Only 5 or 7 years ago voice search appeared on smartphones. And at that time, it was nothing more than a fun feature. In 2018, this feature turned into a tool that changed SEO-optimization of websites, that remained constant for the last 15 years, forever. According to the forecasts, in the next 2-3 years, voice search will take a solid lead and completely replace text analogs.
A new trend is taking place – Voice Search
How search engines work in 2018
Google Hummingbird is an algorithm that was launched in early 2010. Its task is to recognize not only the full search phrase but each word individually. This allows the robot to define the semantic context and display the most relevant pages in the result page and provide the general deep development of voice search at the moment. In 2017, according to Facebook IQ statistics, the popularity of voice search has increased several times:
- 27% in Canada
- 28% in Germany
- 46% in the USA
- 55% in India
Tips to Voice Search
- How users communicate with their devices
According to a Search Engine Land study, the number of questioning search phrases for the last year increased by 60%. This confirms the popularity of voice search. If a user needs to buy headphones in a particular city, the text search most likely will be the phrase: “buy headphones {cityname}”. Using a voice search, a person probably will say: “Where to buy headphones in {cityname}?”. The meaning of the request is the same but the result page will differ, at least a little.
The same study from Search Engine Land showed that in 2017 the most popular search phrases begun with the words:
- Who
- What
- When
- Where
- As
- Why
This means that next year when optimizing your website for search engines it is in your interests to consider the questioning forms of each keyword.
- How Voice Search Helps Local Businesses
Meditative Labs statistics show that over the past few years the number of requests related to the location of users has increased significantly. Mobile devices and voice search directly affect this index. Every user can find the right company at any time using their devices. About 50% of users search for restaurants, beauty salons, entertainment events every day with the help of voice search. According to Google, 20% of local requests lead to a sale.
- How will change the average optimal length of the key phrase
Logically, with the popularization of voice search, the average length will increase. At least, because the question forms and the words “what”, “how”, “why”, etc. being added now. But there is no evidence that the number of characters in the request is significantly increased. The average index remains almost at the same level. Therefore, experts recommend to experiment in website optimization and use both long and short phrases in different forms.
- What you should do about it
- Do everything to ensure that your website appears in the block of quick answers on the result page. With this, you not only prepare the ground for future search modification but also will be able to attract additional organic traffic.
- Make a list of questions that determine the needs boundaries in your product of the audience. Based on this information create useful and practical content that will fully respond to the user’s request.
- Add dialog interfaces on your selling platform: you will get the advantage by increasing the speed of interaction with the content of the website and minimizing the client’s journey. This will help you significantly improve the conversion rates.
Promotion of business on the Internet provides monitoring and rapid implementation of the most relevant ideas. Therefore, every modern seller should keep up with trends, if they want their online sales to increase.
