Every now and then a new thing appears on the web that makes web, content, an digital marketers stand up and take notice. Nowadays that new thing is ‘voice search’.
People using voice search to operate their computers is growing at a rapid pace. It’s part of the growing aversion from traditional computing to simple computing via tablets and smartphones. People don’t want or have time to get geeky anymore. They want quick results without difficulty of use.
As would be expected, Google and the other search engines are taking advantage of this by providing voice interactive options that people are getting accustomed to. The voice search options are still primitive but are advancing at leaps and bounds, primarily due to the rapid expansion of the mobile market. Mobile has eclipsed desktops and laptops and soon will be leaving these traditional computing options in the dust. It means many changes in the way websites are designed and how Google ranks pages. Not having a mobile friendly site is asking for trouble.
People are finding voice search not only convenient but frees their hands. Typing calls for extra attention and aptitude where voice is just one command or question. Voice technologists are rapidly developing their software so that it’s easier to understand the speaker and access more commands. Seniors and children don’t have to go through the rigors of understanding computing when all they need do is just speak and their commands manifest in finding sites, playing games, sending emails, and social media networking. Such convenience allows for things to more faster and efficiently.
Voice search won’t take over typing totally, but it is a new way of computing that is more space age. The changes needed in websites to accommodate more voice may make web designers jumpy. It might call for changing copy to more fluid and natural copy and no more keyword stuffing and spammy content. Voice calls for algorithms in the software that can not only capture what’s said, but interpret it as close as possible to its original meaning. Given the plethora of slang, idioms, metaphors, in just American English alone, that will be quite a task. Long keyword phrases will probably come into play here as will whatever turns up as the technologies involved emerge. We may see things appear that totally throw us off and calls for changing a good bit of our website content.
In 2015 Google did a massive update for mobile that SEO experts called ‘Mobilegeddon‘, they expected this update and upgrade would cause chaos to search results all over. It didn’t do that exactly and many SEO experts carried on through the storm no worse for wear. As the statistics continue to grow due to voice and mobile, more changes regarding SEO will occur that might make ‘Mobilegeddon‘ look like a pie fight.
There’s no doubt voice search is going to match typing and might even eclipse it, especially for home entertainment. Advertisers will be watching closely to the voice phenom and if necessary will revamp what they can to grasp the opportunities available. Web advertising especially. For starters, hiring copywriters who write fluently and not in choppy or spammy English are going to be mandatory for survival. Get prepared now.
So that’s it for voice search and SEO. It’s something you had better educate yourself on immediately or you may find yourself left out of the game altogether.