Hey Google: What Does Voice Search Mean for Franchise SEO Services?

If your franchise SEO services aren’t prioritizing voice search in 2019, you’re falling behind!

Real-world AI assistants like Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana, and Amazon’s Alexa might seem like sci-fi clichés, but these voice search tools are quickly becoming the new search standard. More customers than ever are using voice search to find your business, but without voice search optimization, you’re missing out.

Today’s post explains what makes voice search so important for franchise SEO services in 2019, and shares some handy tips to get you started.

5 Reasons to Target Voice Search with your Franchise SEO Services

• Back in 2016, 40% of adults were using voice search once per day, according to Branded3 research. That same year, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced during the Google I/O keynote that 1 in 5 mobile searches now being made via voice.
  
  And that’s before the big players in voice search really doubled-down on development. Since then, things have changed. Shortly after the Branded3 report was published and Pichai’s game-changing announcement dropped, Google developers revealed that they had fed their software over 2,865 romance novels in order to improve the voice AI’s conversational skills and fluidity (source: Buzzfeed). Since then, the sophistication and popularity of voice search has skyrocketed. As of January 2018, there were an estimated one billion voices searchers occurring every month!
  
  
• In addition to the voice search capabilities built into every smartphone, 1 in 6 Americans–roughly 39 million–now own a smart speaker, according to new research from NPR and Edison Research. That’s up 128% from their initial report in January, 2017. Since that report was published, Apple and Samsung both release their own voices speakers. By 2020, there will be an estimated 21.4 million smart speakers answering queries and referring users to local businesses, according to WordStream. And by 2022, 55% of households are predicted to own a smart speaker.
  
  
• By 2020, 50% of all searches will be voice searches, according to a ComScore study.
  
  
• Voice shopping is projected to jump to $40 billion in 2022, up from $2 billion today, according to an OC&C Strategy Consultants report. That’s a 20x increase in voice search-related e-commerce in a span of 4 years!
  
  
• Voice search is also a local search nirvana–according to Chitika research, mobile voice-related searches are three-times more likely to be local-based than text. In other words, more people are using voice search to find local products and services compared to text queries. So if you’re trying to get your business in front of more locals, you’d better start focusing your franchise SEO services on voice search.

Getting Started with Voice-Focused SEO Tactics

Follow these quick tips to get started with your voice-search optimization:

• Get “conversational” with your keyword research. People speak and type quite differently. Generally speaking, voice search keywords will be more informal and conversational. For example, somebody searching for franchise SEO services might simply type “franchise SEO services,” but the voice search would be phrased as a question, such as “What are the best franchise SEO services?” Tailoring your keywords to align with voice search queries is key. Long-tail keywords are increasingly going to look like complete questions, rather than just 2-3 words.
  
  
• Develop content that addresses multiple points in the customer’s “journey” or purchase decision-making process. People search differently with voice depending on their progress through this “workflow,” which is usually laid out as follows: awareness, interest, evaluation, purchase, customer support, and loyalty. Though all of these queries relate to the same product or service, each of these stages brings up different questions, which means unique voice search terms will be used.
  
  
• Consider creating Google Actions or Alexa Skills to increase user engagement and . To learn more about these functions and whether they’re right for your business, give us a call at 866-311-7189.
  
  

This list is by no means exhaustive! The best way to get in on the ground floor of the voice search migration is to recalibrate your franchise SEO services to emphasize this emergent technology. If you want to learn more, get in touch with the ClickTecs team for a free voice search SEO consultation!