Siri, Alexa, Cortana, and Google assistants are becoming popular at a high rate, so you must upgrade your eCommerce store to keep up with the voice search trend.
In fact, there are 1 billion voice queries per month, representing 20%, and that will rise to 50% of all searches in 2020.
Today, you can use voice commands to search the web, make a call, write a message, update your calendar, order a pizza, and also control your smart home and devices.
The voice search gives people with visual and motor skill impairments the power to use the internet and modern gadgets.
Optimizing your eCommerce store with a voice search feature will also improve accessibility, meaning an increase in traffic and sales.
Voice search is way different from a regular search as the input phrase is more of a conversation with an Artificial Intelligence assistant.
For example, regular search “Cheapest hotels in Miami,” while voice search “Siri, which are the cheapest hotels in Miami?”
Research shows that people prefer searching for simple information using voice, and most people have a digital assistant in their smartphones.
The trend is on the rise so don’t get left behind.
Multiple studies show the rise of voice search usage and the market.
Regardless of the crucial impact of voice search, 66% of markets are not willing to consider voice search.
However, you can do the following things to organize your eCommerce store for a voice search.
You want to reach consumers who search for products using voice to find your store.
Then what should you ensure the voice queries lands on your site?
Besides the normal search engine optimization, there other crucial upgrades you need to do.
Spoken Language differs from the written language, so you will have to target long-tail and conversation keywords, which are more similar to voice queries.
They are fewer competitors for such long-form keywords which means it will help you rank higher.
Therefore, treat voice searches as a conversation between the consumer and the device they are using.
Create all possible questions that they might ask. Then mix up different phrases and terminology to cover all the ways of asking a question.
For example, a person wants to find the best place to rent a house in New York — they would type “Best place in New York to rent houses” while a voice search sounds like “Hey Google, what is the best place to rent a house in New York?”
There are online tools that you can use to analyze, find conversational and long-tail keywords such as Google Analytics, Moz Pro, Google Search Console, and Unamo.
Content matters a lot to search engines, and thus you should write quality content and optimize it to a conversational tone. Voice search is in the form of questions, and your eCommerce store FAQs go a long way in attracting voice searches.
You can also format your blog posts in the form of an interview to target the voice searches with the interview questions.
Add videos and podcasts, using efficient tools like VEED not just for transcription into blogs but also for reformatting multimedia content. Convert videos from MKV to MP4, use the AVI converter for better video compatibility and transform audio from WAV to MP3 to make your content more accessible and voice-search friendly..
Integrate AI-powered search options in your website search bar and chatbots, which helps to improve user experience.
In addition, add schema markup tags, which tell search engines what your content is all about and also contribute to snippets, which give your store star ratings.
Improve your website speed as voice search requires fast and quick results. Invest in more powerful servers and compress your image without compromising the quality.
Start by claiming your Google My Business to put your company information out there, including reviews, location, and website.
Research shows that mobile devices often give local based results and, therefore, win the local market first and then expand outside.
List your products on Google Shopping to ensure they appear when Google Assistant users search for similar products.
Today, people are quickly adapting to voice searches from using it on their phones every day to buying digital assistants for their homes. Voice search has also revolutionized the industry technology where machines can now recognize and interpret spoken commands.
These machines function by converting analog voice to digital signals, which are then interpreted by natural voice processing algorithms of artificial intelligence.
Therefore, understand the consumer so you can be able to expect their questions and how to respond well. One way you can get to understand your prospect is by conducting direct marketing where you get to interact with customers one-on-one.
Perform detailed market research to identify your target group pain points to provide the best and relevant solutions.
It’s good to note that users who do voice searches are mostly on the move and are usually communicating with a mobile device or assistant on the go. Therefore, optimize your store for mobile.
And by doing this, you will be able to attract voice searches to your eCommerce store.
People are getting more used to depending on smart devices such as smart homes, smartwatches, kitchen, and fridges, which make life more comfortable and convenient.
Therefore, voice search will keep on growing, and you should be ready for the shift.
Internet of Things has also contributed to voice search growth by connecting multiple devices allowing them to communicate with each other to solve problems faster.
Ensure that you invest in voice search by optimizing your site, using long and conversational keywords.
Additionally, reshape your content to include more voice search-oriented material, which will help search engines to recognize your site when consumers do voice searches. And then you will be ready for the voice search.
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About the author
Lisa Michaels is a freelance writer, editor and a thriving content marketing consultant from Portland. Being self-employed, she does her best to stay on top of the current trends in business and tech. Feel free to connect with her on Twitter @LisaBMichaels.
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