Is Your Business Set for Voice Search?

THE "NEAR ME" LOCAL MARKETING AGENCY

phone 651.321.0578
Get Your Marketing Plan

Is Your Business Set for Voice Search?

Is Your Business Set for Voice Search?

Over the last few years, smart speakers like Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Apple HomePod have become incredibly popular not only for personal entertainment but increasingly for performing web searches. Can customers who use voice search find your business? Here’s the rundown on how to get your company set up for voice search.

Is Voice Search Really That Important?

Consumer trends are always changing, and any business that wants to stay relevant needs to keep up with the times. More and more people are using voice commands to perform search engine queries, find local businesses, and make purchase decisions.

If you don’t have the technology at home, you might be quick to dismiss voice search, but you shouldn’t ignore the stats:

  • In 2016, Google found that 20% of searches were voice searches. By the end of 2019, the trend had more than doubled to nearly 50%.
  • In a Perficient survey of over 1,000 people, more than half of the respondents (55%) said voice search was one of their top three search methods.
  • Emarketer predicts as many as 34.7 million consumers in the U.S. will shop using the voice search feature on their smart speakers in 2020, representing an 11.8% growth from 31 million in 2019.

Understanding How & Why People Use Voice Search

People use voice search while they’re driving, when they’re with friends and family, and even in the bathroom! Many studies and surveys seek to understand why and how people use voice search. Why not leverage this free data to optimize your website and digital marketing efforts?!

  • People of all age groups enjoy using voice search. Top reasons: it’s more convenient than typing and produces fast results.
  • Many voice searches are mobile. Studies suggest 1 in 2 smartphone users now use voice technology daily.
  • In the previously mentioned Perficient survey, 64% of respondents said they use voice commands while driving.
  • Perficient’s 2019 survey also found that men were 1.59 times more likely to use voice commands with their devices. This has increased to 1.72 times more likely in 2020.
  • 72% of people who own a voice-activated speaker say their devices are often used as part of their daily routine, and 41% say it feels like talking to a friend or another person.
  • The two most widely-used digital assistants are Siri and Google Assistant.
  • “____ near me now” searches are very popular and growing.

Looking at these trends, it’s clear that every year, people are becoming more comfortable using voice commands with their devices, as usage studies continue to increase annually. It also seems that expectations for finding exactly what people want, exactly when they want it, are growing.

Now that you have a better understanding of why and how people use voice search in general, we encourage you to dive deeper into how your specific target audience uses voice search. Because to make your website “voice searchable,” you’ll need to identify which specific terms your potential customers are using when searching for products or services like yours, so you can incorporate those terms into your digital marketing.

Which brings us to…

How To Optimize Your Website For Voice Search

Do you follow SEO best practices on your website? If you do that’s great, because then your business is already somewhat optimized for voice search! (A search query is often the same, whether it’s typed into a computer or spoken to a mobile device.) However, you likely still have some tweaks to make in your web content if you want to leverage the power of voice search.

  • Prioritize natural language keywords. Voice search is conversational, which means you need to incorporate different keywords than you would for traditional SEO.
  • Pose and answer questions in your content. People like to ask their digital assistants questions, so build content that answers FAQs about your brand, services, products, etc.
  • Claim and optimize your Google My Business profile. People tend to search for a local business by saying ““Roofing company near me,” and Google shows the nearest relevant Google My Business listing in the results.

Being willing to adapt and evolve with digital trends can help you attract high-quality customers and keep up with your competition. Let us know if you’d like some help! At Triton Commerce, we specialize in digital marketing strategies tailored to your business’ specific goals and budget. See if you qualify for one of our free custom websites!