Voice Search – The Growing Player

Voice Search has been a real buzzword across the marketing industry for the last couple of years – but many people feel as though it has joined the world of white noise, along with the likes of programmatic and Artificial Intelligence.

The real question is: How can you implement this tool into your existing strategy right now?

It’s showing a great potential.
According to a report from Technavio via Skyword, the voice recognition market will be a $601 million industry by 2019.

With many of us reviewing our marketing plans at the end of the financial year, I would urge you to read up on the statistics and follow the below steps to ensure you are ready for the ever growing impact of Voice Search.

Voice Search in Australia’s current statistics show the below traits in users:

Predominantly Male; and
Just under half are 25-35 years of age and high income earners.

What should I be doing now to ensure I am ahead of the curve?

Unlike traditional keywords phrases that you would type, Voice Searches are more conversational and natural in tone. This provides an opportunity to find longer tail keywords to rank for. The below is suggested to best optimise for Voice Search:

Google My Business
Back to basics! Get your business details up on Google My Business. This will assist users in finding your phone number, address, opening hours and the nature of your business.

Long-Tail Keyword Research
Your keyword strategy needs to be based on how someone might speak conversationally. Have a look at your Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page and include most commonly asked questions in your content strategy.

Apply the Correct Schemas
Use structured data markup and provide more information about your site and content. Structured data markup from schema.org is crucial for your site as it enables search engines to parse your content and understand context.

This is only the tip of the iceberg for Voice Search. We are going to see more and more changes across the digital landscape and early adoption techniques are the only way to stay ahead of your competitors.