Hey Siri, how popular is voice search?

Voice is a rapidly growing search method with some predicting that “50% of all searches will be voice searches by 2020” – ComScore.

 

 

When and why do people use voice search?

Voice can be faster and more convenient than traditional text search, when in the right environment. It is commonly used while performing another activity such as driving, exercising or cooking; when the user isn’t able to touch or look at their phone. It’s also much faster to speak than to type, making it ideal when we want information quickly.

 

What is different about voice search?

People tend to use conversational phrases and semantics over keywords, and longer queries than they would otherwise type out. Phrases such as “Find petrol stations near me” is more likely to be spoken than keywords only like “Petrol North Melbourne”.

Many questions asked through voice search result with 1 answer only. This is another time saving mechanism, eliminating the need to manually scroll through a list of results. The bot will use 1 result that is most relevant to what is being asked.

Voice is also used for commands, for example; to play music or call a business.

 

How can your website content be optimised for voice search?

  • Directly answering questions (FAQ pages are good for this).
  • Using a conversational voice by thinking about how people actually talk, how they might search for the content you provide and the context of their meaning.
  • Submitting business information to Google Maps and Google Places (SWiM does this for you as part of our website build process).
  • Always keeping data such as your location, opening hours and phone numbers up to date.
  • Frequently adding or keeping your content up to date (Blogging can help to keep your website content fresh).
  • Staying in touch with updates to technology and how your audience makes use of the technology.

 

The best part; these techniques also boost your SEO in general.

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