me more toothpaste.”
“Hey Google, what’s so great about voice search?”
Glad you asked. The simple answer is that voice search saves people time. It might be just a few seconds, but over the course of a day and multiple searches, that’s valuable time back in the hands of the seeker.
In 2020, 50% of all online searches are conducted by voice. The difference between typing a search query into Google and asking your smart speaker a question is not trivial. Voice search SEO requires a change in strategy for companies to remain top-of-mind with consumers.
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Marketing’s Next Frontier: Voice Search SEO
Your company may already have a handle on traditional SEO marketing, cranking out useful content to help your ideal customers and to create leads for your sales team. Those tactics still work, but now’s the time to start having your team begin to look at how that strategy needs to change in order to still rank highly for voice search.
Let’s look at a simple example within the realm of digital products. If you sell email marketing software, your traditional SEO content on your blog and even in FAQ pages would be focused on what people type into the search bar on Google; things like:
– Best email marketing software for start-ups
– Email marketing software price
– Email marketing platforms
Customers don’t type like they speak. But, if one of them were to ask their Amazon Alexa or Google Home about the same topics using voice search, they might say:
– What’s the best email marketing software for a start-up?
– How much do email marketing software subscriptions cost?
– What email marketing platforms are available?
Notice two things about these different modes of search:
1. We type short-form but we speak in full sentences
2. Voice search forces longer-tail keywords for SEO
Any online marketing efforts using SEO in 2020 and beyond need a mix of short-tail and long-tail keywords in order to rank on traditional Google searches and in voice searches.
Voice Search SEO Challenges
Long-tail keywords are much more specific than short-tail keywords, meaning they’ll be more difficult to rank higher for on Google. It’s hard to know exactly how someone will ask a question to Siri or Alexa.
On top of that, traditional SEO tools that help marketers figure out what keywords people are searching for will take some time to catch-up and provide more data on voice search.
But here’s the real challenge: voice search is only going to return one result for each question asked. People won’t have a list of Google results to sift through and choose from.
There are two solutions to this challenge:
1. Rank first on Google for that question, which means your content shows up right on the page as the Google Snippet.
2. Build up your brand so customers will be asking for your company’s solution specifically; i.e., “How much does the ABC Company email marketing software cost?”
It’s clear voice searches are on the rise and companies need to adapt in order to make sure they are present wherever the customer chooses to search. But, how can you take this one step further in order to really impress your customers?
Leverage Chatbot Conversational AI for Voice Search
Chatbots are another way to look at leveraging voice search SEO for your business because they can be built on voice recognition platforms. For instance, a chatbot could be developed as an Alexa Skill, making it easy for your customers to converse with your company.
You’ve probably started a customer service request with a company’s chatbot in the recent past or asked a question to an FAQ bot when shopping online. Chatbots recognize the customer’s intent and provide a response using extensive data and software.
When you’re developing your voice search SEO strategy, why not look a little further into the future and reimagine what the customer’s experience could be?
Could you put an intelligent chatbot in place to answer voice search questions, but also continue the conversation to ensure you’re delivering the maximum value? Customers are looking for convenience, one-on-one attention and efficiency. A chatbot could get all their questions answered and concerns addressed in one short voice conversation.
Voice Search + Chatbots = Next-level Customer Experience
When investing in long-term marketing strategies and future-focused technology, the investments of time and money are substantial. The payoff, though, when executed correctly is a massive uptick in customer experience, retention and revenue.
For a project that is looking to leverage voice search, chatbots and forward-thinking marketing, you may need to bring in multiple experts. Some Chatbot consultancies will have strategic partnerships with industry-specific experts, which can save you time in hunting down the right team to manage the chatbot vision, development and implementation.
When all of these considerations are tackled at the outset of the project, with a talented team, the sky’s the limit in terms of results. Not only will customers be delighted with the chatbot technology that exceeds their expectations, but the chatbot itself will continue to learn and improve, through its conversational AI, without any additional spend from your company.
Curious about how a Chatbot Consultant could help your company’s voice search SEO efforts? Get in touch with one of our team members today.
