Voice search is changing the way we search for the things we want and need. Alexa, Google, Siri and other devices with verbal instructions are making it easier for consumers to automate their homes and access the internet.
Speech recognition technology is rapidly improving, and voice search could easily pass typed queries in the not-too-distant future.
However, it is changing the way we interact with our devices.
Alexa, what’s the weather going to be like tomorrow?
Google, what’s the shortest route to town?
Siri, call my wife.
Searching with our fingers has always been a shortcut for inputting information without any alternative. SEO has evolved around the way we use and understand text.
Voice search is very different to browser-based searches, forcing website owners to adapt to serve results based on conversational queries. The delivery of results through a speaker also limits the number of results available, so coming first in the verbal SERPs is going to be vastly more important for businesses.
Preparing for voice search
Website owners should start to think about the imapct verbal searches could have on their business. While smart speakers may forever be limited to controlling the home, voice recognition is coming to your computer and your mobile, and creating a sound strategy (oops) to deliver search results in speakers as well as browsers is something you should be thinking about.
At this early stage in development, there is a perrfect opportunity to get ahead of your competitors while they think it is a long way head, it’s not.
You will need to consider
- How your website ranks for conversational queries
- How ‘near me’ changes search results based on geographical proximity
- What impact optimising for voice search has on your existing SERPs
Speaking with one voice
As an evolving market, voice search will go through many changes, and while this can sometimes have cost implications o meet guidelines, being ahead of the game naturally has distinct advantages.
Canary Dwarf has been providing search optimisation services for the last 20 years, and we’re investing our time in studying new technology for the benefit of our customers.
As this change unfolds, it’s very important that your brand presence doesn’t get steered away from its existing search results, and you must combine this new development alongside existing successes.
The principles are the same, you need to rank for what you do, you need to generate enquiries from the SERPs and you need to be able to convert those enquiries. At the bottom line, it won’t matter where they come from, but getting them there is something you should be very aware of.