“The world is changing.” Thus spoke Lady Galadriel at the beginning of the first movie of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. While the movie, the book it was based on and the world it was set in were all the result of the imagination of a man, many of the sentiments expressed in there have relevance in the real world. That particular phrase that the world is changing has relevance to the world of technology; every day, every hour. Due to my unique San Diego SEO career, I get a front seat to this change every day. Technology is progressing at a rapid pace, and we are slowly moving to a world so advanced that we don’t even have to type in what we want anymore; we have to do is say it.
Artificial intelligence is slowly taking over the world, and now even the most basic mobile devices come equipped with it. This software makes it easier to give voice commands because of its natural language processing capabilities. The following are the many reasons that voice search is the future.
Rapid Growth
Voice search is growing at a rapid rate, with a growing number of people using it every day. It is much easier to use and much quicker than your fingers. You can use it at home, at work or on your commute. This, of course, has implications for the world of search engine optimization (SEO):
- The queries are of different lengths: To begin with, with voice search, the length of queries is different from what you get with text-based searches. While text-based searches tend toward a maximum of three words, voice queries could easily exceed 10 words. That means keywords focused on natural language could be more common in the future.
- Searches based on questions: These search queries aren’t just longer but are often not phrased the same way as text-based queries either. Most voice search queries are in the form of questions. While you might search for “red Nike shoes” via text, with voice search, it will be more like “where can I get red Nike shoes?” That means you should consider keywords phrased as questions when formulating your content strategy.
- The queries are clearer: Because of the length and format of voice queries, they are much clearer about the intent of the user than text-based queries. That means these are high-value queries, and you would do well as a marketer to identify them. Because of the use of natural language in voice search, you should consider using the same natural language concepts in your keywords to get more hits with voice search users.
What Does All This Mean?
There are many opportunities, and also problems that come with voice search. For example, because of the question format of voice queries, your content should strive to be as helpful as possible and answer the queries more exactly. Some questions require a simple “yes” or “no” while others need a more elaborate exposition.
You should also try to cover your bases and make sure all of your keywords and brand names are correctly spelled since voice search can take spelling instructions. You should also try to be as general as possible with your content for some queries since a lot of voice searches are contextual.
Wrapping Up
However you look at it, voice search is growing and it needs to be taken into serious consideration by anyone that takes their SEO seriously. The future is bright, but we need to prepare for it if our SEO is going to remain stellar.
