4 Tips to Master Voice Search

Amazon Echo, Google Home and Apple’s Siri all have something in common that marketers need to know — they prompt voice search by consumers. Here are four tips to master voice search. In a CMSWire post on Wednesday, Pierre DeBois says voice search is about more than keywords in paid search campaigns — it’s about what’s on the page. Marketers need to address their website content along with these tips: Consider the Customer’s ‘Micro-moments’ of Need Consumers have natural times they turn to their phones or other devices. Apple’s Siri may hear from drivers looking for directions to a store. The virtual assistants may get requests for food delivery. DeBois writes: ‘Micro-moments’ of need — those reflexive but intentional times when your customers just naturally turn to their devices to act on their needs to buy something, do something or learn something. Understand the Colloquialisms Your Customers Use There’s no need for marketers to channel Mark Twain here. However, as Target Marketing reported about a Florida newspaper’s transformation of its entertainment section to what its customers sought in search engines, “Things to Do,” DeBois suggest marketers keep this in mind: Think in terms of long-tail keywords but emphasize context: How do search words naturally get incorporated into conversational questions? What search terms are customers using that might not have been on your radar before? For example, the Alexa Developer Day team demonstrated how Alexa responded to the question, “What’s it like?” The device returned weather information, having been ‘taught’ that the phrase is associated with weather. Think Through Sequences of More Than One Question Humans call it logic. DeBois says questions that naturally follow each other have a different name to these devices: Amazon calls these sequences ‘elicitations’ and defines them as the concept that an Echo needs a certain answer before it can move on to answering a follow-up question. Marketers should map out how elicitation occurs and then think about how content goes with each question. Take Advantage of Landmarks and Well-known Locations When consumers give one another directions, they often include landmarks. “You turn left at the gas station.” Similarly, consumers will search for “that restaurant by my gym.” DeBois says: For instance, if Water Tower Place in Chicago or Grand Central Station in New York City are near a restaurant, people might mention those landmarks while hunting for a suitable place to eat. What do you think, marketers? Please respond in the comments section below.

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4 Tips to Master Voice Search

Consider the Customer’s ‘Micro-moments’ of Need

Heather Fletcher

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Consider the Customer’s ‘Micro-moments’ of Need

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Heather Fletcher