Big names have made a remarkable impact with their virtual helpers like Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa. Newly added to the roster, Google has woven its virtual helper into the web index known as Google Voice Search. It lets users search Google by speaking on a mobile phone or computer.
Google Voice Search is a self-learning and user adaptable tool, it learns the cadences in your voice and recognizes your accent the more you use it. It uses machine learning to process data and make decisions based on the results. For example, if you search for ‘eye care clinics in my area’, but immediately re-specify your search, the program will learn that and infer that whatever you re-specified is what you intend to search for.
What Can Voice Search Do For You?
A survey from Adobe in 2019 showed that 48% of users used voice assistants to complete their web searches. This number is slowly increasing with smart speakers gaining popularity. Optimizing your platform for the way voice searches work is crucial to the success of your website.
Knowing Your Audience
When looking at your website and how it can be optimized for voice search, it is essential to understand your audience and who will be viewing your site. Especially the way they may talk and their word choices. This will help you choose the right keywords and phrasing so that the amount of hits your website gets is always increasing.
Method of Delivery
Most voice searches are done on-the-go through mobile phones. A typical search might be ‘eye care doctor near me.’
Now, results will be based on geographic locations of clinics. But the search engine will also take into account the specific words used on your website. So if you are based in Portland, including Portland in your web title or description will boost the number of searches you appear on because you have an immediate hit with a keyword as the destination.
Voice assistants are also commonly used with smart speakers, Google’s being the ‘Google Home’. Understanding the difference in delivery between phone assistants and smart speakers is foundational. As an eye care practice, you should be catering your delivery for both.
Smart speakers don’t typically have screens. This means that the requests made will be tailored to things that can be understood only through audio. Instead of saying ‘Eye care clinic near me’, they might say ‘what is the best-reviewed eye care clinic in my area.’ Making your online reviews as well as using keywords like ‘best-reviewed’ very crucial to reach this platform.
Final Thought
As Google continues to try to increase the simplicity and methods of delivery for conducting online searches optimizing your platform for them is critical. It’s key to make sure your website continues to reflect the growing use of smartphones, and their tools such as Voice Search are necessary to the success of your company’s online platform.
