Adjusting Content Marketing Strategy for Voice-Assisted Search Queries
Searching online has fundamentally changed over the past decade. This is even more profound ever since the virtual assistants like Siri or Alexa were introduced. As such, this has some important implications for content marketing professionals.
With the profusion of mobile devices, it’s highly likely that a Google search query will come through a voice assistant as opposed to physical typing.
So what can you do to optimize for changes in search user behaviour? How can you capture those search queries that come through voice assistants? Here are a few quick tips.
How Has Voice Changed the Way People Search?
The first thing to understand is that voice search queries are fundamentally different from the typed ones.
For instance, you wanted to see some movie showtimes for movie theatres in Birmingham. A typed query into the search bar would be relatively concise something like “movie times” or “movie shows Birmingham”.
When using a voice-assisted search, your query will be close to conversational speech and formulate it as a question: “What are today’s movie show times in Birmingham?”
This is why when developing content, it’s vital to integrate long-tail keywords. In order to address voice-assisted search queries, try to implement conversational-style phrases. Whenever possible you can structure your content in a question and answer format.
Another thing to consider is that voice search queries are highly specific and finely structured. Most search users know what kind of information they’re seeking, and will phrase their query accordingly. They won’t dwell too much when turning on the voice assistant. Some examples illustrate this: “Where is the nearest drug store?” or “find a Thai restaurant near me”.
Adapting your content strategy means you need to address these more specific queries. For instance, an FAQ page can have a huge impact for ranking in voice-assisted search results. Another tip would be to create blog posts that are designed to provide authoritative answers to these particular questions.
Finally, take into consideration that most voice search queries are localized by nature. Typically on mobile devices, voice search queries are likely used to find the closest coffee shop, the nearest tire service shop, etc., specifically in relation to your current location.
Good content should be localized as much as possible. Make sure to have your business name, address, and phone number included on every page of your website. If there are any notable buildings, shopping centres around you, leave an indication for users and the Google search robots: “Find us at the corner of…,” “we’re conveniently located near the mall”.
