Harris KhanIt’s no secret that modern technology reshapes not just how businesses operate but also how they promote themselves. As a result, digital marketing is constantly evolving and marketers are trying different methods that will help them keep up with all the changes.
One of the major changes in the online market was when consumers switched from using a desktop to using mobile devices to browse the web. Naturally, everything needed to adapt afterward, ranging from marketing strategies to search engine algorithms.
Nowadays, consumers are switching from traditional search to voice search. Instead of typing, they find it more convenient to just say what they’re looking for and search engines will provide them with the most relevant results.
But what does that mean for digital marketing? Most likely, a complete overhaul of current strategies so that they can meet the new standards. However, voice search is nothing new. Google developed this tech back in 2008.
It’s only recently that this trend has gained significant momentum. In fact, Google’s voice search feature received 35 times more voice searches in 2021 than it did back in 2018. Today, more than 50% of search queries originate from voice search.
With that in mind, here are a few ways you can optimize your content and PPC for voice search.
1. Leverage simplified content
Whether you use the content for PPC or other strategies, you’ll have to adjust it to match the voice search criteria. But what does that even mean? Simply put, voice search queries differ from traditional ones because people will speak what they want instead of typing it down in their browser.
Although user intent pretty much remains the same, matching it with your content becomes a bit more challenging. The main reason is the people will speak simple phrases enriched with slang.
After all, such queries are easier to pronounce. You’ll have to restructure your content to meet this new trend. Here are a few things you can do.
- Use simplified content by avoiding complex words and thorough explanations.
- Rely on 9th-grade readability for content because it ranks better.
- Use long-tail keywords that include more phrases, such as who, how, why, where, what, when and near me.
- Keep your answers short and on point.
- Leverage the KISS approach (Keep It Simple, Stupid).
- Use negative keywords for PPC.
The fact of the matter is that not all of your content should be oversimplified. Just because consumers use simplicity in voice search doesn’t mean they don’t want or need additional information.
That’s why it’s important to design landing pages that will both allow visitors to get straight to the point and allow them to get more informed if they wish to do so.
Hiring a professional web design company from NY is one of the best ways to create such a landing page if you don’t know how to do it yourself.
2. Opt for local SEO
In most cases, consumers will use phrases such as “near me” or “nearby” when using voice search. In fact, 39% of voice searches are aimed at local business information. That’s why you need local SEO for your content marketing and PPC efforts. Here are a few things you should consider.
Optimize for featured snippets
If you don’t know what featured snippets are, they are specific formats that show up in search results. They are designed to provide clear and specific answers to questions right in the search results so that consumers don’t even have to click on the link to get the full answer.
The main reason these snippets are vital for your marketing efforts is that voice assistants, such as Google Home, Google Assistant, Siri, Cortana, Alexa and other imaginary ladies that exist in mobile and IoT devices read the results to users from these feature snippets.
There are around 4.2 billion voice search devices in use today and that number is expected to reach 8.4 billion by 2024. That said, more than 55% of households in the U.S. alone uses one of the smart speakers.
Therefore, if you want more visibility for your ads or individual content pieces, you might consider optimizing for featured snippets and rich answers.
Optimize for local search
The purpose of local SEO is to help your business gain visibility in the local market. The main goal is to appear in Google’s top 3-pack for local searches. It’s the local equivalent of appearing on the first page of SERPs. Here are a few things you should do to optimize for local search.
- Add your business information to Google My Business listing.
- Claim other business listings as well.
- Ensure the information, such as an address, open hours, email, phone number etc., is consistent on all business listings.
- Obtain as many positive reviews as you can.
- Include directions and a map location for your business.
- Create awesome content.
- Leverage high-quality images and videos.
3. Maintain a mobile-friendly website
The majority of voice searches originate from mobile devices. Consumers that leverage voice search will continue doing research on their smartphones or tablets. That means that they’ll continue to browse your website using the same devices as well.
Whether they’ve clicked on your PPC ad or they found their way to your website through your content, it’s very important that you maintain a mobile-friendly website. The main reason is that you want to improve your SEO ranking so that you’ll become more visible in voice search results.
Consulting with a New York web design company will help you understand how to implement a responsive design for your website, but there’s more you can do to provide mobile users with more convenience. Here are a few things you can do.
- Improve website speed.
- Use AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages).
- Eliminate pop-ups.
- Use large fonts and larger buttons for CTAs.
- Include viewport meta tags.
- Make images and CSS files as light as possible.
- Space out your links.
Your content or PPC marketing efforts may be well-optimized for voice search and related keywords, but if your website isn’t mobile-friendly, your efforts are pretty much in vain. It’s all about the buyer’s journey and providing convenience at every step of the way.
That’s why your website must support your voice search optimization so that consumers can seamlessly transition from ads or content to your website where they’ll take the desired action, such as convert, for example.
You cannot simply expect people to use mobile devices and then switch to desktop when it’s time to browse your website.
Voice search is becoming increasingly popular nowadays. More and more consumers prefer to speak rather than type when conducting their online search.
Moreover, voice assistant devices are primarily designed for that purpose and they don’t even have the means to support typing input. That’s why it’s time to restructure your content and reevaluate your PPC campaigns to support voice search. If not, you’ll quickly start to lose a lot of qualified leads.
Voice search optimization may be disruptive, but it’s necessary if you want your business to remain both relevant and competitive in today’s online market.
Author bio:
Tomas is a digital marketing specialist and a freelance blogger. His work is focusing on new web tech trends and digital voice distribution across different channels.
