How Voice Search Affects Your Marketing Campaign

We recently asked our Facebook followers if they had used a device to complete a voice search or ask a question in the last 30 days. 43% of our followers said yes and with sales for devices like Amazon Echo and Google Home increasing, we can expect to see those numbers continue to rise.

According to research by Activate Inc, there will be an estimated 21.4 million smart speakers in the US by 2020. Because of the emphasis on the importance of search engine optimization and paid search, the rise of voice search will have a significant effect on marketing efforts. So, what do you need to know about voice search? Find out more here.

How Is Voice Search Being Used?

One of the most important considerations for your marketing campaigns is defining your target market and figuring out where and how to reach them. Studies show that 71% of people ages 18-29 are using mobile personal assistants for voice search – so if your target market skews younger, it is an important consideration. However, older people are still using voice search. Surprisingly, the 54+ age group still had a reported 34% of people using voice search regularly. Among adults, voice search is more used for asking for directions or dictating text and calling than for asking questions or seeking out information. So, if you have a physical storefront that customer might be looking for, it’s important to make sure all your address listings are correct if a device is pulling this information from voice search.

Where Are They Searching?

We recently talked about in our Who Uses Bing blog post about how Bing is the default search engine for Cortana, which is the default mobile assistant that voice searches go through for Microsoft devices. Web results for Apple device’s Siri also come from Bing. So, while most marketers focus their search engine optimization efforts on Google’s algorithms, a focus should be put on Bing as voice search grows – since most popular platforms for voice search pull the results from there.

Consider Conversational Keywords

The way that most users speak conversationally and the way that they type online are usually very different. Even though users are still essentially looking for the same results when they use voice search rather than searching on their device directly through a search engine – the phrasing they use might be slightly different.

According to a survey by Google, 41% of people who own a voice-activated speaker say it feels like talking to friends or another person. So, when putting together a list of keywords to target for a search campaign, consider conversational keywords that might come up in voice search. For example, you may type “flights to Florida” on your computer, you might say “what are the best deals on flights to Florida?” to your device.

How Else Will Voice Search Change Things?

All things considered, voice search is still a new feature in the digital landscape, particularly for marketing. An important thing to consider is that there are two ways to voice search. A mobile assistant like Siri allows you to dictate a voice command on your phone and then see results displayed on the screen of your device. Devices like Amazon Echo or Google Home allow you to speak to them and they will speak back to you with the result of your query. As things move further away from the screen, the more things will change. Everything when it comes to digital advertising, search engine optimization, and user experience has considered the screen as an integral part of the process. As marketers, it’s important to stay on top of the new features and products, as they come up to continuously optimize the process of reaching customers through voice search.