Mohammad Ali
I am a big fan of horror movies. So, whenever I get to witness anything remotely related to a supernatural phenomenon, I try to enjoy it fully. However, these chilling experiences often turn into hilarious memories. Almost a decade ago, when I went to my friend’s house, I found him talking to someone. Bear in mind that my friend has no family and he lives alone. The following conversation took place between him and me.
Me: “Who are you talking to?
Friend: “I am talking to Siri.“
Me (with a big grin on my face): “Alas, you have a girlfriend!”
Friend (Unamused): “No, it’s someone whom you don’t know and can’t see.”
Me: “Lol! You are talking to ghosts. And here I thought you finally have a girl in your life.”
Friend (Irritated): “Moron. It’s just Siri –voice assistant on my iPhone.”
Before 2011 people had never heard of voice search or a voice assistant or even voice search optimization. When Siri was launched, people thought of it as a tool to make them laugh and manage their to-do lists.
Not many people predicted that voice search would become a major trend of the future.
But just like everything else, voice search evolved.
Now, there are tons of voice-activated devices in the market, namely Alexa, Google Assistant, and Cortana.
It is said that by 2020, 50% of the searches will be via voice search.
A research conducted by Google revealed that people use voice search because of the following benefits:
- People can efficiently multi-task while searching for things with voice searches.
- It gives people convenience in their day-to-day tasks.
- Voice search helps people search faster than any other device.
- People can get instant answers and the information they seek.
People are already using voice assistants to get their routine straight, e.g., setting the alarm, setting reminders to call their mums, booking an appointment, feeding the dog, etc. This presents a massive marketing opportunity to marketers and small business owners as well.
Optimized for Semantic Search? Consider yourself, lucky!
If you’ve heard of Google Hummingbird changes, I assume you are already aware of semantic search. If not, here goes. Google realized that they should add more to keyword searches than simple queries. They needed a new skill. This gives birth to comprehension.
Instead of just queries, and fragments of keywords, Google started analyzing the meaning behind each question. In doing so, Google was able to predict the intent of the people searching for things online. This forced marketers to switch to voice search optimization.
Forget the long list of useless keywords you need to optimize for your search. Stop seeing search queries as words and shift your thinking to a voice search optimization mindset.
The voice search optimization mindset
In ancient times the people of the caves used to survive by imitating others. Our great-grandparents worked hard and evolved like crazy, which is how we can survive generation by generation.
Whether you are an entrepreneur or working a tedious job, you’ll die if you do not evolve. The same goes for your website. If you want to compete with the fearsome competitors out there you must get your hands dirty with voice search optimization.
With that mindset, we must focus all our attention on voice search optimization. Instead of leaving things as they are. It is time that you start providing content that answers the needs of the customer. You know that Google will now read aloud your content so why not make it easy on the ears?
To do that, you first need to get rid of the over-optimized text that is lingering on your main page which will serve no great purpose now. In this guide, you’ll learn how to use voice search optimization to make your content relevant to what people are searching for. As the saying goes, “SEO done right is a win for everyone”.
Turn Keywords into Queries
Understand that people type and speak quite differently.
For instance, if someone is looking to buy a new TV. They will type “buy TV” while if they say the same thing, they’ll go like this, “What is the best TV?”
Were you able to spot the Semantic Search difference between the two?
Luckily there are online tools that can help you do this.
One such tool is Answer the Public. A fascinating tool takes one root keyword as input and presents a map of commonly asked questions regarding that keyword.
In Google, the “People Also Ask” feature acts in a similar manner. Just type in any question, and you’ll get what people are searching online.
Ashad Rehman
Joe Clark