Artificial Intelligence (AI) need not be explained. It has become a buzzword, and we all are well aware of its impact on industries and our daily lives. Digital marketing has experienced significant changes since the evolution of AI. The way we search and the way search engines display results, both have changed to some extent. With AI-enabled voice assistants, voice search is becoming more popular.
AI tools and technologies have changed how users interact with search engines and voice search is a perfect example of this. With this, digital marketers need to accordingly change their content and SEO strategies to adapt to these technologies.
How is AI Impacting the Search?
AI has had a major impact on search, and we can expect this to continue for years to come. Earlier, text search was the only way to interact with search engines and get answers to queries. However, that is not the case anymore. Now, users can conduct a search with text, voice, and even with an image.
Text search has been there since the evolution of the internet. But voice search is something new that is rapidly taking over traditional search methods. Technologies like AI, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, etc, are significantly impacting the way users search on Google or other search engines. Search engines also use these AI-based technologies to display more relevant, personalized, and accurate results. These technologies have enabled search engines to understand search intent better than ever before.
The Rise of Voice Search
The increasing popularity of voice assistants like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri, etc, has resulted in a significant increase in the number of voice searches. As per statistics available on the internet, there are 4.2 billion voice assistants in use and this number is expected to reach 8.4 billion by the end of 2024. With this, the number of voice searches will also increase for sure.
As conducting voice search is easier and more convenient, more users are now preferring this over text-based search. However, the way users conduct text search is way different from the way they conduct voice search. Voice search generally involves longer, and more detailed search queries asked in a conversational tone. On the other hand, text-based searches are usually shorter and to the point.
Therefore, to appear in voice search results, digital marketers might need to relook at their content and SEO strategies and make required changes to fulfill the demands of users conducting voice search.
Content Marketing & SEO Strategies to Prepare for AI & Voice Search
Here are a few key aspects you need to pay attention to in order to prepare for the voice search, which is probably the future of search:
- Target Conversational Keywords
Users ask questions in a conversational tone when conducting voice search. Sites that appear on the top of search results for text-based search might be nowhere when it comes to voice search. The reason is that voice search results are based on conversational keywords. Therefore, rather than just focusing on short-tail and high search volume keywords, also target long-tail conversational keywords through your content.
Conversational keywords include long search queries, question-based keywords like what, how, where etc, and keywords in natural human tone. Optimizing your content for these keywords increases your chance of appearing in the voice search results.
- Focus on Local SEO
Local SEO is another important aspect that you must pay attention to. Users often conduct voice search queries to find businesses, stores, or services around them. So, if you offer products or services across one or multiple specific locations, you can create different landing pages for all the locations and target local keywords. This will help you reach local audiences via voice search.
- Make Your Sites Mobile-Friendly
Voice search optimization also requires you to look at the technical elements of your website. As users mostly conduct voice searches on mobile phones, you must ensure that your website is optimized for mobile devices. It should have a great design, easy navigation, and fast loading times. Though users won’t see your website through voice search, it will appear in the search results only if it is technically optimized.
- Answer FAQs in Your Content
Many voice searches are in the form of questions. So, adding FAQ pages to your website or FAQ sections to your web pages can be an effective way to optimize your site for voice search. This FAQ based content best fits the voice search queries. You can pick questions from Google’s ‘People Also Ask’ section or question-based keywords and create content around them. Even if you don’t have separate FAQ pages or sections on your website, just try to include the answers to these questions within your content.
- Utilize Structured Data
Schema markup, also known as structured data, plays an important role in how well search engines understand your website content. It helps search engines understand the context of your pages’ content and display the same for relevant search queries.
Search engines often use featured snippets to answer voice search queries and implementing schema markup is essential for ranking on featured snippets. When search engines properly understand the context of your website pages, there is a higher chance of your site appearing in voice search results.
Wrapping Up
With the increasing impact of AI technologies on search, it won’t be wrong to say that AI is the future of search. The field is still evolving, and it is important for digital marketers to stay informed of the latest trends and updates. Search engines are also updating their algorithms to better serve the users. The only way to gain and retain website traffic today is to focus more on user experience, while also optimizing your content and SEO strategies according to the latest advancements.
If you want your website to stay on the top, you will have to adapt your content and SEO strategies to these advancements. The goal is not just to rank high, but to be visible in all types of search results, including text-based search and voice search.
