Voice Search and SEO: Adapting to Changing Search Trends

It’s common for business owners to adapt and shift to change, but these days the shifting is more on the technical side than ever. For instance, just when you get used to the way consumers research the goods and services they want, they change it up again. Today, consumers are using their voices rather than their keyboards and if you want to stay current, you need to know what steps you can take to meet their needs. Wondering how relevant this information is for you? According to Statista, there are more than 4 billion voice-activated devices around the globe and voice search assistants are expected to rise above 8 billion in the new year. If you’re counting, that’s more voice assistants than people.

Understanding Voice Search

Increased voice search is due to technology that allows consumers to engage more comfortably and naturally, using spoken language to initiate and conduct online searches. The addition of smart devices and virtual assistants has increased their use even further, especially when you realize that virtual assistants, such as Google Assistant, Apple Siri, Amazon Alexa, and Microsoft Cortana, can be found everywhere.

How Can Your Business Adapt to Changing Search Trends?

Understanding that voice search is on the rise, consider the following four ways that your business can keep up with the competition:

Make your content conversation-friendly: People type completely differently from how they speak. Not only that, but different people speak and type in various ways. This implies that you must consider slang usage while creating voice search purchasing queries. For example, one individual could search for “soda,” while another might go for “pop.” Although these two terms have the same meaning, several areas prefer to use one over the other.

Consider the kinds of questions that individuals will ask: It’s important to think as your customers do when it comes to voice search shopping. How probable is it that they will use voice search to look for your products? What kind of material can you produce to direct people toward your offerings? For example, someone might ask, “How do I get grass stains out of clothes?” using their voice search device. It would be to your best advantage, as a laundry detergent firm, to produce material that explains stain removal techniques and directs searches toward your goods for stain removal.

Give long-tail keywords priority: You should select keywords based on the lengthier searches that people make while using voice search. Three-word or longer long-tail keywords can help you generate quality leads for your products. Going back to the laundry detergent example, a nice long-tail keyword might be “grass stain remover.” This would bring in leads that are especially searching for a grass stain remover for your company.

Make changes to your local listing: Local businesses are the focus of voice search shopping. Many ask inquiries like “Where can I buy [product or service] near me?” when using voice search while shopping. You must modify your voice search buying approach to encourage customers to visit your physical store. Knowing this, it’s also essential for your local listing to be up to date.

Conclusion

Making the necessary changes now can help you stay ahead in your industry. Focus on the steps above, as well as any others that are relevant to your company, and watch your brand grow through voice search and SEO.