“Okay Google” or “Hi Siri” are now common commands for smartphones and iPhones, and the future of SEO will change because of it. As people begin using voice search more and mobile tech advances, SEO will begin to rely on the way people speak to their phone rather than what they type in a web browser.
Search Engine Journal reports that 55 percent of teens and 41 percent of adults use voice search already. Comscore predicts that 50% of all searches will be voice searches by 2020. Mediapos predicts 30% of people won’t even use a screen anymore to search!
The information world is changing, and online content must keep up with the way people are searching. To understand how optimizing content has to change, it’s important to think about how people search on a web browser versus voice search.
People Talk More than They Type
People don’t usually feel like typing out full questions or statements in a web browser. They often make it short. This is why you may see “mechanic Baltimore Maryland” for a keyword phrase instead of “I need a mechanic in Baltimore Maryland.”
Before voice search, most SEO specialists tried to rank for short keyword phrases such as the “mechanic (in) Baltimore Maryland,” but this tactic may need to change to targeting long-tailed keywords. Panda, Penguin, and Hummingbird algorithm changes have all tried to head the way of not just looking for keywords that match exactly what users input into the search query, but instead focus on the information provided and how it explains the keywords in the search query.
Google has been one set ahead of voice search because they knew they were headed towards a market that will explode. This is evident by their latest tech launch of Home. A Google voice-activated speaker that’s powered by Google Assistant.
Google knows there’s going to be a time when there will be more people searching by voice than by typing into a search query. So, they want to be able to pull information that doesn’t just contain words like “mechanic, Baltimore, Maryland,” but be able to show users exactly what they want – mechanics in Baltimore Maryland.
What this means is content must pertain to what users need. An auto body repair shop shouldn’t try to rank for just mechanic in Baltimore Maryland, but include longer keyword phrases in their pages, such as “the best mechanic in Baltimore, Maryland,” or “what to look for in a good mechanic in Baltimore, Maryland.”
Finding the Right Long Tailed Keywords
Long tailed keywords are what needs to be focused on nowadays. They are the future with voice search. But what you may be wondering is how do you know what they are if when you do your keyword research, most of the results are short-tailed keywords. The solution to this is easy – know your audience.
Think about what a consumer would say when searching for a “mechanic Baltimore, Maryland” by voice. Visualize being stranded on the side of the road needing a mechanic. What would you say into your phone? “I need the closest mechanic in Baltimore, Maryland” or “Where can I find a mechanic in Baltimore, Maryland” would work. You can then write content or optimize pages with “closest mechanic to Baltimore, Maryland” or “find a mechanic in Baltimore, Maryland.”
At some point, there will likely be voice search data, but until then, we must solely rely on knowing the target audience and giving those people the information they seek no matter if they use a web browser or voice search. This is after all what Google has always wanted from websites.