By TLC Marketing Consultants

Voice Search is a relatively new and innovative way for users to interact with search engines and find information. Speakers such as Apple’s Siri, Google Home, and Amazon’s Alexa have been invented recently, and are thriving. As well as those search engine voice devices, virtually every phone and app has some capability for the user to use voice chat. According to NJIT, voice assistants like Alexa and Siri have an estimated 142 million users in the United States! Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has been and will continue to be affected both positively and negatively by voice search.

A Fast-Rising Industry

Voice search has been rapidly growing throughout the years since its release. Yaguara shared research that shows the voice search market value is expected to grow by over $10 billion by 2030, which is over a 200% increase! This insane growth is thanks to the convenience of voice search. As loading times get faster, people will become more impatient over time, making voice search the fastest way to get instant answers.

The Difference Between Voice and Traditional Search

The biggest difference between voice and traditional search is obvious: with voice search you physically speak to a device and traditionally you type into the device. This makes voice search much easier and timelier to perform. Another difference is that with voice search, you can search phrases as if they are a casual conversation. For example, instead of searching “Fast-food restaurant near me” you can say “Where can I find a good fast-food place”.

Impact on SEO

Many different topics are under voice search’s impact on SEO, here are some key areas that need to be focused on:

  1. Natural Language: As I mentioned earlier, voice search is much more like a casual conversation. In a casual conversation, keywords for your website are more likely to be missed, so optimizing your website for voice search natural language is essential. Tailor content to what a user might ask.
  2. Local SEO: Mobile devices have put more emphasis on location recently, this will bleed into location-based voice searches. Making sure your business listing is accurate on directories with prevalent voice search engines is crucial for local SEO. Local keywords are also a good thing to add as users might say a word or phrase more in one location than another.
  3. Mobile Optimization: Most voice searches are made on mobile devices, meaning your website must be mobile-friendly. Ways to make it mobile-friendly are fast loading and easy navigation. Social media is crucial for mobile optimization, so ensure that when voice searched on a mobile device, your social medias pop up in the listing as well
  4. Clear Information: Having clear information and content within your website will help search engines understand your website better. This will improve the chances that your website will pop up on a voice search similar to your content.

What the Future Holds

Truthfully, the future is uncertain regarding how voice search will impact SEO. Voice search will continue to grow, leading to more uncertain changes in SEO. Voice search engines will surely become more intelligent and new features will be developed for them. Businesses will need to adapt to these changes that will be rapidly evolving with voice search.

Partnering With Our Agency

SEO by itself is a difficult task for any business to perfect, let alone with concerns about voice searching. We at TLC Marketing Consultants specialize in digital marketing in SEO. We want to help you, visit our website at tlcmarketingconsultants.com or call 913.904.2125 for assistance