Voice Command Searches: Prepare for the Future
It is expected that during 2020 the 50% of searches will be carried out through voice commands and of course this trend will not stop there. In fact, it is not unreasonable to think that within a decade most of the searches will be carried out through devices that support audio commands. At that point, much of what we understand today as good digital marketing practices will change radically.
Most advertisers are looking at the rise in voice searches with particular interest, but only a few know exactly what they should be doing about it. The good news is that there are some very concrete steps that can be implemented right now, to anticipate a future dominated by voice commands. If you focus on the following three fundamentals today, you will be better prepared for what is to come.
Use an outline to position your content
In the most basic scenario, an outline is a structure of how online content should be organized, to be understood by search engines. The most important search engines in the world have organized the operation of their engines through Schema.org. A joint effort focused on creating and maintaining schemas to structure data online. These days optimizing web pages with an outline is the first step to organic search success.
The great thing about Schema.org is that it is funded by all the major search engines, who in turn are writing the future of voice search. Having similar structures in the dictation of words by voice command, we can expect that the best practices for website optimization will continue in the future.
Use the Featured Snippet format
Google Featured Snippets are nothing new, but they are much more important in the world of voice command search than in traditional SEO. Featured Snippets are designed to help answer questions the way people would with their voice. In this sense, the system rewards content that presents information in a question and answer format, but not those that prioritize the use of keywords.
To improve your chances of being the option chosen by the search engine to answer a certain question, structure your content for Featured Snippets. For example in a blog post, this may mean asking a question from the opening paragraph and ensuring that it is answered in the same paragraph in 50 words or less.
Surely the publication can continue to discuss the subject in much more detail but what the search engine will be interested in is being able to answer that question, clearly and directly. In other words, give them the question and the answer they want.
Control your profiles
When preparing your brand and its digital assets for a world driven by voice, don't forget your digital profiles from other social platforms. Again, this is the best practice in the digital world today but it is going to be much more necessary to survive in a future dominated by voice search. After all, when people search for relevant information about your business, there is a very good chance that the first place a search engine will show is your profile on a social network and not your website.
Social media profiles describe information about your business, so if your business information is incorrect or out of date, it will be detrimental to your brand.
So while you think about your digital strategy for a voice-driven world make sure you go to the basics: Structure your content correctly, deliver the question and answer that users would ask and above all, make sure your information is up to date. and it is suitable wherever the algorithm can find it. With these three pillars, you can begin to capitalize on the searches that users make through voice commands and thus get ahead of competitors within your industry.
