SEO

Four Categories of Voice Search Intentions

It’s estimated that voice search accounts for 50% of all searches in 2020, and the market for voice search shopping can reach 40 billion by 2022. If your business still hasn’t taken advantage of voice search marketing to reach out to potential customers, it’s time to get started. To effectively target the right audience, it’s important to get to know their intentions. Here we will have a look at the four categories of voice search intentions and how to best target customers depending on their search queries.

Info

People are trying to find specific information by using question-based queries like “How do I set up Microsoft Office on a Mac?” or “Why do I feel nauseous in the morning?” To target these users, think about FAQs that are related to your business. What would be the most common concerns of your target audience? Once you figure that out, create informative content to help resolve their doubts. Tip: It’s important to keep purchase funnels in mind while creating content. You want to match the content with the stage the user is in to guide them down the funnel naturally.

Local

This intent is usually marked by the “near me” pattern that shows up in voice searches. The user is looking for information about local businesses, especially those that are within close proximity to their location. For this type of query, companies need to set up their Google My Business page to remain competitive. Google will rank the results based on the distance from the searcher and the reviews available on the google my business page. To maximize your chance of getting listed, be sure to fill out the profile to your fullest ability and be responsive to reviews posted on your page.

Assistance

The user instructs the device to perform specific tasks such as turning on the music, setting up a timer for the oven, reminding them about a task on a particular day, etc.

Entertainment

How many times have you asked Siri or Alexa about the current showtimes for your favorite movies? Entertainment intent is clear: To get the user the information they need regarding a movie, event, a music track, youtube video, etc.

How to Optimize for Voice Search

The latest trend towards voice search has the potential to turn traditional digital marketing upside down. To adapt to the growing market demand, as a business owner, you need to implement several changes to how you approach your content creation and marketing process.

  • Focus on user intent when creating content. This includes creating content that flows better in a natural, more conversational tone.
  • Keywords play a much less important role in voice search. However, don’t forget to target the audience with the right long-tail keyword phrases. That’s how users will find you. Organic SEO will still play a vital part in helping you rank better in SERPs.
  • Your web pages need to be structured in a way that makes it easier for search engines to find you and scan the content.
  • Focus more on semantic search and text-to-speech technologies that turn your articles into audio. This will help smart personal assistants like Siri read your articles to the user who is searching for that specific information.

Voice search is still relatively new to the Digital Marketing world, but as mentioned above, it’s expected to make a huge impact in the year to come. Don’t fall behind with the latest digital marketing trends and strategies. If you need help implementing a voice search strategy, our ZGM team is here to help! Contact us today, and we’ll get you started.