VoiceSEO

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How to Design Your Content Marketing Strategy for Voice Search

Content Marketing Strategy

Siri, Cortana, Alexa, and Google Assistant—nowadays, accessibility is made simple with the use of your voice. One of the most utilized ways for voice-activated digital assistants is for search. In 2016, voice search on Google was at 20% of the total queries on a mobile app, while over at Baidu, one in 10 searches was reportedly made through speech.

These percentages are only expected to go up, as the technologies mentioned above continue to improve in terms of accuracy and reliability—thanks to natural language processing and machine learning. The more people use these assistants, the more training data they acquire, which makes them more powerful with every use. Google Assistant reportedly now has an accuracy of 92%.

According to MindMeld’s 2016 Intelligent Voice Assistants Research Report, people use voice for the following reasons:

  • 61%: hands and vision are occupied 
  • 30%: to get results faster
  • 24%: when typing is awkward on the device
  • 22%: because it is trendy and fun
  • 12%: to avoid convoluted menus
  • 1%: other reasons

Despite the prominence of voice search, content marketers haven’t completely embraced it, perhaps due to a lack of understanding of its implications to search optimization. However, it is true that voice search is influencing SEO, and since content marketing is highly connected to SEO, it is also changing the rules of content production in some way.

SEO aims to put your page on the first page of SERPs, but with the advent of voice search, search engines have been profoundly dictating how content should be structured, and this is evident in the appearance of featured snippets. In voice search, content ranking within the featured snippet often gets a more significant share of the traffic compared to relevant but not on featured snippet results.

The Launch of Hummingbird

Changes to how search engines process and evaluate content have always been drastic; that is why some of the older metrics of success aren’t as reliable anymore. When Google launched the Hummingbird update in 2013, it became apparent that the company believes that the future of search is voice. The update focused on semantic analysis to determine the intent behind the search, laying the foundation for voice search.

However, not only did it work to understand what was being asked based on the words and phrases, but it learned the speech patterns and accent, as well. By understanding user intent, it is now possible to search using the language—words and syntax—that is natural to the user.

In addition to Hummingbird, Google also launched the Rankbrain system in 2015. This system helped it better understand and respond to queries and index and rank content. Rankbrain also uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to think like how a person would and comprehend the intent behind the queries without search explicitly stating them. This allowed Google to provide more relevant results.

Both systems also allowed Google to look beyond the keyword strings and instead evaluate context, understand search intent, and deliver results that actually answer questions, not just match keywords to webpages.

Top Content Marketing Strategies for Voice Search

Outside of search intent, optimizing content to work with voice search technology is also necessary. Failure to do so could result in lower rankings or being penalized. Here are a few suggestions on how you can update and improve your content for voice search:

1. Develop relevant content with search intent in mind

There is a noticeable difference in typing a search query versus speaking it out. For one, users have been programmed to type search keywords in sort of a robotic way, using non-conversational keywords. But with better voice technology, it’s time for marketers to focus on search intent and natural language context because that’s the direction Google is heading.

Another content strategy to adapt is to map consumers’ questions onto various points of their journey, so your brand is present at every stage, and you can directly address their needs every time. By doing this, your brand will create a thematic depth that Google will know and identify. This can also give you brand authority to influence actions later in the consumer journey. Here’s an example:

  • Awareness:  What’s the best brand of paper towel?
  • Consideration: What is more durable: Scott or Bounty?
  • Decision: How much is Bounty?

Aside from these, you can also utilize these content types based on intent that work well for voice search optimization:

Informational (guides, how-tos)

Search engines are mainly used to seek information, or when someone has a question that needs an answer. This may not immediately lead to a sale, but it’s an opportunity to engage with potential customers.

Navigational (store location, services, press release, customer service)

When a query is made using keywords that include a company’s brand name, it is likely that a user is already familiar with the company but needs help with navigation to their desired page.

Transactional (video, information, comparison, product stories)

These are searches that use keywords that include specific product names in association with buying and the searcher is ready to make a purchase.

Commercial (reviews)

Commercials are a hybrid of informational and transactional intent. The searcher is on the verge of making a purchase but is also looking for information to come up with a decision.

Investigational

According to Moz founder Rand Fishkin, investigational “straddles the line between pure research and commercial intent… They’re not directly transactional, and may never result in an exchange of goods, services, or monies, but they’re not purely informational either.”

To help you develop content based on intent, you can use TextOptimizer, which helps in researching and optimizing content using semantic analysis. It can do the following for you:

  • Run queries in Google which then returns the best snippets based on what it thinks satisfies each query; this way, you can analyze the snippets as well as the possible summary of the topic.

Generate related terms, categories, and questions that Google believes are the best answers to the query through semantic analysis.

Help you figure out how to better use words and questions in your content to build a more relevant context that will match Google’s expectations for better page rank.

2. Answer your customers’ questions

Most voice searches start with the usual 5W + H questions, and even though natural language processing is becoming more common, there are still notable differences between the way voice searches are phrased and traditional ones. Since the answers can easily be isolated on one web page, a Frequently Asked Questions page (FAQ) can be set up to provide an immediate response.

Aside from creating a detailed, keyword-friendly FAQ page, you can also do Q&A content as blog posts. Consider the most common and important questions that customers are asking then build an informational page around it. Each part of the FAQ can be repurposed this way, and by targeting the right keywords, it will help improve your search results.

Creating these blog posts can also help your content get into Google’s “People Also Ask” section, which users click to explore a topic further. To find these critical questions, you may reach out to your customer support and sales teams.

There are tools that you can utilize to do this strategy. AnswerThePublic.com is a free tool that provides a variety of questions related to one keyword. Google Suggest, or the drop-down list of popular terms and queries that appears as a user types the query, can also be used to do this.

3. Produce informative video content

Research suggests that by 2020,  82% of consumer internet traffic will be for videos, thus making it an essential part of search strategy, including voice. It increases the convenience factor when looking for information, and it’s a great way to tell the brand’s story.

Natural language drives voice search as well as video content. This shared detail means that it is likely that video results will show up more on SERPs if marketers put effort into it. Google has already rolled out the video featured snippet feature wherein it pulls out a relevant section of the video to the search query, making video an integral strategy in answering voice search queries.

Repurposing content is one of the ways to leverage video content for voice search. When you’ve already created FAQs, Q&A, and blog posts, you can then turn it into explainer videos that share information to educate and explain visually. This can be useful for conversion.

Here are additional ways to use video for your marketing strategy:

  • Transcribe the videos, include search phrases, and use it to bolster SEO.
  • Identify the most valuable questions, identify the keywords within these questions, and adjust bids for these keywords.
  • Turn long videos into short pieces, each speaking specifically to one question, idea, or interest.
  • Incorporate strong meta-descriptions and titles that target your video distribution strategy.
  • Tag and insert description using long-form keywords to relevant areas of the video.

4. Develop more local content

According to a study by BrightLocal, around 58% of consumers have used voice to find local business information between 2017 and 2018. Needless to say, voice search has put the focus on a well-optimized local SEO strategy. It is necessary to incorporate localization into your broader SEO strategy to boost visibility and make it easy for customers to locate you.

An easy way to improve localization is to include your business’ location and contact information in a conspicuous place, such as the header or footer of every web page, so visitors can easily find it. You can also include an online contact form.

Local searches work in two ways: having the location explicitly named in the search or using the searcher’s location and looking for the nearest relevant establishment to that location. The latter is quite common, and where your Google My Business listing can come in handy.

A complete and accurate GMB profile ensures that every bit of detail that a prospect or existing customer would want to know is available. Add as many pieces of content as you want and make sure all of your local listings are optimized for direct-answer type information.

Some of the information you need to fill or take note of include the following:

  • name, address, and phone number (NAP)
  • a business email associated with the website (or [email protected])
  • a phone number with area code
  • location information that is also on your website, GMB listing, and other local business directories
  • high-quality photos of your location and the products/services offered
  • relevant categories of the business
  • fully describe your offerings using the introduction field

Another thing worth noting about local voice search is that from over a billion voice searches done in a month, 40% were mobile searches that had local intent. Mobile dominance is nothing new, but it’s certainly something to consider when it comes to optimization for local content. 

5. Improve readability

Quality content is useless if no one is reading it. Being informative doesn’t equate boring, and there are ways that you can make your content more readable so that visitors can extract the details they need. When it comes to voice SEO, improving readability means thinking and writing like your target audience or customer.

This means you should keep it simple and clear, and drop the jargon. According to research, the average voice search result should be written at a 9th-grade reading level, which means avoiding content heavy with buzzwords that no one uses in a real-life discussion. Keep your terms and phrases as close as possible to a natural conversation so you can increase search engine visibility.

Most readers also tend to scan before reading a blog or article from top to bottom, so it would be useful to include subheadings, bullet points, and tables to increase the chance that they’ll read the whole piece. It is also easier for search engines to understand the content with these in place.

In addition, take advantage of these tips, resources, and tools:

  • Webfx can grade readability using indicators such as the Flesch Kincaid Reading Ease, Gunning Fog Score, and Automated Readability Index.
  • Create short sentences (average of 10 words) and structure using short paragraphs (2–3 sentences).
  • Add sections that focus on an immediate need for answers like glossaries and Q&A pages.

Prepare for the Future of Search Today!

Technology will keep on evolving for years to come. In terms of SEO, nothing is set in stone. Keeping up with the voice search revolution is not just about updating your SEO strategy, but as part of it, businesses should also be updating their content marketing strategy. Make sure to monitor trends and updates, so you can make the necessary adjustments that will benefit your company.

Voice Search SEO and Featured Snippets: How to Own Position Zero

Featured snippets and voice search

Imagine being a newbie marketer, having to prepare for a presentation. You’re on the hunt for software that can help you create the best presentation, so you decided to whip out your smartphone and asked your voice assistant to do a web search for “free presentation tools.”

As you might expect, the voice assistant quoted the content of a website and listed down the names of the apps you can download, based on the search results. The section of the webpage read aloud by the assistant is in the “position zero” of the SERPs and is also called a featured snippet.

From the name itself, a featured snippet is an easy-to-read, short but authoritative answer to a search query, appearing in a box on top of the SERP, above the organic results and below the paid ones. Due to its location, a featured snippet is also often called position zero (since it’s above the first result) and contains the URL of the page and title.

According to RankRanger, featured snippets appear in 17.71% of searches and may appear as a brief paragraph, list, or table, with the paragraph type being the most popular. It makes getting answers easier, faster, and more convenient, as you won’t have to click on a link to find what you need.

Google generates featured snippets organically, meaning they check the relevancy of the information from organic results when deciding what to put on position zero. According to Ahrefs, 99.58% of featured snippet pages for particular queries are already in the top 10 of the SERPs.

However, it’s not surprising to see sites on page 2 of the SERPs to get position zero, as Getstat claims that 70% of snippets came from websites that aren’t top-ranking organically. Some SEO specialists believe that there’s no exact formula for earning a featured snippet. In addition, a spot in position zero isn’t forever—Google can easily find another page that is better suited for a particular query.

Based on the scenario mentioned above, featured snippets are especially crucial in voice search, mainly because smart assistants (including on mobile) will reply the answer to a user’s query with what’s on position zero. By 2020, it is expected that 50% of searches would be done with voice. As voice search becomes the norm, businesses are also projected to go beyond traditional SEO and a page one result.

Voice search SEO may be essential to your business if you’re in a competitive market, where gaining the first position can have a large effect on your market share. Position zero is perhaps easier to attain because it only looks at the relevancy of your content and not so much on link metrics—this is evident on the fact that lower-ranking pages can make it to position zero.

This gives every company a chance to boost its visibility and organic traffic; even though featured snippets readily provide an answer to a query, there is still a chance for the user to click on the box and be redirected to the page with the featured snippet.

In fact, Hubspot has found that content in featured snippets is more likely to be clicked than the first organic result, getting two times higher click-through rate. Because it gives a website above-the-fold exposure, it is more effective in driving traffic to your site and improving your business’ credibility and conversions.

How can you make your content position zero worthy?

Boost your voice search SEO by attaining the coveted position zero. Here are a few guidelines on how you can do it.

Find opportunities to rank

You have to go out of your way to find opportunities that can take you to position zero, and that means doing ample keyword research. You can start with keywords that you’re already ranking well for since most featured snippets come from high-ranking pages.

You can look to your audience behavior customer-facing teams (sales) to know the kind of questions they are likely trying to find answers for when doing keyword research. There are also a few ways to find these:

  • “People also ask” boxes — These also appear before the first organic result on a SERP. Users may be asking these additional questions related to the current search term. You can also identify competitors and content ideas here.
  • AnswerThePublic.com — This data-mining tool uses the Google Suggest API to get a list of questions that are often asked about a particular topic, including variations. You can export the list of keywords from ATP and upload it to Stat to automate the process of finding the terms that returned featured snippets.
  • Moz Keyword Explorer — You can also get a list of questions from Moz by going to the Keyword Suggestions tab, looking for the pull-down list Display keyword suggestions that and choosing are questions.
  • Rank Ranger’s Keyword Finder — Click Questions under Quick Filters.

In a study by Stat Search Analytics on 92,000 search queries, they found that terms that often return featured snippets include financial, mathematical, time, transitional, status, requirements, health, and DIY processes. Meanwhile, search terms that rarely do include local, info/help, factual, shopping, and images and videos.

Ahrefs also found that search queries with the words “recipe”, “best”, “vs.”, “make”, and “definition” have a better chance of being in position zero. Aside from taking advantage of the terms mentioned, here are more suggestions of what to consider for your keyword research:

  • High-volume search terms get snippets more frequently.
  • Explicit questions like who, what, how, where, and why would obviously have featured snippets, but also consider implied questions containing words like “does”, “cause”, and “costs”; and action words like “doing”, “getting”, “making”, or “cooking”.
  • Snippets for general questions usually show the paragraph type.

Check your competitor’s snippets

Aside from looking into your own analytics and reviewing your users’ behavior, you can also review your competitors’ featured snippets to give you a starting list of keywords you may focus on. The following tools can help you do just that:

  • SEMrush — Find your own and your competitors’ featured snippets with SEMrush by running a regular domain check and going to Organic Research > Positions, then filter the list of keywords under Advanced Filters by doing the following: Include > SERP Features > Featured Snippets. You can also just click Featured Snippet under the SERP Features list on the right side of the page.
  • Stat Search Analytics — Create a keyword list and upload it into your Stat to get the rankings for all keywords. It will also show which are producing featured snippets, or “answer” type results. You can filter those keywords to focus on those ranking in the top 10 results and tag keywords you want to track.
  • SearchMetrics Suite — To find search terms in this tool that are in position zero, use the filter Direct Answers.

With the information in tow, you can start optimizing your content for the same keywords and topics. Keep an eye out for variations of the keywords as well.

Develop high-quality content

Producing informative and relevant content can be made easier if you’ve already done keyword research or have felt the pulse of what people are asking. Of course, it’s also essential to give the correct answer. Here a few SEO tips on how to write good content.

  • If you’re aiming to be a featured snippet, you must have “snippable” content. Include the exact content that you want to be featured, directly answering the chosen keyword phrase and formatting it into either a paragraph, list, or table.
  • According to Ahrefs, once a page earns a position zero spot, it’s more likely to be featured in other related searches as well. In this case, you can come up with an in-depth article that answers multiple, related search queries to get a chance to earn several featured snippets for that content. Explore various facets of the topic and explain thoroughly.
  • Follow the “inverted pyramid” structure: Present the query clearly and prominently on your page, provide a short and direct answer immediately after the question, and then include more information to explain the solution.
  • Pick an evergreen topic that has staying power. This would ensure that your content would still be relevant for its readers after many days, weeks, months, or even years.
  • Since Google has utilized latent semantic indexing, it is now able to understand how words relate to each other. Instead of stuffing the same keywords on your content, use related phrases or synonyms.

Meet the optimal word count

In SEO, the longer the piece of content, the better. Some specialists target at least 2,000 words, but when it comes to sections you want to be considered for the featured snippet, you need to keep it concise for Google. According to an analysis by SEMrush, featured snippets is somewhere between 40 to 50 words.

To make sure that you’re breaking up your lengthy content, use headers and section off lists, paragraphs, and tables. This way, you’re preparing your article for a possible featured snippet. In addition, organize your subheadings by size, like using main heading H3 with subheading H4. Also, format it in chronological order, as Google prefers it that way.

Optimize your page properly

Aside from the headers mentioned above (H1–H5 tags), there are also other ways to make sure that your page is adequately optimized:

  • Make the search query a heading or formatting the question as H1, H2, and so forth.
  • Place the answer in a short paragraph and format it as HTML tag <p>.
  • Have internal links to other helpful content.
  • Make sure that page titles and meta descriptions include keywords.
  • Include helpful alt tags on images.

Apart from the HTML aspect of optimization, you can also take advantage of the “how-to” content, or pages in websites dedicated to explicitly giving answers users may ask about your business like a FAQs or Q&A page. With the right formatting, you can help Google select a short response from your how-to page as a featured snippet for a question.

Work on your off-site SEO

Off-site or off-page SEO refers to optimization tactics done outside of your page. This is to increase your site’s popularity, relevance, trustworthiness, and authority in the eyes of the search engine, and usually involves other equally reputable sites linking to you as a way to promote and vouch for the quality of your company and your page, which refers to the practice of link building.

Moz’ study on search engine ranking factors shows that off-site SEO may carry more than 50% of the ranking factor weight. It’s safe to say that link building is synonymous to off-site optimization, but there are other techniques that you can use to improve your rankings that are not entirely link related, such as social media and influencer marketing.

Common link building methods include guest blogging or publishing a piece of original content on authoritative websites to gain links, broken link building or fixing dead links by providing webmasters better content, and skyscraper or updating content that already has several links. From blogging alone, you can acquire 434% more indexed pages, with inbound links growing up to 97%.

One thing to keep in mind about link building is that it’s a gradual process and that the quality and authority of the pages where you built links heavily influence your ranking in the SERPs. In addition, you have to maintain a good relationship with other sites (as well as keep on producing good content), so they agree to link your page or have you guest blog for them.

Use high-quality videos and images

Visuals in the form of photos and videos are easy ways to get your readers’ attention and help you rank to position zero. There are available tools like Canva that you can use to create your own images, or you can just pick a free stock photo (if you don’t want to pay for it). You can add free shapes, icons, and more to your images depending on your need.

Videos, meanwhile, are huge for engagement, with 65% of people watching at least three-quarters of a video. Some 59% of executives also believe that people may watch a video if it is combined with text. When creating and uploading a video, make sure that it is high quality.

In addition, do not forget to include a voice transcript of your videos, as Google can recognize the text and even choose it as a featured snippet (provided it fulfills the content requirements). Include the transcript in the description box.

In voice search SEO, zero is everything

Like updates to the Google algorithm, voice search is changing the SEO landscape. Instead of page one, sites should be trying to reach the featured snippet box to enjoy better visibility, more traffic, and eventually, higher profits.

Truthfully, traditional SEO isn’t so different from voice search SEO—all you need is good content. When you have that, you can adapt to almost any algorithm change with ease. Design your content to answer a specific question and continue applying most of your traditional SEO strategies to get better chances of holding a featured snippet.

If you want to start building credibility for voice search today, get in touch with Voice SEO and avail of their voice search optimization services.

How Voice Search Is Changing Customer’s Journey and Behavior

Customer Journey and Behavior

Smart devices, such as phones and home speakers, are getting smarter and smarter such that they can now take voice commands from users. Not only that, as they’re able to perform these commands with precision.

Because of these capabilities, people are finding it convenient to use their smartphones and other voice-enabled devices to help them with web search. Instead of typing their queries on search engines, users are turning to Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant—the three most popular voice assistants—to get the info, product, or service information that they need using spoken language. This search method is faster too since users can just dictate their commands instead of typing them out.

On the other hand, these changes may pose a challenge for your marketing team since your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy now has to include voice search into the mix. Although SEO for text queries and SEO for voice search are both meant to build a strong online presence for your business, there are certain nuances with voice search especially because search engines have distinct algorithms for it.

Amid these trends, you can tap into your knowledge of the evolving buyer’s journey as well as customer behavior and use relevant insights to help your business stay competitive in online search.

Changes in Consumer Behavior

People’s routines now include using voice-enabled apps. From consuming news content to personal shopping and finding general information on the internet, people are relying on smart speakers and voice-assisted devices to help them with their daily needs.

Considering the statistics from Google and Content Marketing Institute below, it’s safe to say that the voice search technology is fast gaining momentum now more than ever.

  • 52% of consumers with a voice-activated speaker at home place the device in a common room, including the family room and living room.
  • 62% of people who regularly use a smart speaker are likely to use it to buy something at any given month.
  • 48% of smart speaker owners like receiving personalized tips and information from brands to make their everyday lives easier.
  • About 70% of queries or requests to the Google Assistant are communicated in natural language instead of the typical keywords that people use in web search.
  • 24% of people prefer using a voice assistant than go to a website.
  • By 2020, 50% of all searches will be voice-based.

Voice Queries in the Sales Funnel

In any customer-facing situation, you have to remember the significance of using the sales funnel to dictate the strategies that you will use to convert someone into becoming a sale or lead for your business. When you model the sales funnel, you’re focusing on the series of steps or processes that people go through in their customer journey.

Depending on your business model, your sales funnel should include at least four stages.

Sales Funnel

Through the sales funnel, you get to have an understanding of what type of mindset customers have in each stage. Being aware of this pattern of thinking or behavior helps you map out your marketing strategy.

  • Awareness — A customer is experiencing a problem and conducting research to understand the nature of the problem. At this stage, the customer’s questions revolve around the problem.
  • Consideration — The customer has identified the problem and is now looking for available options or solutions.
  • Decision — The customer has come up with a strategy to solve the problem. This is also the point where the customer narrows down the possible products or services that could best solve the problem.
  • Loyalty — The customer has developed a preference for a particular kind of brand, idea, or method and continues to engage with it.

The sales funnel can also serve as your guide on what queries people are using throughout their buying process and, consequently, help you tailor your content or approach accordingly. Along the way, you might find gaps in your sales funnel, which may be giving customers a reason not to convert. You should then tweak your tactics to make sure that you’re delivering the right message at the right time to your audience.

Here are some examples of questions that customers might have as they move from one stage of the sales funnel to another (using “tea” as an example):

Awareness: What are the benefits of drinking tea?

Consideration: How do green tea and jasmine tea compare with one another based on their medicinal properties?

Decision: How many tea bags should I use to make one liter of tea?

Loyalty: What snacks or delicacies go best with tea?

If your business involves manufacturing or selling tea, you’ll want to make sure that your content strategy includes information on the questions listed above as well as all possible topics that might be useful for tea drinkers.

In addition, you should spend time optimizing your content pieces for voice search. These factors play a role in how Google and other search engines may rank your brand on voice search:

1. Length. Google recommends an average of 29 words when framing answers for voice search.

2. Readability. Search engines prefer content with a 9th grade comprehension level because it is easier to understand than upper grade levels.

3. Word count. Google extracts voice search results from long-form content where the average word count per page is 2,312.

4. Featured snippet. Web pages that appear as a featured snippet represent 40.7% of voice search answers in search engine results pages (SERPs).

5. Structured data. Pages that use schema or structured data show on SERPs at a rate of 36.4%.

How to Do Keyword Research in Voice Search

Voice technologies are changing the way that customers are searching the web. In voice search, people use more conversational language and long-tail questions since they are asking more specific questions unlike in text search where the questions are more generalized.

Based on these evolving search methods, how you use keywords to make your business visible on SERPs likewise needs a different approach.

Here are some of the best practices in keyword research for voice search:

  • Target long-tail keywords. You can use question phrases to match the way that users form their queries.
  • Put keywords in your headers or sub-headers. This will help your content provide context to users’ voice queries and appear as a possible answer to a voice search.
  • Include function or filler words into your keywords, so they mimic how people speak in casual conversations.
  • Add steps from the sales funnel into your keyword research. This means plotting possible questions for every stage of the buying process.
  • Identify keywords based on usage along the buyer’s journey and map these into your content assets. For example, you should include keywords that people in the consideration stage use to make comparisons, while content that targets customers in the decision stage might include keywords that are related to pricing or cost.

Voice Queries Based on Intent

Another helpful strategy in developing and optimizing your content for voice search is to match it with search intent. Search intent pertains to what searchers want to know as they dictate their queries into their device. When you know the searchers’ intent, you can then create a piece of content that matches exactly with that desire.

Search intent can be grouped into four different categories: informational, transactional, navigational, and commercial investigative.

  • As the name implies, informational searches are made by people who are looking for information. People with this type of search intent have a specific question or want to know more about a particular subject matter.

    What type of content should you be producing for this intent:blogs, how-to guides, infographics, newsletters
  • Transactional searches are used by people who intend to buy something on the internet. They’re using the web to search for the best or most suitable deals.

What type of content should you be producing for this intent: FAQs, video demo, product information or comparisons, reviews, testimonials, product listing, pricing information

  • Navigational searches help people to get to a specific destination, such as a website or a physical store.

    What type of content should you be producing for this intent: corporate profile, press releases, company news or updates
  • Commercial investigative searches are geared toward the research process among customers. These searches are meant to help buyers make an informed decision about a purchase they’re planning to make.

    What type of content should you be producing for this intent: case studies, whitepapers, e-books

Using Search Intent to Build the Buyer’s Journey

It’s important to note that there’s a relationship between the buyer’s journey and search intent. Customers at the awareness stage will likely use informational keywords, navigational keywords at the consideration stage, and transactional keywords at the decision stage.

Thus, breaking down the search intent is helpful for keyword research, too. When you know the reasons behind a customer’s specific search, you can match your keywords with the buyer’s intent and develop relevant content that cuts across the customer journey. The goal is to make your business visible and accessible through voice search wherever the customer is in the sales funnel.

Here are some things that can help you in mapping keywords and organizing them based on search intent and customer journey:

  • Interpret the kind of questions that users ask. You can look for signal words to determine their degree or kind of intent. “Who” and “What” questions may signify that users are in the awareness or consideration stage, while “Where” and “When” questions may be signs that they’re ready to buy.
  • Brainstorm commonly used keywords for each stage of the customer journey. For example, a buyer searching for product comparisons might include the search phrase “pros and cons” in their search, while buyers at the decision stage might ask using “discount offers” as keywords.
  • Use topic clustering. This refers to building a collection of content that centers around a main topic to improve your brand visibility on search as well as establish your industry authority.

Through topic clustering, you can target a variety of keywords, especially long-tail phrases that cater more to voice searches.

To implement topic clustering, you should come up with:

A pillar page — This covers the main topic on a single page with smaller cluster topics that link to it. Here, you can focus on the awareness or consideration stage of the funnel.

A cluster page —This page contains more information about the main topic on your pillar page to help your prospect during the awareness stage.

A target or landing page — This contains keywords or phrases about a specific product or service. Your focus here is on the decision-making process.

The Customer’s Journey and Behavior in the Age of Voice Search

The emerging voice search technology is shaping the buyer’s journey and customer behavior in new ways. Through voice search, customers are able to find answers to their questions in a faster and more convenient fashion.

At the rate voice search is growing, it won’t be long before it becomes the norm in online search. Instead of waiting for voice search to go full blast, you could take the lead in making sure that your business is well prepared and responsive to this shift.

You can start by revisiting your SEO and content marketing strategies to gain fresh insights on what customers are searching, with special focus on their intent and how they’re expressing this in their search. Don’t forget to keep track of new algorithms from Google and other search engines as following these can help you optimize your website and your content pieces, so you’ll appear as a top response on voice search.

With these strategies, you can position your brand as experts in responding to the voice search revolution to drive traffic to your site, establish thought leadership, and engage users all throughout their buying journey.

How to Optimize for Siri Voice Search Queries

How to Optimize for Siri Voice Search Queries

The voice search industry has come a long way since the inception of IBM’s Shoebox, the first digital speech recognition technology. Today, we have Apple’s Siri, the first virtual assistant to be fixed on iPhones and the first voice assistant to reach a broad audience.

Since then, it has transformed how people use their smartphones and utilize the voice search technology. Essentially, Siri kick-started the modern era of voice assistants and the rise of voice search technology.

People use Siri for various reasons, such as to find the nearest Korean restaurant in the neighborhood, to double check if the user has any meetings on a particular day, and to remind the user to call his or her partner after work. Siri can respond to voice commands and answer any voice queries conversationally.

Despite other voice assistants entering the market, Siri still manages to lead the industry with 45.64% of smartphone users using Apple’s voice assistant. Perhaps it’s the advantage of being the early bird in the voice technology market, or it could be because of the familiarity it has developed with the users throughout the years.

With this, the iOS AI-powered personal assistant is growing and continuously shaping the way of life of consumers and even businesses. This is a sign and opportunity for organizations to tap on their target audience through voice search optimization.

Why Is SEO for Siri Important?

Voice commands are gradually getting more integrated with today’s smart devices, making it more relevant to people’s daily lives and to the tech industry. The primary difference between performing a voice query versus searching on the web is the latter delivers hundreds of results, while voice search gives only one—the most relevant answer.

It was found that out of 35.8% of millennials who use voice-enabled devices at once a month, around 22% of the searchers stumble upon local content and information. Additionally, consumers are also shopping online using voice search.

This brings us to your voice search SEO plan. The next best step? Optimize for Siri voice search queries. Statistics show that in 2017, Siri had 375 million monthly active users, and around 19% of users engage with Siri daily. Since Apple’s personal assistant is the most used voice technology as of date, it’s crucial that your website is front and center when consumers use it to perform searches related to your business.

If your brand isn’t the first search result Siri finds, you’ll likely be invisible. So, if you want your business to thrive in the market, you need to start working on your site’s voice search SEO for Siri.

8 Voice Search SEO Strategies for Siri

Optimize for mobile

Smartphones are the primary device people use to perform voice queries, which is why it’s crucial to make your content intuitive for mobile. If your business website is not optimized for mobile, then you’re setting yourself up for failure.

Smartphones are becoming people’s primary tool for reading and searching. In 2018, about 44.6% of smartphone users in the U.S. used an iPhone, this was expected to remain at roughly 45.2% in 2019. Since mobile and Siri go hand-in-hand, it’s a must to refine your website and make it compatible with mobile interfaces.

Here are a few suggestions:

  • You can use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to see how your website fares on mobile devices.
  • Develop a mobile-friendly design that enhances the user experience, such as “chunking” your content, using plenty of white space, keeping the font size and style legible, etc.
  • Continue improving your traditional on-page and off-page SEO like proper formatting and building quality links to your site.

Make sure your local business listing is accurate

In voice search SEO, it’s vital to establish your local search presence. After all, 46% of consumers use voice search to look for a local business daily. One crucial step when you’re listing your business in local directories is to ensure that each detail about your company is accurate and consistent throughout all online listings and search engines.

A lot of consumers use Siri to perform geo-specific queries, such as when looking for nearby restaurants, local business opening hours, and other business information. Verify your listings, especially on Yelp since Siri often pulls reviews and ratings directly from Yelp.

You need to verify your business listings and ensure that they’re optimized for search to increase the likelihood of your business ranking the top spot of Siri’s results.

Here are a few suggestions:

  • Enlist your business with the necessary information: name, address, and phone number (NAP). You can add other details like email, business hours, images, etc.
  • Get listed and claim ownership on Apple Maps, Google My Business, Bing, Yelp, Yahoo, and other directories, to establish your legitimacy and trustworthiness. Respond to queries and reviews to build relationships and prove your credibility.

Use long-tail, conversational keywords

Unlike web queries where people can just type “best barbershop Brooklyn,” long-tail keywords are most relevant in voice search SEO. Consumers performing voice search use conversational language as if they’re talking to a real person, and Siri functions like that. Siri’s algorithm is designed to comprehend and respond to voice queries in human language.

When developing your keyword strategy, focus on long-tail keyphrases that echo how consumers might perform a search to find a business like yours. You can identify your general keyword, then add specific keywords to streamline your target. For example, “laptop repair” is your headword, and your long-tail keywords might cover “top laptop repair shop in Brooklyn,” “laptop repair service near me,” or “best-qualified laptop repair shop in Brooklyn.”

Here are some suggestions:

  • Check out tools like Answer The Public and Google’s Keyword Planner to help you find the most common questions related to your business, services, or products. These tools can also help you choose the best long-tail keywords for your brand.
  • Go against the traditional rules and include fillers and prepositions (e.g., “the,” “for,” “in,” etc.)
  • Put yourself in your consumer’s shoes. What and how do they ask questions related to your product/service? Begin your keyword strategy with adverbs like who, what, where, when, and how.

Produce content that answers definitive questions

Voice search provides just one answer to searchers. With this, you need to curate content that is relevant, valuable, and accurate to searchers.

One way to do this is to break down your content into digestible chunks. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) pages, or content with a similar format, work perfectly for this purpose. This is because the virtual assistant’s responses are mostly pulled from FAQ pages. These pages also allow you to source long-tail keywords.

When it comes to the answers, you want to provide a snippet solution that is direct and easy for Siri to understand and relay to the searcher. However, you should also want to provide as much relevant information if necessary.

Here are some suggestions:

  • Create a FAQ page for your website that answers all your consumers’ most frequent and burning questions.
  • Write the questions as to how people who use voice command might search for it. Phrase the questions in the first person. For example, “How do I use the Online Exchange & Refund/Return Feature?”
  • Explore your emails from customers, go to Reddit, Quora, and even social media platforms to find new questions you can add to your FAQ page, or create a separate blog post altogether.

Have a formal customer review program

Customer reviews are a currency in the digital world, at least for local businesses. Reviews have the power over a brand and its locations since they’re significant indicators if people will visit your store or if you’ll pop up in a search result related to your type of business.

Search engines favor them as well. Businesses earn their authenticity and trust with reviews. Voice searches are influenced by the quality of reviews your business has garnered. Siri ranks answers based on business reviews when processing about what answer to give to the user.

When a user searches for “best Korean restaurant in the neighborhood,” Siri will compare your business reviews against your competitors. This is one of the factors that are considered before an answer is provided.

Here are some suggestions:

  • Encourage your customers, especially the happy ones, to leave a review for your business on Facebook, Yelp, or Google My Business. Whether they’re positive or negative reviews, how you handle them builds your brand’s credibility. Unfavorable reviews show how you apologize and remedy the situation to your customers.
  • Offer a reward program when a customer leaves an honest and quality feedback either on your Yelp listing or on Facebook. For instance, a 5% discount on their next purchase.
  • Make sure that your brand voice is loud, consistent, and has a friendly tone across all your platforms and locations.

Build your site’s authority

Boosting your site’s authority to establish a solid reputation online is an excellent overall SEO strategy. Developers know that people use Siri to get instant answers, and they’ll stop using it if it keeps providing wrong answers. This is why websites with authority and reputable links tend get picked more often.

Domain authority (DA) refers to a website’s search engine ranking score that assesses factors, such as the number and quality of links, to predict how that site will rank on the search engine result pages (SERPs). It is somewhat your reputation rating. One way to get “picked“ by Siri is to continually build your backlinks and presence through social shares and quality content.

Your site’s DA looks at social media signals. Social shares have a positive impact on capturing audience attention, increasing your traffic, and getting higher rankings. Publishing highly-shareable content boosts your chance at performing well in voice search queries. The average voice search result has been shared on Facebook 1,199 times and tweeted 44 times.

What’s more, voice results prefer content that is packed with information, well-written, and trustworthy. Voice results often promote content that tops the SERPs and is pulled from pages that has an average word count of 2,300 words.

Here are some suggestions:

  • Place a call to action to encourage your readers to share the page on their social media accounts. Ensure that your social sharing buttons are visible on the page.
  • Take a look at your technical SEO and assure that it’s up to standards: meta description, keywords, image optimization, heading tags, etc.
  • Build your backlinks and internal links to build a strong foundation that can help Siri to determine how authoritative your site is.

Get Siri’s attention with schema tags

Schema markups are well-organized codes added to your website to give context and assist search engines in understanding and indexing your site content. These tags are helpful for Siri since it runs a thorough analysis of the user’s intent behind their voice queries. It then finds the closest result possible that answers the question.

For example, if the user asks Siri, “find the nearest laptop repair shop in my area” Siri will check Google and deliver results that uses the “Local Business” schema tag for laptop repair shops. Since rich snippets are also being incorporated into the SERPs, it’s best to include your business’ NAP and opening hours schema tags as well.

This quickly signals search engines and thus, Siri, what the website is about, and how it is trusted.

Here are some suggestions:

  • Check out Schema.org, an online database of scheme vocabularies, to help your webmaster construct appropriate schema data on your site.
  • You can use Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool to check if your markup functions properly.

Optimize for Position Zero

When users ask Siri a question, they often speak out one answer. This search result comes from the featured snippet displayed on the first page of the SERPs. Around 40% of voice search results are taken from Featured Snippets—the part above the fold on page one that is called “Position 0”.

When a page secures the featured snippet box, this means they provide the best and direct information that satisfies the user’s query. This implies that you shouldn’t aim and settle for ranking the top spot on the first page, but also aim to land your content for position 0.

Here are some suggestions:

  • Write your content with proper formatting. You can use subheaders and bullet points to organize your content in a way readers can easily read and understand.
  • Identify simple questions that require brief, direct answers your target audience are likely to ask Siri—questions that start with who, what, where, when, and how.
  • Assess your engagement metrics and see if it needs improvement.

Is your business ready for Siri?

In this always-on world, the best thing you can do for your business is to embrace and adapt to this technology to stay flexible and on top of the game. With something as prevalent and as innovative like Siri, it’s essential to align your SEO efforts with this revolutionary advancement and use it to your advantage.

The voice search technology will continue to grow, and you should want your business to grow with it. From a nice-to-have feature, Siri has risen to become a consumer and business essential.

100+ Voice Search SEO Statistics and Facts Every Digital Marketer Must Know

The first speech recognition technology, IBM Shoebox, was first launched in 1961. Fast forward to today, and voice search has evolved from performing mathematical functions and speech to asking Google, Alexa, or Siri to look for the best restaurants in your neighborhood.

But this is just the start of something bigger and more impactful across industries. Voice assistants will continue to revolutionize how consumers look for answers to their queries, how people go on about their daily lives, how businesses reach out to their customers, and more.

If you’re a marketer looking into voice search SEO, you need to get up-to-date with the latest statistics and facts about the industry. Use this information to ride along with the revolutionary tech and gain a competitive edge.

General Voice Search SEO Statistics and Facts

1. Voice search is 3.7x faster than typing, with individuals able to speak 110-150 words per minute. In comparison, the average typing rate is 38-40 words per minute. (Bruce Clay, 2016)

2. Google started feeding its AI engine with 2,865 romance novels as a way of enhancing its intelligence and conversational skills. (Buzzfeed News, 2016)

3. There was an estimated one billion voice searches per month by January 2018. (WordStream, 2018)

4. By 2019, the voice recognition market will rise to become a $601 million industry. (WordStream, 2018)

5. From 2008 to 2017, voice search queries rose to 3,400%. (Hubspot, 2018)

6. ComScore predicts that by 2020, 50% of all searches will comprise of voice searches. (Campaign, 2016)

7. As per seoClarity, about 20% of all voice searches are prompted by a combination of only 25 keywords. (DialogTech, 2019)

8. The top trigger words in voice search queries are “how,” “what,” and “best.” (DialogTech, 2019)

9. It’s predicted that by 2020, 30% of web browsing sessions will be conducted without a screen. (Gartner, 2017)

10. On average, it took 4.6 seconds to load a voice query result page completely. (Backlinko, 2018)

11. Statistics found that the average word count of voice search result page is 2,312 words. (Backlinko, 2018)

12. The word error rate for speech recognition is at 8%. (Bruce Clay, 2016)

13. A study shows that the average Domain Rating of a voice search result was 76.8. (Backlinko, 2018)

14. Pages that rank in the top three desktop results have higher chances to lead voice search queries. Case in point, 74.9% of Google Home results are traced from pages that also dominates the top three results for those particular keywords in the desktop SERPs. (Backlinko, 2018)

15. Creating individual pages for every voice search inquiry isn’t an effective SEO strategy since very few voice search outcomes had the exact answer in their title tag. (Backlinko, 2018)

16. Direct and easy-to-read content may benefit voice search SEO. The average Google audio query result passes a ninth-grade reading level. (Backlinko, 2018)

18. 70.4% of Google Home result pages are HTTPS protected. (Backlinko, 2018)

19. The average voice query answer stretches up to 29 words. (Backlinko, 2018)

Voice Search Device Statistics and Facts

19. There are currently over 20 different smart voice assistants (i.e., Siri, Bixby, Alexa, Google Assistant, Cortana, and others) in the market. (Cognilytica, 2018)

20. By the start of 2018, more than 20% of American households equipped with Wi-Fi had a smart speaker. (ComScore, 2018)

21. Smart speaker shipment worldwide grew close to 200% year-over-year in Q3 2018—reaching 22.7 million units in the quarter. (Strategy Analytics, 2018)

22. Apple’s Siri leads the voice assistant usage on smartphones while Amazon’s Alexa tops on smart speakers and Google Assistant is coming up second in both categories. (Voicebot.ai, 2018)

23. A survey shows that 65% of individuals who used smart speakers can’t imagine life without their devices. (Digital Information World, 2018)

24. Another survey shows that 42% of smart speaker users say that voice-enabled devices have become “essential” to their daily lives. (NPR, 2017)

25. The total number of smart devices in households grow 78% annually. (National Public Media, 2018)

26. A report from Strategy Analytics says Google Home and Amazon Echo constitute 94% of all smart speakers presently in use. (TechRepublic, 2018)

27. As per a Hitwise report, 12% of all Google queries are mobile voice searches. (Econsultancy, 2018)

28. About 88% of all “near me” search queries are performed on mobile devices. (MotoCMS, n.d.)

29. 20% of individuals perform voice queries on mobile devices. The more mobile-intuitive a business is, the higher the chances they get to appear on voice search results. (Alphametic, 2018)

Voice Search via Google Assistant Statistics and Facts

30. Based on a digital assistant IQ test comprising of 800 questions, Google Assistant showed the most accurate answers with a score of 86%. (Loup Ventures, 2018)

31. Google projected that Assistant will be available on one billion gadgets, an increase from 500 million last May 2018. (Google, 2019)

32. Active users of Google Assistant grew 4x over the past year. (Google, 2019)

33. Google Assistant currently speaks nearly 30 languages in 80 countries. Also, the voice assistant is now multilingual. (Google, 2019)

34. Google Assistant now works with more than 10,000 smart home devices from 1,600 well-known brands. (Google, 2019)

35. The Assistant now comes with eight new voices, including British and Australian accents, in the U.S. this year. (Google, 2019)

36. In the Google App, 20% of searches are by voice. (Google, 2016)

37. Google Assistant will be intelligent enough to distinguish what language the user speaks, just like Google translate. This should be enough to service 95% of Android users. (The Verge, 2018)

Voice Search via Apple’s Siri Statistics and Facts

38. Based on the same test mentioned above, Siri answered 79% of the queries correctly. (Loup Ventures, 2018)

39. Survey shows that 44% of virtual voice assistant users on smartphones are utilizing Siri. (Voicebot.ai, 2018)

40. Apple’s Siri takes over the U.S. market for virtual voice assistants on smartphones with 45.65%. (Statista, 2018)

41. In June 2017, Siri had 375 million monthly active users. (Voicebot.ai, 2018)

42. 19% of individuals interact with Siri daily. (Hubspot, 2018)

Voice Search via Amazon’s Alexa Statistics and Facts

43. Based on the same test mentioned above, Alexa delivered 61% accurate answers. (Loup Ventures, 2018)

44. Amazon’s SVP of Devices and Services stated that over 100 million devices installed with Alexa have been sold. (The Verge, 2019)

45. Amazon executive Daniel Rausch shared at Berlin’s IFA tech show that Alexa has told more than 100 million jokes and has sung Happy Birthday millions of times to customers. (CNET, 2018)

46. Alexa is now connected with more than 20,000 devices. (CNET, 2018)

47. Alexa’s catalogue of skills—what Amazon calls its voice apps—has now grown from 130 upon its launch to a massive number of 80,000 as of December 2018. (Statista, 2019)

48. There are hundreds of thousands of developers in more than 180 countries working on Alexa. (CNET, 2018)

49. According to a report, 20% of consumers that own a device equipped with Alexa have used it to find deals or track what they’ve bought online. (The Next Web, 2018)

50. Amazon has sold around 50 million Alexa devices. (The Information, 2018)

51. 85% of consumers using voice search end up choosing the items Amazon suggests. (Quora Creative, 2018)

Voice Search via Microsoft’s Cortana Statistics and Facts

52. Based on the same test mentioned above, Cortana showed 52.4% accuracy of answers. (Loup Ventures, 2018)

53. In 2017, a report gathered that Cortana saw a 350% increase in monthly active users. (Windows Latest, 2017)

54. 25% of searches on Windows 10 taskbar are via voice—on a desktop. (Edit UK, 2018)

Voice Search via Samsung’s Bixby Statistics and Facts

55. 4% of smartphone users use Bixby. (Voicebot.ai, 2018)

56. Bixby is currently available in U.S. English and Korean. (Samsung, 2017)

57. Bixby’s voice search capabilities now reach over 200 countries worldwide. (Samsung, 2017)

58. The voice assistant garners 10 million active users globally. (Samsung Mobile Press, 2017)

59. Users can ask Bixby to “take a selfie” and allow Bixby to edit and enhance the image, and even share it on social media. (Samsung, 2017)

Voice Search Usage Statistics and Facts

60. 56% of new smart speaker users have also started using voice command searches on their mobile devices more often. (Convince and Convert, 2018)

61. One in five adults uses mobile voice commands at least once a month. (MotoCMS, n.d.)

62. A survey of 1,200 adults in the U.S. found that 26.1% of people who owned a smart assistant-enabled device used it to make a recent purchase. The same survey revealed that 16% of those consumers used it for shopping every month. (The Next Web, 2018)

63. Smart speaker owners use the device to perform an average of 7.5 out of 28 task types regularly, from playing music to getting flight information. (NPR and Edison Research, 2017)

64. Research shows that people use voice assistants in the car (51%), at home (39%), in public (6%), and at work (1%). (Cognilytica, 2018)

65. Individuals under the age of 24 are 33% more likely to utilize voice search queries in public compared to older people. (Go-Gulf, 2018)

66. Roughly 50% of smart device users rely on voice assistance when looking for products. (Go-Gulf, 2018)

67. 23.3% of smartphone users are very satisfied with voice search. (Go-Gulf, 2018)

68. A study found that willingness to engage by voice with smart gadgets even in public places continued to rise for the past three years,. (Stone Temple, 2019)

69. In 2017, 35.6 million Americans used a device equipped with voice assistance at least once a month. (Digital Information World, 2018)

Voice Search Demographic Statistics and Facts

70. A Global Web Index 2018 Insight Report shows 27% of the global online population is using voice search assistants on a smartphone. (The Webmaster, 2019)

71. Research shows that 42% of U.S. adults use voice assistants through their mobile devices. (Pew Research Center, 2017)

72. Survey shows that around 53 million U.S. adults over the age of 18 currently own at least one smart speaker. (National Public Media, 2018)

73. 25% of people aged 16 to 24 utilize voice search technology on their mobile phones. (MotoCMS, n.d.)

74. A survey found that 57% of people who use smart audio with children in the household said one of the reasons they wanted a smart speaker was to entertain their kids. (NPR and Edison Research, 2018)

75. 80% of smart audio owners agree that Alexa or Google Home “has made it easier to entertain the children in the household.” (NPR and Edison Research, 2018)

76. Baby Boomers (22%) are less likely to use voice assistants when driving compared to Millennials (37%) and Gen Xers (41%). (Higher Visibility, 2019)

77. 19% of Baby Boomers use voice assistants while watching TV, more frequently than Millennials (7%) or Gen Xers (5%). (Higher Visibility, 2019)

78. People between 25 to 34 years are more likely to feel comfortable interacting with voice-enabled devices. (Stone Temple, 2019)

79. Baby Boomers and Millennials are equally likely to ask their voice assistant to find recipes, more likely so than Gen Xers. (Higher Visibility, 2019)

80. Voice-enabled speaker owners wish to receive deals, sales, and promos (52%) as well as event and activity information (42%) from brands. (Think with Google, 2018)

Voice Search by Gender Statistics and Facts

81. In 2018, voice search statistics found that 66% of male smartphone owners use voice-enabled technology at least once. Additionally, there are 53% of male desktop and laptop users, 49% tablet users, and 46% off smart audio users that utilize virtual assistants. (MotoCMS, n.d.)

82. On the other hand, there are 55% of female smartphone owners, 30% of desktop and laptop owners, 31% of tablet users, and 26% of smart speaker owners that have used voice assistants. (MotoCMS, n.d.)

83. Research reveals that 42.5% of women are prone to using voice assistants more likely than men (37%) when it comes to asking for directions. (Higher Visibility, 2019)

Voice Search Behavior Statistics and Fact

84. 55% of people who use voice assistants say the major reasons why they utilize the feature is because it allows them to interact with their gadgets hands-free. (Pew Research Center, 2017)

85. Meanwhile, 23% cite “fun” as another major reason why they use it, claiming that it feels more natural than typing (22%). (Pew Research Center, 2017)

86. 25% of voice-activated speaker owners keep their devices in their bedrooms. (Quora Creative, 2018)

87. 41% of individuals who have voice-activated speakers say using the technology feels like talking to another person or a friend. (Think With Google, 2018)

88. Individuals who engage with smart speakers interact with it as if they’re human, expressing courtesy words such as “please,” “thank you,” and even “sorry.” (Quora Creative, 2018)

89. Survey shows that consumer spending via digital voice assistants is predicted to rise by 18% by 2020. (Quora Creative, 2018)

90. Two-thirds of individuals who utilize digital voice assistants end up using their mobile devices less often. (Hubspot, 2018)

Voice Search Commands Statistics and Facts

91. A survey shows that most people use their smart audio to play music (68%) or check the weather (58%). (NPR and Edison Research, 2017)

92. 17% of respondents in a survey say they regularly use voice search to help them set, cancel, and manage their alarms. Meanwhile, 10% of participants use it to add or manage appointments and events in their calendars.  (Higher Visibility, 2019)

93. Roughly 10% of voice search questions start with who, what, when, where, why, and how. (Bruce Clay, 2016)

94. In a study that asked respondents which situations they’re more likely to use voice assistants on their smartphone, the top answers were when their hands are full (50%) and while driving (42%). (Stone Temple, 2019)

Local Voice Search Statistics and Facts

95. 76% of smart speaker users conduct local voice queries at least weekly. (BrightLocal, 2018)

96. A 2018 study found that 58% of consumers have used voice search to look for local business information in the past 12 months, while 46% of voice search users find local businesses regularly. (BrightLocal, 2018)

97. People who utilize voice search most likely use the feature to look for restaurants, grocery stores, and food delivery services. (BrightLocal, 2018)

98. 72% of buyers who find local businesses through voice search ends up visiting the stores within a 5-mile radius. (WordStream, 2018)

99. 27% of consumers visit the website of a local business after performing a voice query. (BrightLocal, 2018)

100. 54% of voice search users also want to be able to place a restaurant or bar reservation using the technology. (BrightLocal, 2018)

101. 46% of consumers would prefer to hear local business’ rates in voice query results. (BrightLocal, 2018)

Prepare for the Upswing of Voice Search

Smart voice assistants are already becoming a part of our daily lives. For businesses, this opens a vast majority to be more in touch with their target audience in a way that matches their search behavior.

Getting into the voice search train as early as possible can help your business elevate your online marketing tactics. Voice-enabled search is here to stay and evolve. Either you adapt to thrive or ignore to flop.

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FAQ’s

How to Optimize Your Voice SEO for the Google Local Three-Pack
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Should You Outsource Voice Search SEO Services or Build an In-house Team?
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