A few months back, ENX2 had predicted some of the upcoming trends of 2017 and one of those trends was voice search. We all have this form of technology either in our homes or on our phones. All you have to do is speak to an AI interface who will magically answer your question. The tech has grown from Siri in your phone to voice-activated speakers you can have in your house to answer questions and turn on lights and stuff. It’s your own “Iron Man’s” Jarvis!
However, the technology is really not all there yet. For example, my pronunciation is not the cleanest. When I speak a message into my phone, it usually takes Siri three or four times before the message is correct. I can type the message way faster than that (and usually do in frustration). I get into fights with it, until finally I just shout, “You suck, Siri!” I’m sure I’m not alone in this struggle.
And then there’s the problem of distinguishing who is speaking to the device. Take what happened recently with Google Home. To activate this device, you have to say the phrase, “Ok Google…” Well, Burger King took advantage of this. Recently, Burger King released an ad for its new Whopper burger. At the end of the ad, the spokesman asks the camera: “Ok Google, what is the Whopper burger?” And since he said the magic phrase, it triggers Google Home to read the introduction to the Wikipedia page on the sandwich.
And then the backlash began.
People took advantage of this and began to vandalize the Wiki page, stating things like ingredients included rat droppings and a “medium-sized child.” Google, in all its Googly fury, deactivated the ad’s ability to trigger the device – only to have Burger King tweak the ad with a female voice (remove and) reactivating the devices.
Well played, Burger King.
But this is an interesting marketing technique, one that may be taken advantage of in the future. These smart assistants are growing more and more in popularity – according to Thrive Analytics, 71 percent of U.S. smartphone users between the ages of 18 and 29 use these personal assistants. Even those who are 54 and older use the technology– 38 percent, in fact. In fact, we have one in the ENX2 office and we always laugh whenever it answers a question that no one asked it. Could advertisers be hijacking our devices for their gain? Or would manufacturers of these devices set up roadblocks?
Advertising hijacking aside, this is definitely technology you want your business featured on. This means, not only do you have to do SEO for desktop and mobile searches but for voice searches as well. So you need to be prepared. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Focus on a key phrase in your content and not a keyword. Keywords are kind of passé—SEO specialists have been saying for years now that you should focus more on a phrase than a word. And this is especially the case for voice search.
- You want to be a specific as you can. For example, if someone is searching for an attorney in Houston, he/she will ask the phone, “Find an attorney in Houston.” The intent is key.
- Don’t just focus on Google. Remember, some of these AI programs use other search engines. Cortana, obviously, uses Bing. So do Siri and Alexa. And, well, you know which one Google Home uses.
- Focus on your local SEO strategy. Moz reports that voice search is three times more likely to be local-based than text search. So local, local, local is very important.