The future of SEO in a world immersed in voice search

La voice search is gaining ground, we have already explained it to you in a previous article. What you need to understand, even if it may seem trivial, is that a search carried out by means of the voice is radically different from a search carried out by means of a keyboard. The pranksters will say that in one case, you have to use the vocal cords and in the other, you use the fingers… Haha, very funny! In fact, voice search is changing how people search, when they query, and what result they hope to get. What is the future of SEO in a world immersed in voice search?

This article looks at the changes that are currently taking place and their impact on SEO.

How is voice search different?

Voice search is different from traditional keyboard search because:

• Searches take longer
• Searches are more conversational

Longer searches? No, we did not do 15 months of study on the subject! We fished out this information from Bing engineers who found that voice search phrases were significantly longer than text searches (#mercibing).

But that's not all… voice searches don't just take longer: they sound less and less like “computer language”. Indeed, searches are now…conversational. We talk to machines like humans!! Google also indicates that 70% of searches carried out with its assistant use natural language.

Say, for example, you want to know how to plant spring bulbs (it's in season). On Google, using your fingers and your keyboard, type: “plant spring bulbs”. Your voice search, on the other hand, will be much longer and more like natural human language: "Google, how do you plant spring bulbs?" ". You understand, thanks to this example, that these changes have a huge impact on the way we perform keyword research and SEO on the different pages of a website… We are there!

What is impacted by voice search?

Voice search has a very practical side and today it is used much more than it ever was. In fact, Google says that searches including “near me now” increased by 150% between May 2013 and October 2017. And that's not all!

Searches take place in unexpected places. A survey even found that people are far more likely to use voice search in public places (yes, like restaurants and public restrooms) than they ever have before. You will have to get used to hearing things like: "OK Google, where is the nearest pharmacy?" The Google study indicates, for the moment, that the most frequent searches are carried out at home, when individuals are alone. But this situation will soon be overcome, mores are changing at an incredible speed...

How do you get results from voice search?

As you already know, Google is betting on a strategy allowing it to move from the status of a simple search engine to an all-powerful status of an answer engine. SERP features like the Knowledge Graph and rich snippets are seeing the number of organic clicks drop bit by bit. What are the reasons ? Quite simply because it is useless to visit a complete site to obtain an answer! It's way too long! If the answer lies on the search results, why go any further? Well, Google uses that same answer-driven technology to deliver voice search results to those who ask. Voice search, unlike keyboard search, gets you an answer in seconds. The recipe for sauerkraut, the weather in Beijing, the price of the dollar, the result of 3,998 x 0,00299… It takes less time for Google to answer your question than for a computer to assimilate and process your request. Imagine the time saved...

To have a chance of being selected by Google to be part of the answers that the assistant will communicate to the person who performs a voice search, you simply have to be the first. A daunting challenge for SEO experts and content creators…

Voice search: what should we do? Impossible to fool yourself: it will be more and more difficult to put your content at the forefront. Nevertheless, it is perfectly useless to be stressed for as much.