As mobile search continues to grow, there’s one aspect of it that seems to grow even faster. In 2016, it was estimated that 20 to 25% of all mobile searches are voice searches, and that 60% of users of Google had started using a voice assistant, such as Alexa, Cortana, Google Home, Siri and others, within the past 12 months. (See Source) Now, you may think “a search is a search,” which is technically true, but with a voice assistant, how someone is searching and what words they are using may make you rethink the keywords you use for your digital advertising plan.
Since the rise in popularity of voice input searches, digital advertisers have noticed an increase in longer-tail searches and full question search phrases such as “Find me a good Italian restaurant near me for dinner,” or “I need someone to print new business cards.” At the same time, there have been increases is misspellings and incorrect results due to the voice input not quite getting what you were asking. Think of how many times you’ve yelled at your phone something like “No. I want directions to PISCATAWAY!” As an advertiser, what can you do to ensure you turn up in the results for voice searches?
First, research misspellings of your company, services, or products. What ways could a voice assistant misspell what it thinks it heard you ask? Add some of them as a test to your keyword optimization strategy. At the same time, adjust for natural language (“What’s a good Italian restaurant in the King of Prussia area?") as well as so-called “computer language” (“Italian restaurant King of Prussia"). You may want to optimize your landing pages and ad copy to account for high-value natural language searches.
This facet of search is expected to continue to quickly grow during 2017 and beyond.
How has your brand made adjustments to its mobile strategy to include voice-activated searches?
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