09 May What Voice Search Means For Advertisers
Digital Marketing is advancing at a phenomenal speed. With the rise of voice search technology, more people are using voice-search software and assistants, e.g. Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant and Microsoft’s Cortana. Consumers are using these platforms to handle daily tasks, search for information or answers to their questions, and even specific products and services “nearby” to their location.
Studies by comScore predict that 50% of all searches will be voice searches, by 2020 and at the same time, Gartner’s data states that 30% of all searches will be done without a screen. In the digital marketing world, these trends and new technologies need to be capitalised on by marketers and advertisers and used within their advertising strategies. Which leads to the question…
What voice search means for advertisers?
Customer Availability
One of the biggest advantages that voice search has over desktop or smartphone search engine research, is that people are more likely to use it to find something specific and at that exact moment. Consumers using voice search technology tend to be searching for information on a product or service and voice search results allow them to make quicker decisions.
That said, people performing voice searches for a specific product or service are more inclined to make a purchase at that exact moment, in comparison to somebody doing desktop research, who are more inclined to take their time researching and reading reviews. For example, voice search is a perfect hands-free tool that can be used by vehicle drivers to find the nearest vehicle service station or restaurant for lunch.
Optimise Content And Ads For Voice Search
By ensuring that your company’s website content is optimised for voice search means that when customers want to make a purchase, you’ll be in a better position to feature amongst the top search results. How people ask questions and the keywords they use in voice search will now need to be considered in an SEO strategy. On top of that, content will need to be optimised to directly answer a customer’s question so that it can show up in Google’s snippet box.
Advertisers driving PPC campaigns using a platform like Google AdWords, can incorporate ad extensions and geo-targeting in their ads, to increase foot traffic to their store or business from customers using voice search. Advertisers can optimise the Google AdWords listings to include a store or business location, so people performing voice searches locally can find the physical location.
Advertisers can take advantage of “near me” voice searches from geo-targeted consumers by using promotion extensions to inform them of in-store sales, promotions, and discounts. Or by providing local inventory ads that synchronises a store’s inventory in real-time so targeted customers know that a store has exactly what they are are voice searching for.
With Google assistant now available on more than 400 million devices, optimising for desktop keyword searches only, means you could be missing out on a significant amount of searches made on voice assistant platforms.
Stay Ahead Of The Game
Currently, voice search platforms are ad-free but with CNBC reporting that Amazon plans to use Alexa to build an advertising channel, it won’t be long before companies can incorporate voice advertising into voice searches.
With marketing and advertising continuing to be highly competitive it’s always important to stay relevant and ahead of the game. With the mega companies such as Apple, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft investing in voice search technology and devices, this is one of many trends that is here to stay.
Consumers are adapting rapidly to using voice search as an everyday tool to find information. This means that advertisers and marketers need to adapt to and invest in voice search optimisation to stay ahead of the competition.
As a consumer, do you use voice search technology to search for a product or service?
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