Does your SEM strategy include voice search?

Voice technology has come a long way in recent years and is now not just more widespread but also much easier to use. As a result it now has a much bigger role to play in searching and should be part of any effective SEM strategy. If you have yet to update your approach to include this key development then you could be missing out on opportunities to reach new audiences in a meaningful way.

Why has voice search become so important?

Sales of smart speakers, such as Alexa, have increased significantly in recent years meaning many more people are switching to voice search when trying to find information. For those who don’t have a smart speaker there are voice assistants built in to every smart phone, making this an option for a huge range of people and one that is already becoming much more important. Many believe that, ultimately, voice search will be the way that we interact with the increasing number of devices that populate our lives.

Improving your voice search results

In many ways voice search has created a new challenge for content marketers because, unlike a regular search results page a voice search frequently returns just a single result. If your business is going to be the result that is presented to the searcher then this really comes back to ensuring that you have integrated robust content marketing into your SEM strategy, aimed at capturing the voice search market. These are some key points to consider.

Make sure you’re using the right keywords. This is especially important when it comes to voice search so it’s worth carrying out some keyword research to identify the terms your target audience is most likely to look for.
Invest in quality content. The more in-depth and expert the content that you’re putting out there the more likely it will appear the most relevant to a search engine and get pushed to the top of the results.
Be constant and creative. Consistently producing high quality written content and putting it out via your website will help to increase the success you see when it comes to voice search results.
Set up your own metrics. At the moment it’s challenging to monitor the success you’re seeing from voice search because platforms such as Google Analytics don’t distinguish between voice search and traditional search engine results pages. However, there are some ways to do this – for example, metrics are created when you set up an Alexa skill through the Alexa developer dashboard.
Integrate voice search across your SEM strategy. It’s important that voice search is being broadly integrated, whether that is voice-related calls to action in marketing campaigns or ensuring that content, such as a podcast, has a memorable and distinctive name that will show up easily via a voice search.

If your SEM strategy doesn’t yet include voice search then this is going to be an essential change for this year. Integrating it broadly could be transformative for your marketing outcomes in the future.