In order to start this article on a good basis, and to be able to give credibility to the subject from the outset, will we find some statistics on the use of voice search over the last 2 years?
Ready? Let’s go!
40% of adults completed a minimum voice search on the internet in 2016, 25% of 16-24 year olds frequently use voice search on their mobiles, and 41% of people using voice search started less than 6 months ago. Comscore predicts that 50% of Internet searches in 2020 will be done by voice, and there are an estimated 21.4 million speakers connected to the US in 2020, with a global market that will exceed $ 17 billion. in less than 4 years.
And for good reason ! 2 simple factors that you have probably already identified, are responsible for this new trend: internet browsing is happening more and more on mobile, and voice assistants / connected speakers are booming! In France, since July 2017 mobile internet traffic has exceeded the internet desktop traffic. At the same time the arrival of the connected speakers (which we will shorten by the Anglo-Saxon term smartspeaker for the rest of the article) upset the way to consume; first in the United States, and recently in Europe. No longer does a race list dictate to her smartspeaker. We do not read the news anymore in the morning, we ask them for their smartspeaker. No longer in his diary, we give his appointments to his smartspeaker. We do not … well, you understand the concept no need to give more. Even if the trend is still shy in France, the use of smartspeaker in the Anglo-Saxon countries (and particularly in the United States) has already been unanimous.
The voice search is not new, absolutely anyone can use it thanks to the great little gadget stuck in the back of your pocket, or placed on your desktop, which is called smartphone. Since the democratization of smartphones, voice SEO has become a real issue, with Cortana, Siri, Google Voice Search: thanks to the fact that internet traffic has become increasingly mobile, this way of browsing has grown rapidly. Added to this is the smartspeakers (Google Home, Alexa, Hompod & Co) and you get any way to browse the internet with the simple sound of your voice.
Soon we will converse with his search engine
Well, let’s not waste time and go straight to the heart of the matter: natural referencing (for the rest of the article we will address only the SEO, not the SEA, so in this context, if I use the term SEO, think only SEO). A brief booster that cannot hurt you: SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, aims to optimize the positioning of your content on different search engines.
The vocal is, therefore, an interesting feature of SEO. SEO experts must consider the voice as a positioning criterion in its own right and not perceive it as a danger that will upset the SEO. Now it’s not just about being visible, it’s about being audible!
A primary utility for local SEO
The first use of vocal SEO is … the local. The uses of voice search remain varied according to the person. But we still note that voice searches are 3 times more likely to be local than any other search, simply because we are looking for fast information with generally enabled geolocation (proximity to a trade, need for information). ‘a route, change of music while walking, call/message).
Reply to sentences
In itself the approach and the reflection remain almost the same: one simply changes the format by passing from a query of keywords to a question.
Voice requests from users will be much more informal but more accurate than written queries. We will use more queries with complete sentences than keywords: “Who is the inventor of the internet? Instead of having “inventor internet”. We must, therefore, try to create informal content and with a conversational tone. Hence the usefulness of accentuating its SEO strategy around 3 major points:
- Use the Long Tail
- Have rich content
- Use of semantic markup
But there is also a new point not to neglect! Since mid-2016, the PAA has arrived in France. The People Also Ask now complete the Featured Snippets on Google for French queries. The PAA principle for voice search is more than useful, it gives the user the sensation of conversing with someone else and reinforces the principle of voice searches.
What can we think?
There is no doubt that, given current trends, voice search is one of the standards in SEO and ignoring it would be a mistake. However, it is still too early to start proclaiming loudly that voice research is the future and will surpass other research formats. Imagine the usefulness it could represent for people with reduced mobility / elderly or just the future for connected objects. One thing is certain: its development is at its beginnings and has great potential.
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