In our daily lives it is becoming more and more common to use voice search when roaming the internet. Voice search, and even visual search is growing fast throughout the technology industry. There is a growing use of digital assistants in our homes. Siri, google, and Alexa are quickly becoming our new best friends. Even visual search is becoming a part of our everyday life. By pointing our phone or smart device at an object we can instantly get more information about it.
The rise in hands-free search
Throughout the years we have always been able to count on search engines. With the use of our keywords, search engines can find what we are looking for in an instant. But, with the arrival of artificial intelligence (AI), our smart devices can meet our requests even with hands-free searches. We do not have to type in a few keywords anymore, but rather ask a question and use voice search as a dialogue. Voice search is a way of speeding up the search process, but also making it accessible to people that are not able to use text-based search.
Hands-free search is not only accompanied by voice search, but as mentioned before there is a rise in the use of visual search as well. With the simple take of a picture, a visual search engine can find a match and you can learn more about the object. Because of this the customer sales journey can be shortened down immensely for any company with a catalog.
Voice and visual search as brand differentiation
To be unique and differentiated from your competitors is important for most companies. Moreover, finding an advantage can be the weighing part of a customer choosing you in front of another company. Furthermore, having voice and visual search can create a great advantage among competitors and engage more customers.
Tips on how to use voice and visual search
By optimizing your content, you can create a better use of the different search methods. First, a great way to use voice search is by optimizing and adapting your content. An example is by including conversational phrases in the text. By doing this, voice search engines can more easily find the material that is searched for. You can always ask yourself what your question would be if you used voice search. Furthermore, the search method is used better when you are focusing on improving content for local searches.
For visual search it is important to recognize whether it is beneficial for your company to implement it or not. Some industries simply do not benefit from using the visual approach as a search engine optimization tactic. To know if it is favorable for your company, you can ask yourself if you are able to photograph what you offer. It is important to know that, when implementing visual search, quality matters. For example, a picture with a high resolution is easier to identify for a search engine. Other important aspects are image titles, captions, and position if the image on your webpage, keeping this in mind will make visual search much easier.
A SEO strategy?
We must ask ourselves, can voice and visual search be a SEO strategy? The answer is yes, with the right adaptation of your web page, it can be a SEO strategy. Using content suited for voice search can change the game, benefits are higher rankings and higher authority. Voice search can increase your audience and be adopted to a diverse customer range. Furthermore, visual search carries great possibilities for e-commerce and retail, and it is becoming more powerful by the minute.
Technology is still evolving, and the world is still in transition when it comes to voice and visual search. But, without doubt it will be the future of search. So, why not join the trend now and make it a part of your SEO strategy?
Sources
- Heslop, B. (2020, July 31). Beyond Text Searching: a Marketer’s Guide to Voice and Visual Search Optimization. Retrieved from: https://www.contentstack.com/blog/all-about-headless/beyond-text-searching-a-guide-to-voice-and-visual-search/
- National Positions. (n.d.). Move Over Text! Visual and Voice Search Are On the Rise. Retrieved from: https://nationalpositions.com/visual-search-voice-search-on-the-rise/
- Oldman, C. (2021, July 8). SEO Strategy – Voice Search and its Impact in 2021. Retrieved from: https://blog.searchmetrics.com/us/seo-strategy-voice-search-and-its-impact-in-2021/
Images
- https://www.searchenginejournal.com/visual-search-images/213324/
- https://www.searchenginejournal.com/why-we-need-voice-search-analytics/295955/
- https://jujubeemedia.com/blog/how-visual-and-voice-search-are-going-to-emendate-seo/
