Voice Technology Is Reshaping How Brands Connect With Customers
Voice technology's meteoric rise is ushering in an audio revolution that is changing everything. Practically overnight, voice-activated devices like smart speakers, in-car assistants and more have become integral parts of daily life. Suddenly, asking questions out loud and getting answers without typing is normalised.
And make no mistake - this revolution is still just getting started. Voice is rapidly becoming the preferred way people search, shop, learn and interact with businesses. Simply put, voice makes things easier. Who wouldn't want an assistant who can order pizza on command or turn up the heat without getting off the couch?
This audio revolution is both an immense opportunity and an existential threat for brands. Companies that tackle voice search optimisation (VSO) can engage customers in convenient new ways and build real connections. But brands that ignore voice risk vanishing into obscurity. Without visibility in voice search results and voice-ready content, you’ll quickly be left behind as voice adoption grows.
The key is understanding how voice technology changes behaviour and expectations. You need to get inside the mindset of the voice user. Once you embrace the voice-first mentality, you can transform your content strategy to thrive.
Let’s explore core VSO concepts and offer tips for optimising for voice search’s unique characteristics. Consider this your VSO blueprint for future-proofing your brand, keeping it resonant and competitive long after voice has conquered the digital landscape.
Let’s first understand why VSO warrants your attention today:
Growth of Voice Tech Adoption
The rapid proliferation of voice-activated devices and AI assistants continues to fuel the booming consumer adoption of voice technology.
Convenience and Personalization
Voice search enables efficient, multitasking access to information through intuitive voice-based interactions. Voice assistants also allow for personalised responses using context, such as location and search history data.
Rising Impact on Brand Discovery
As voice technology plays a more significant role in the consumer journey, its ability to influence brand awareness and preferences rises. Already, 75% of smart speaker owners report that devices impact which brands they consider and buy from.
With voice becoming consumers’ preferred way to interact with brands, let’s explore how you can optimise audio-driven experiences.
The conversational nature of voice interactions requires a different optimisation approach than written search. You must align content with how real people naturally ask questions and phrase requests.
Tips for optimising content for voice include:
By taking a conversational tone and using natural phrasing in your content, you create voice-friendly, discoverable experiences.
Another key technical component of VSO is structured data markup. By annotating content with schema markup, you provide additional context to voice assistants to surface relevant information in search results.
Specific types of schemas to implement include:
Proper schema implementation allows voice assistants to answer many user queries directly, reducing the need to navigate to your website. This builds brand visibility in the voice-first world.
Location is a significant contextual signal for voice searches, as people often search for nearby points of interest. Optimising your Google My Business listing is crucial for voice search visibility.
Ensure your GMB profile is accurate:
An optimised listing gives you greater visibility for location-based voice queries, such as “What coffee shops are nearby?” Voice search drives an estimated 20% of visits to physical stores, so securing your local presence is critical.
A mobile-first approach is key because voice technology is intrinsically tied to mobile. Consider that:
Ensure your website offers fast-loading, seamless mobile experiences. Also, confirm that location data, click-to-call features, and other mobility-focused functionality work smoothly. Mobile optimisation is necessary, as most voice queries are made on the go.
Most importantly, brands need to answer consumers' questions via voice search. Identify key questions your customers will likely have about your business, products, or services, and create content specifically designed to answer those questions.
Some ideas include:
This tactic, “answering the answer box,” helps you surface quick answers in voice results. You boost visibility while satisfying consumer needs.
Track your progress by monitoring key metrics as you optimise for voice search and the audio revolution.
Useful KPIs include:
Measure these in Google Search Console and Google Analytics to gauge performance. Identify top queries sending voice traffic to fine-tune optimisation. This analytics-driven approach helps maximise VSO ROI.
We are still in the early days of the audio revolution. Yet the momentum behind voice and the data showing its disruptive impact leaves no doubt that voice is the emergent dominant search paradigm.
Brands that embrace voice search now will have a first-mover advantage. They’ll meet customers on their preferred conversational channel, capturing mindshare and revenue. Those who delay optimising for audio experiences risk fading into irrelevance.
The time is now to prepare your brand for the voice-driven future. Use this VSO blueprint to accentuate visibility in voice results and forge meaningful voice-first consumer connections. Lean into the audio revolution to future-proof your brand for the next era of search.
