How will voice search change your HubSpot website design?

Austin Walker Austin Walker
October 25, 2018   |   4 min read time

Artificial intelligence has already made an impact within our lives, whether we realize how much or not. Siri can use voice to listen to and respond to a message coming through our hands free sets in the car, allowing for a safer driving experience. Instead of asking the locals in Italy (for the few of us that don't know Italian) you can ask for directions, instead. Or, in the case of small business, consumers can now ask for the products they love the most through voice search.

What have you done to prepare for voice search?

The question for many is not much or none at all. The real issue is that it's difficult to find information on what best practices are, as well as what it means to actually be accessible through voice search.

Search

The first thing you should know is what your consumers are searching for. In this post, it may be easiest to have a searchable product that we use for example throughout. Winter is already on the way - and in some places already here - so some of us around the office have been needing a sweater. Unfortunately, it's so early in the season that none of us have one.

"Hey, Siri: I need to buy a sweater" 

Image-1

 

Siri automatically changes your words into text. You can see the text as Siri is conducting the search.

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A physical breakdown of how Siri converts this voice message into text is a little over this post, and isn't necessary, but you may see where search is going when it comes to voice search. Here's a dictation guide if you're interested in some commands.

Voice-to-website

Going back to Keywords 101 and Marketing 001, a company has to be careful to make sure that their website is using long-tailed keywords to address a consumer seeking information, evaluating alternatives, making a purchase decision, or taking the product and making an evaluation.

Anticipation of conversation has to be another concern when building content into the website. What questions will a potential customer be asking?

In our example "Hey, Siri, I need to buy a sweater," a business owner might need to create a couple different things. The business would want to optimize content around specific questions and inquiries. So, a FAQ page or even a blog outlining why "You need to buy this sweater" can help to create the opportunity to put the sweater company in front of their potential customers.

Internet of Things (IoT)

The Internet of Things or IoT has a large impact on how often voice will be used to search for a product. For instance, using Alexa to purchase our much-needed sweater.

Gartner predicts that by 2020, the expected number of connected IoT devices is just over 20 billion devices. Of course, not all of those devices have the capability for voice search, but a lot of them will use similar technology to find what it is the end-user is looking for. If you'd like to be a part of the fastest-growing source of search, the IoT is where to start.

Snippets

It appears that, over any other type of information, when it comes to searching with Siri or other devices, Snippets are more often than not the search preference.

Rich Snippets are provided by search engines not to give preference over one piece of information over another, but to provide searchers with the ability to make a better click decision. Similarly, that is why voice search will use the rich snippets over other information: it remains to be one of the best uses for the information that the searcher can get.

How do you design your website to prepare for voice search?

So now we're finally to the real meat, here. How does a business get ready to get a piece of the action? How do they compete?

In a potential consumer's search for information to make a good purchasing decision, they need content to make their decision.

When it comes to developing information, a content developer or creator's work is never done. Content creators and copywriters need to make sure that their text is constantly being tested and re-worked to enable and maximize the ability to be searched through voice.

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A website has to provide a design that is customized to the user's experience to help them decide whether the information provided by the company is relevant and believable. In an information of so much bad information, a poor web design or experience can turn someone off to the point that they don't believe the information, and don't come back to make the purchase.

All this brings us back to the very beginning. In order to create content that has an impact in a potential consumer's decision, have a website or landing page developed for them to get good information and build trust, as well as putting together a long-tailed keyword and Rich Snippet strategy requires that a company revitalizes its marketing strategy from head-to-toe.

Are you ready for voice search in 2019? If you're not sure, get help putting together your marketing website design strategy that will help you deliver your product to the voice searchers. 


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