How AI-Based Searches Are Reinventing The SEO Landscape?
Throughout the post, we will discuss how AI voice search is bringing a paradigm shift in the SEO industry in various ways and what needs to be done to supercharge the web presence...
The Past: the old days of Google were much simpler, where dropping the keyword phrase into the title, heading, alt tags, and at various points in the content guarantee the top ranking. The SEO experts were highly focused to increase the keyword density using ridiculous tactics that worked.
The Present: the golden days of tricking the SEO algorithms are over when Google built effective countermeasures (Remember the Penguin release). The websites with manipulative link spam, poor content, high keyword density, and poor performance were killed. What just Google wants is legitimate editorial links, high-quality content, mobile responsiveness, and reduced loading time that adds value to the users and engages them. It’s a must-have to rank well in organic search.
The Future: The game of SEO is revolutionized with a dynamic formula where artificial intelligence, user experience, and big data are leveraged to meet the user’s needs precisely. RankBrain- Google’s new AI algorithm effectively analyze and process the search queries and return the most relevant results even when the keyword is missing in the content. It means the content in context, optimized for voice searches, and provide all the related information lets the website score good ranking. It’s certainly the future of SEO.
What’s your take? Do you want to become the top performer and remain competitive? If so, the digital marketers have to go up the hill and keep the website fine-tuned with the AI voice search trend. The increasing number of Siri in Apple devices, Cortana on Microsoft, and Amazon Alexa home device are giving a leg up to the voice search and mandating businesses to keep the content optimized for the voice search changes coming to the SEO landscape.
According to Forrester research, “By the end of 2019, almost all the businesses will be focusing on the creative integration of AI with existing processes and SEO industry will be no exception.”
The language of the search will change
While typing on desktop or mobile to search for a query, the people are prone to use short phrases because it requires physical efforts. On mobile, while conversing with an AI virtual assistant for a search, the game is completely different.
For instance, you will type “New camera in 2019” when you are searching on the desktop, but when searching using AI assistants, the query will change to “What are the new cameras in 2019?” Have you noticed the difference? The query's length is increased from 3-5 words to 8-10 words.
It’s a sign, the content must be optimized for long-tail keywords and there will be more questions as compared to statements. The natural language phrases (Variations of long-tail keywords) and strong intent are all important as the people reached the website due to the queries relevant to the content they are looking for.
Location and navigation searches prominence is growing
The local impact is major because 30% of the people use the voice search to find local information or want location-specific results. Most of the people use the phone for the search query- “the things to do near me.” Google has also revealed that user’s voice search for “Near me” is growing over 130% year after year.
When this characteristic of the user’s search is taken into the account rightly, the businesses can flourish as 50% of the local mobile searches leads to a store visit. It’s possible by updating the local listing and developing “Google My Business,” including “Near me” in the title tags, meta description, and internal links, adding a landmark around the business location, and incorporating the phrases that describe the neighborhood.
Whenever the people search for the services (that you offer) with “near me” phrase, Google’s voice search algorithm goes to business listings, check if any business is listed matching the services and area that user requires, and then the business is shown in the result. With local search optimization, the businesses can get the website rank high in the local search world and increase the number of leads and conversion.
Besides, the people are not searching with “Near me” keyword just for visiting the website, instead, they have clear intent when they look for the services locally. It’s good to show the business information in the site’s footer and let the users get direction with voice search. The additional information helps the user to locate the business location precisely and uplift the likelihood of appearing at the top in the SERP ranking.
Disruption of the content marketing industry
Repurposing the content is an important aspect of the content marketing strategy of SEO to enhance the content’s appeal to a wider audience. This is where the audio, video, or podcast is transcripted into high-quality written content. The mundane tasks are now replaced by AI-based transcription tools that are taking the center stage.
Quill is a popular natural language generation tool that interprets any form of data and creates engaging news stories by adopting the brand tone.
Personalized user experience becomes essential
In the user-centric world, offering a unique experience to every individual user is all-important. Even, the studies say the users are eager to give the data or ready to pay more for getting the tailored deals that matter to them. The AI bots that are already in use in various SEO activities to adjust keyword, link building optimization, and content creation, now they are picking up the pace in the customer support (Voice-based chatbot interaction with customers).
During the interaction, the AI-powered chatbots are capable enough to collect the user data, gain insights out of the data, connect the dots, and respond to the users in the real-time alongside offering individualized experiences. During the conversation, the bots easily learn the users’ mood, behavior, and preferences, which further helps in changing SEO strategy accordingly so that website stays synced with the user’s expectations and meet the needs.
The FAQ page answers the voice queries
The FAQ page is the biggest source of adding long-tail keywords to the content that generally starts with ‘How,’ ‘Where,’ ‘When,’ ‘Which,’ and pretty more. With growing voice searches, it’s necessary to optimize the FAQ page for voice search. The voice search comes with a conversational tone that makes it significant to use the phrases such as “I,” “That are,” and other question elements.
For instance, the phrase- “Beauty Salons close to California’s beach,” written for the simple FAQ page will work. When it’s optimized for voice command it becomes- “Which beauty salons are closest to California’s beach?”
When the best content (optimized for long-tail and questioning keywords, includes answers questions, ranks well organically, and contains lists that Google can easily comprehend) is set on the FAQ page in response to a voice query, the chances to appear in Google’s answer box is more. When the content is able to score position zero, the website will get an instant benefit of high SERP.
Smart speakers will gear up the shift
The smart speakers such as Google Home, Amazon Echo, or HomePod have not reached the level of saturation in the smart device market as the smartphones take hold on. But, the smart speakers are increasing the grasp in the US market with over a quarter of US adults now own a smart speaker.
The smart speaker owners use the voice commands to search for anything and get a verbal response in return with no display or screen linked to them. The AI assistants simply search and deliver a single search result that answers the user’s query completely in a concise manner. What does it indicate?
It’s a sign if the website is not listed at the top position, then it will not be a part of the results provided by AI assistants and the businesses will be losing a large share of the revenue. The businesses have to optimize the content for voice search for better results.
Wrap up
Voice search is the hottest trend in the digital marketing industry that’s here to stay. It has already changed the way the content is searched and found on the search engines, which has created a dire need for the businesses to fine-tune the SEO strategy with voice search. Changing the language of search, updating the listing and creating Google My Business account, and voice optimization of the FAQ page would result in personalizing user experience, ranking the site pretty high, and grabbing the smart speakers market share as well.
What’s next? It’s fast and convenient, that’s what society is seeking. Why not do icing on the cake and add extra cherries with voice search optimization? It’s a great deal. Isn’t it? Let’s soup up SEO with what the target audience wants the most (Voice search).