What You Need to Know About Voice-Activated Content Marketing (and Three Tips!)

Unless you have been living in a cave, you are probably well aware that the way we communicate with our devices has been changing significantly over the last few years.

Right now, nearly 41 percent of adults rely on voice search at least once a day. And a Juniper Research report predicted that 55 percent of all households will own a smart speaker by 2022. The report also states that marketers’ spending on voice-activated assistants is likely to reach approximately $19 billion over the next four years.

There’s no question that companies must be ready as these percentages will continue to rise. Marketing teams must focus on the voice-activated industry shift as it will have a dramatic impact on content discovery via search.

To succeed in this evolving digital landscape, marketers must adapt their strategies across all media channels and content types.

How Is Voice Search Impacting Digital Marketing?

When users conduct a voice search, instead of using a short, concise group of words, they typically engage in a basic dialogue, similar to the way they would with another person. With this in mind, search engines are becoming more precise when sorting through the web for answers to users’ questions.

Because of this change in overall search behavior, brands are realizing they need to develop two strategies for content marketing: one for users approaching searches via text, and another for those people making voice-activated searches.

SEO also plays a role in voice-activated content marketing. Marketers also realize the importance of taking a more conversational approach with content – whether it is via keyword search or voice search – to better reach their audience.

Ways to Enter the Voice-First World

While developing a new content strategy may seem daunting, it is actually easier than you may think, especially because the majority of voice searches are made in a more casual, conversational tone. And the keyword research is a bit more straightforward.

While voice search is still in its infancy, there are some smart tactics you can execute right now to help your content rank higher when users speak their demands and queries.

Here are three ways to get started:

1. Create Quality FAQ Pages. After you craft your content with conversational questions and long-tail keywords, focus on developing a few FAQ pages that closely link to your product, service or industry. For example, when someone asks a question to Google, Alexa or Siri, they typically start with, “who, what, when, where or why,” so these questions are ideal for an FAQ page that directly addresses long-tail, voice-generated search terms. In other words, it is important to answer these questions in a conversational manner to boost your chances of getting picked up for long-tail keywords. Use the customer portal and FAQ capabilities of your helpdesk software or customer support software to make this a quick and easy SEO update.
2. Focus On Your Audience: Actual People. Typically, with typed Google searches, we only enter the essential keywords to discover the content we want. However, with voice activated search, it’s easier to talk to a virtual assistant as if it is another human. Consequently, voice searchers simply speak queries aloud in a casual tone, and it results in an abundance of long-tail keywords being entered into the search engine. As a marketer striving to rank for those keywords, you must create fluid, casual, conversational content with human voice queries top of mind. In a nutshell, think about how a human would typically ask about the content you are creating.
3. Use Schema Data. If you are not familiar with this terminology, it’s time you brush up. Part of an initiative put together by Google, Microsoft, Yandex and Yahoo, Schema.org schema data seeks to avoid confusion by providing webmasters with HTML tags to better define their content. By incorporating schema data, search engines can better categorize your content using the broader context to show the end user the content they want. Schema data is handy in voice search scenarios when users ask follow-up questions about an earlier query.

Thinking Beyond the Robotic Voice

Instead, they need to devise compelling concepts that will encourage ongoing interactions. While voice recognition won’t necessarily replace traditional advertising and brand awareness strategies, it will alter the way people find and buy merchandise and services moving forward.

The bottom line: even though voice search is still coming into its own, the hype around it is not going to disappear anytime soon. In fact, it is only a matter of time before voice search becomes a primary way to communicate with our mobile devices.

Take the time now to adjust your market strategy so that it’s versatile and flexible enough to allow your brand to take advantage of the next big thing: voice activated content marketing.