How to dominate voice search with your eCommerce website?

Today, voice search and voice search optimization are becoming increasingly popular in the eCommerce domain. 

Voice assistants like Siri, Cortana, and Alexa are moving into eCommerce space and it’s crucial for businesses to keep up. Optimizing your website for voice search can turn out to be a great victory if used correctly.

Optimizing your website for voice search is somewhat different than what everyone has been doing so far, especially in eCommerce. The reason for that is simple. Spoken search queries are different than written ones. 

People are getting used to just speaking to a mobile phone, computer or a voice assistant. We’re living in a time where we can talk to an inanimate object and expect a satisfying answer. Truly fascinating, isn’t it? 

In today’s article, you’ll find all of the information on voice search and voice search optimization in eCommerce! And if you’re looking to start your own eCommerce business or improve your current business process – we’ll gladly help! We’re experts in developing eCommerce apps, so if you’re looking to go mobile – look no further.

In any case, let’s take a deep dive into this topic now!

The rise of voice search

Voice search is actually using spoken language as the medium of interaction with search engines, simpler than typing your query. It refers to talking to your digital assistant or mobile phone and receiving a satisfying answer. 

Some of the currently most popular assistants are Amazon Echo, Microsoft’s Cortana, Apple’s Siri or Google Home. 

But the most important thing to clarify is, you have a digital assistant in your pocket at this moment! So, how far can this really go? Let’s analyze that through a few facts:

• More than 50% of all internet searches will be done using voice search by 2020
• According to Voicebot, 25% of shoppers used voice assistants for their holiday shopping in 2017
• According to Google, 20% of all mobile searches are made using voice search

As you can see, the voice search is getting huge traction. If marketers don’t focus on developing their voice SEO strategy, the consequences could be disastrous. 

Running an eCommerce site has many benefits, even intensified if voice SEO is used correctly. It can lower costs for both customers and businesses and the fact that the eCommerce store is open 24/7 gives both businesses and customers more freedom and satisfaction.

With all of this taken into consideration, the best time to jump in the sphere of voice search optimization is right now! 

Voice search – Your new SEO secret weapon

Yes. It’s a weapon and it’s secret. A marketing weapon that’s so secretive that 62% of marketers still have no plan in taking voice search optimization in the account. That number is highly alarming. As we suggest, the best time to take action is as soon as possible! 

To properly use voice search as your secret weapon, you must first understand why do customers even use voice search. 

One word – multitasking. 

According to Google reports, 38% of users use voice search while watching TV and 23% of users use it while cooking. Others do so while walking, driving or completing their everyday tasks.

Using voice search diminishes time used on typing search queries and browsing through the answers. The whole premise of using voice search is increased productivity and gathering information quickly. 

Though voice search is popular when it comes to finding directions or recipes, it also plays a crucial role in eCommerce. 

How to dominate voice search in eCommerce?

To have the upper-edge in voice search optimization for eCommerce, you may want to first go through the checklist for starting a profitable eCommerce business.

Also, to provide you with more information, there are many blogs (including ours!) where you can find more relevant strategies on how to achieve your goals in eCommerce.

There are several ways to optimize your eCommerce site for voice search:

Achieving the “zero position” on Google

How to get ranked “zero” on Google? Well, the answer is simple, you just need to beat the number one entry.

When it comes to voice search, achieving the zero position on Google is crucial. It means that Google ranks your answer as the best one – meaning that Google will read that text to the user. 

There aren’t clear instructions from Google on how to achieve the zero position, but Marcelo de Vivo did an experiment and showed some tactics that helped him.

The main thing you want to focus on is – answering questions. 

You would want to optimize your content for position zero by using a short introduction of 40-50 words and using tables, numbered lists or bullet points where possible. This method will increase the chance of reaching the zero position.

Use speaking language for your voice search optimization strategy, not writing language

It may sound obvious, but it’s important to know that we don’t speak as we write. To use voice search in eCommerce effectively, you will need to understand the voice search as a conversation between the user and Google. It may even sound absurd, but we are having conversations with our mobile phones as if they were humans.

That means that instead of typing “weather in Osijek”, the searcher will ask his digital assistant “Siri, what will the weather in Osijek be like today?” 

There are certain linguistic patterns that apply to the majority of voice searches. For example, voice search queries are longer than written search queries. This is the perfect opportunity for using long-tail keywords. 

Use local voice search queries in your advantage

A BrightLocal report states that 58% of consumers use voice search to find local businesses. 

This is no surprise, as the majority of voice search queries happen when people are walking or driving somewhere. Or more importantly, when they are discovering new places or businesses.

People searching “best pizza in Zagreb” are looking to discover pizzerias near them. If you own a pizzeria and you want to attract more customers, you should include your city when optimizing keywords. It’s crucial to understand the importance of user intent. 

Most importantly, people will very often conduct a voice search with the phrase “near me”. Now, the search engines are using the user’s location to understand which pizzeria is closest to them at the moment. 

Of course, you don’t need to include “near me” in your content. Search engines use that phrase to know when to track the location of the user.

Choose semantic strategy over a keyword-based strategy

To clarify, semantics is the study of how words and sentences (or in short, language) create meaning. When it comes to search on search engines, semantic strategy takes into account the context of user search, rather than just the written words. 

Search engines have moved up a notch. They are trying to understand user intent and user behavior. They want to understand why is a user conducting a specific search and how to present him with the most compatible answer. 

The goal is to make the conversation between the search engine and the user feel more human-like. They achieve that by programming their algorithms to, among other things, use concept match and take synonyms into account. 

You can mix up your terminology by including more synonyms for keywords and phrases, covering all genuine ways of asking a question. 

It’s necessary to use conversational language. As mentioned before, users don’t speak the same way as they write. Try to be natural while selecting words and synonyms for your content.

Furthermore, eCommerce is a vast territory. It requires more than just voice search optimization for success. One of the main things you would want to do is to create a successful eCommerce app. 

Mobile applications are playing a huge role in eCommerce today and it really is essential to have one. Thinking further ahead, one of the main issues is retaining and engaging mobile customers. One of the effective ways of retaining and engaging them is through mobile app loyalty programs. There are several reasons why you should implement loyalty programs in your business. 

By using your mobile app, you can easily contact your customers and establish a healthy relationship. Incorporating voice search in the mobile app is a good way to stay ahead of all trends and to improve the overall user experience.

Voice search is coming fast, are you ready?

It’s coming and it’s coming fast! 

As we discuss the future of SEO, the convenience of having a conversation with a search engine will become more and more common. It’s already widely accepted to ask your device to play your favorite song or to tell you the year when the Roman Empire crumbled. 

To show you the real power of voice search, here are more facts that will make you think: 

• 72% of parents who own voice-activated speakers have considered shopping using those devices.
• 44% of voice-activated speaker owners, with weekly usage, order products using their devices.
• 62% of those who regularly use their voice-activated speakers are likely to buy something through the device.
• 58% of regular users, manage shopping lists on a weekly basis, using their voice-activated speakers.

Now you can already imagine what you could achieve by implementing a voice SEO strategy.

Don’t fall behind. Use it in your advantage.

With voice commerce sales reaching $1.8 billion in 2018 and with a forecasted value of $40 billion by 2022, voice search optimization for eCommerce sites is quickly becoming a prerequisite. 

As technology continues to improve and companies like Google are investing billions of dollars in IoT devices, there will be a fundamental shift in customer behavior.

One question remains.

Are you ready to optimize your eCommerce business to outrank your competition?