Today I want to go over the basics of voice search. What is voice search? Why do we as web developers need to learn to optimize websites for voice search and more!

In this blog post, we’re going to take a look at voice search and the overal basics of what voice search entails. 

Back in my day we didn’t have Google

Do you remember those gigantic yellow books that would just randomly show up at your door step? They were so big that you could build a fort with them that was stronger than ft. Knox? If you threw one at your brother it would knock him out. ( That may have actually happened ;). If you needed to find a plumber you need to thumb your way through to “P” and search the hundreds of plumbers and then decide which clipart listing you liked best. 

If you didn’t have a pen or paper you would just rip the page straight out of the book and then the next poor guy would never even get the chance to know that Bob the greatest plumber on earth even existed!  Oh the good ol’ days. 

Today we’re spoiled

Today we have the internet to search for Bob the plumber and gone is the day of those yellow pages, however with the massive amount of information and our increasing human inability to be patient, as the average time a person will spend looking at a website is less than 15 seconds. We now have advanced into the future of search!

Introducing voice search!

I’m sure everyone has at least seen one of these devices and whether you own one or not they are becoming increasingly popular as they can control your smart home to turn on the lights, turn off the tv, tell you about today’s weather and so much more! The best part is that they are also installed on every smartphone and this actually quite powerful as you can now search with just talking to your smartphone. 

Over 56% of all voice searches done are done on a smartphone and a user is 30 times more likely to go with a business that pops up after a voice search response. These numbers are only going to sky rocket over these next few years. 

How should my small business use voice search?

With stats like theseit’s going to be imperative that local businesses optimize their sites to not only be found on Google search but also at the top of voice search. I’ll dive into it more next time, but the main point to get across is that all voice searches will start with a question. Who, what, when, where, why, or how. It will be important for businesses to answer those questions by using different SEO methods.

For example, the local Mexican restaurant “Senora” could write a blog titled “Why Senora makes the best tacos in Asheville” and then by including those questions it will help them to get found on regular search but also improves their chances to get found on voice search.  

Okay Google, who has the best tacos in Denver? 

The Bottom Line

The bottom line is that no one is searching for your business the old fashioned way anymore and as users switch to using voice search more and more your business will need to find different ways to stay ahead of the curve. Optimizing your website and business for voice will give your business the leg up on the competion and at global giraffe media we can help you find success among the ever growing popularity of voice search.

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Curious to learn more?

Read: What are Chatbots and Do I Need Them?

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