It’s estimated that by the end of this year 50% of all searches will be conducted via voice search. With no human eyeballs
to choose which search result looks the most genuine, it’s on you to ensure
your business is actively and correctly recognized by virtual assistants.
What is Voice Search?
In short, voice search is when a user says a voice command
to search the internet, a website, or an app. The most popular ways users are
using voice search are through smart devices, which includes phones, speakers,
watches, and TVs.
Voice search is receiving massive support from many tech giants: Google and Spotify recently made headlines with their partnership to give away Google Home Minis to Canadian premium Spotify subscribers.
Most voice searches that are conducted through a virtual
assistant are done through one of the following companies’ offerings:
Apple: Hey, Siri
Apple’s Siri was the first virtual assistant that was made commercially available to the
greater population with its original release on the iPhone 4S in 2011. Now
accessible across all Apple products, Siri continues to be integrated into
the daily lives of users.
Google: OK, Google
Google’s efforts in the voice search and virtual assistant
space have been leading the charge recently. Thanks to Google’s endless bank of
data, their virtual assistant has been able to leverage this data to provide
the fastest and most relevant information in the market.
Amazon: Hey, Alexa
Amazon’s Alexa has been a strong player in the virtual assistant game as it’s directly
integrated with Amazon Prime subscriptions. Alexa is available on all smart
devices but is heavily promoted by Amazon in tandem with their Echo smart
speakers.
Microsoft: Hey Cortana
Microsoft’s Cortana is similar to the other virtual assistants, however it draws all of its results exclusively from Microsoft’s Bing search engine. Currently, Cortana
doesn’t have a large market share, though it seems that Microsoft is targeting
the business and enterprise market with Cortana.
Market Recap
You’ll notice a common theme throughout the market. Each
company has their own suite of products that can be integrated into all aspects
of your life. For example, you wake up in the morning to an alarm that plays
your favourite song set by your branded smart speaker, watch your sports highlights
on your branded smart TV, then head out the door with your branded smart phone
and smart watch. At every point you’re only one “OK, Google” or “Hey, Alexa”
away from a voice search.
It’s likely that once you commit to one of these companies,
you’ll convert to their entire suite of products. This drives revenue for the
short-term, but also allows them to gather data from you to leverage for future
revenue.
After looking at Google Trends, you can begin to see which
companies — from the four we chatted about — are truly leading the way.
Voice Search Usage
So, who is using voice search and why?
People of all ages are using voice search.
However, Millennials are dominating the market with 39.3% using voice search on a regular basis. Since Millennials were born between
1980 and 1994, making them between 39 to 25 years old, they are likely to have
moved into their own place of residence and outfitted it with smart devices—making
voice search extremely accessible.
Common Themes for Voice Search
Voice search is being used for a variety of types of
searches, although, common themes are emerging.
The first theme is regarding the types of searches. According to seoClarity, 16.85% of all voice searches are triggered by the words “How”, “What”, “Best”, or “Where”. Take a moment to think about this. Of everything you could search for, these four words account for almost a fifth of all searches.
People are using voice search for discovering local businesses. A total of 46% of consumers use voice search for finding local business information daily and 28% of people contact the business after doing a voice search. These searches are often made by people who are ready to purchase goods or services from a local business (also known as intent-rich moments). Notably, over 50% of people who use voice search look for restaurant recommendations.
When virtual assistants are looking for local information,
they each have their own information set from which they primarily draw. For
example, Apple’s Siri gathers information from Yelp, whereas Google gathers
information from the business's Google My Business listing.
The third and final theme is shopping. Currently, only 19% of those who use a virtual assistant have made a purchase through their assistant. Of this set of people, the most popular shopping category—which was a surprise to us—was groceries at 20% of the voice shopping market.
The shopping theme is interesting as it’s expected to grow
to $40 billion by 2022 as more people adopt virtual assistants and become comfortable using it in
their day-to-day life.
How Can Your Local
Business Leverage Voice Search?
There are specific ways for your local business to leverage
voice search. However, first we’ll go over three general guidelines that all
businesses should be following.
Be Mobile-Friendly
This one might be a little too obvious. Since the majority
of voice search happens on mobile devices, your site should be highly optimized
for mobile. Page and site speed are both ranking factors and should be
prioritized when making your site more mobile-friendly.
There are a variety of speed testers out there that provide
you with a score and attempt to sell you a service in the process. For now,
we’ll remain neutral on those tools and link you to Google’s PageSpeed Insights to dive deeper and their Think with Google Canada article to improve your mobile site’s performance.
Develop Useful Content
Creating content that answers popular questions you receive
from your customers—or potential customers—will allow virtual assistants to
draw information from your site, which can reward you with new business.
When you’re deciding what type of content you should create,
consider the different stages of the customer journey including the following:
Awareness: “What’s the
best virtual assistant?”
Consideration: “What
is better Google or Alexa?”
Purchase: “Where is
the best price for an Amazon Echo?”
Retention: “How do I
hook up my smart lights to an Amazon Echo?”
Advocacy: “What are
the best home accessories to have with an Amazon Echo?”
By creating content for customers at each stage of their own
unique journey, it will allow virtual assistants to have a bank of information
to draw from. Not to mention the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) benefits that come with creating relevant content that
traditional search users will likely stumble upon.
Stay on Your Toes
Be nimble and ready to shift your digital marketing tactics
with the flip of a switch. While voice search has been around for a few years,
only now is it becoming popular and integrated into our daily lives.
As more people adopt virtual assistants and become
comfortable with them new trends will emerge. Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and
Apple will all be looking to capitalize on new revenue streams and so should
you.
Advice for Local
Businesses
The rise of voice search presents a unique opportunity for local
businesses who are early adopters on optimizing their digital footprint, as many
local businesses will be slow to adapt.
As previously identified, one of the three main themes for
voice search is local business. Whether it’s people new in your city,
vacationing for the weekend, or long-time residents looking for something new,
they are all using some variant of a “near me” search. Therefore, making time
to ensure your business is connecting to virtual assistants is crucial to the
longevity and success of your business.
Local Directories
This is arguably the easiest and fastest way to be noticed
by voice search and other types of searches. By claiming your business profile
on business directories and filling out the information categories, search
engines will use that information when users who are close by are looking for
recommendations or services which you provide.
Yelp – The largest local
listing provider for voice search on both mobile devices and smart speakers.
Yelp is used by three of the four major players: Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri,
and Microsoft’s Cortana. Whenever someone asks any of these three assistants
for a local review, they will draw information directly from Yelp. In addition
to reviews, Alexa uses Yelp as its database for business listings as well.
Google My Business – Google’s Assistant draws information exclusively from Google’s own database
and Google My Business plays a large role for local searches. Claiming your company’s
‘Google My Business’ is a short and simple process that will greatly improve
your traditional search results and allow your business to be enabled for voice
searches.
Bing Places –
Flying under the radar is Bing Places, which is used by Alexa for search and
Cortana for search and business listings. Most businesses are unaware of Bing
Places and will likely not put in the effort to establish their listing on
Bing. Take advantage of this by ensuring you claim your business's profile and
fill out the information correctly.
Local Content
Let's revisit a previous point for all businesses that you can
capitalize on a local level. Local businesses who create content answering
questions that residents have will see an increase in business due to the
hyper targeted nature of the content.
Compared to businesses competing on a worldwide stage, local
businesses don’t face the same level of competition when it comes to someone
looking for specific answers that only those residents in a local
community can provide. Search engines, like Google, know this and will
prioritize the answers you provide if all your other cards are in order—such
as your Google My Business listing.
Try it for Yourself
You’re now equipped with actionable insights to leverage
voice search. Lay out a short road map and make it a goal to accomplish at
least two of these tactics we’ve mentioned. If you need a kick start, we strongly suggest updating your business information on Yelp, Google My
Business, and Bing Places. It’s super easy to do and won’t take long!
Good luck on your quest for voice search
domination – if you’d like help getting a handle on voice search for your business, email us!