Did you know that there are more than 1 billion voice searches taking place every month? Which accounts for more than 33.3 Million voice searches per day. Amusing right?

Voice search is not a very new concept; we have been hearing about it for a really long time. But what is new is the fact that voice search is now dominating the search business these days. With estimates that more than 50% search inquiries would be voice search inquiries by 2020, this seems like the future of digital marketing to most of the SEOs.

So, what exactly do these stats tell us? Well, I have a lot of questions popping in my mind. For starters, “How does voice search work?” or “What is the link between voice search and SEO?” or “How do I rank in a voice search activated search engine?” 

With the Google Hummingbird update and the continuous changes in the Google search layout, optimizing for voice search is your major survival game in the SEO showbiz. 

Let’s take a look at why the majority of users are inclining towards voice search and why you should game it from a 360-degree angle.

Let’s ask the question – “Hey Siri! Why do I use voice search instead of typing-in what I need on my browser?”

Did you get my point here? It’s more effortless, time-saving and mobile-friendly (You can’t be carrying your laptop to places, right?). And with the introduction of AI-powered voice tools like the Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant or the Cortana, the traditional search methods will be facing an all-time low in the nearing future. 

And this is why you should optimize for voice search. Your users are making more voice search queries than ever, and your keywords sure don’t match what the users ask. Voice searches are more conversational, and with the Google Hummingbird update, your content and keywords both require a focus on long-tail keywords to rank. Let’s see the difference: –

Voice Search: Alexa, how many movies has Marvel released till date?

Traditional Search: List of Marvel movies

Why should you optimize for voice search?

To bag featured snippets.

Featured snippets are the short description that Google shows to a user search query on top on SERP, i.e., on position zero. With the Google Hummingbird update, the SEOs are already trying to earn featured snippets to boost their online visibility. 

Also, the voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, or Google Assistant answer user query by reading these featured snippets. Hence, the increased use of voice search and its dependency on featured snippets is going to grow the competition and value of these snippets. 

So, start optimizing for the future of digital marketing by revamping your SEO strategy, Keyword research and prepare to reach your target audience before 2020 hits with an overload of voice searches.

To prioritize semantics search.

The voice search is bringing with itself a revolution in how searches are done online. With the increasing number of voice searches by the day, SEOs have to pay special attention to their content semantics.

As discussed above, the language that voice search uses is quite different from a traditional laptop/PC search. The voice search adopts a conversational tone like “Do I need pest control in my house?” instead of “pest control for houses.” 

Btw, the “Do I need” mobile searches have increased by 60% over the last few years. So, here’s your hint to develop relevant content and increase your chance to earn a featured snippet.

Since voice searches are conversational in tone, you need to reassess and optimize your content for such search queries and pay special attention to how you research keywords. 

The repercussions of not doing semantic research and optimizing for a voice search activated search engine can be many. For starters, you may risk losing out on a considerable number of your target audience. This is because your content and keywords would only be optimized for traditional search and not voice search.

To make your website mobile compatible.

The voice search is bringing with itself the “Mobile-friendly Movement.” As per estimates, 50% of the internet’s traffic comes from mobile phones. And this is why we suggest SEOs adopt the mobile-first internet marketing approach. 

Since voice search happens on voice-enabled speakers, it is mostly made through mobile phones. As per estimates, 70% of the users purchase from businesses that have a mobile-compatible website. These are all the reasons why you should work on making your website mobile-compatible.

Cash-in the value of local SEO

As per estimates, 55% of users make a voice search to find a local business. In addition to this, 75 % of users owning voice-enabled speakers conduct local voice search on a weekly basis to find restaurants, stores, to book a movie show and much more.

This means that users are relying more on voice search to find local businesses. And this is your cue to optimize for a local voice search activated search engine to boost local SEO. By doing so, you can increase the traffic to your website and thereby boost your sales.

Conclusion

The dominance of voice search is going to change the future of digital marketing. With around 1 Billion voices searches per month, all digital marketers need to restrategize to make their website voice-search friendly. But, this does not mean you stop optimizing your website for non-voice searches. Your aim is to capture all aspects of SEO to boost your voice or traditional search visibility on SERP. But, looking at the current trends, ignoring to optimize for voice search can do some severe harm to your business. This is because your target audience will not find you on voice search results and will divert towards other businesses. Now, this is something that nobody wants.