The ever growing mobile market is slightly more crowded thanks to the release of Google’s new flagship phone, the Google Pixel. The search giant’s new phone is showing strong sales numbers and winning rave reviews from journalists. Verizon’s sales numbers alone show 600,000 Pixel’s sold in the past 3 months.
Google has admitted to positioning the phone as the next big thing in mobile search, and it’s easy to see why. The release of the Pixel also marked the debut of Google assistant.
Assistant is Google’s new voice search solution that aims to revolutionize the personal assistant market. The search solution will look to capitalize on the 50 percent of smartphone owners who use voice search more than once a day.
The existing market combined with the strong product put forward by Google means that digital marketing is in for a change. The question is, how much will voice search effect SEO marketing? We’re breaking down what we know so far.
The Keyword Shake Up
Anyone familiar with SEO knows that keywords are important. But with the advent of voice search, keywords are quickly changing form.
Think of the way you speak versus the way you Google search. “Shoes in Denver” is a typical Google search, but “Where can I find shoes in Denver” is how you’d verbalize that search.
Google’s focus on conversational voice assistants makes targeting speech pattern keywords paramount. This means the who, what, when, where, and why of your search.
Target long tail keywords specific to a niche in your geographic location. Remember, results will appear based on GPS data.
These keywords are difficult to work into content naturally, so think outside the box. We recommend using a FAQ section to allow more writing freedom.
Website Visibility May Decrease
Even the best targeted keywords are likely to lose value once voice search becomes commonplace. GPS targeting and conversational responses mean that Google assistant will only return one result per search. This means a business two blocks closer to the search location will always have the upper hand. It makes targeting those niche keywords even more important.
The Possum update showed us that Google is likely to stick to this route for their entire search platform, and for good reason.
Search analysis shows that 4 in 5 consumers are interested in searching local. Of those consumers, 88 percent use their mobile device to search for local businesses.
This emphasis on local search means that hyper specific niche long-tail keywords are likely to become the deciding factor in mobile voice based SEO.
The End of Pay to Play
The advent of conversational voice search looks to put organic traffic back on a level playing field by returning only one result per search.
Google realizes that sponsored results will dominate voice searches, and thus far has avoided their previous pay to play model.
This elimination of sponsored search results is beneficial to SEOs everywhere.
The introduction of the Google Pixel and the subsequent emphasis on voice search is changing SEO marketing by the minute.
Voice centric techniques are the future, and building a strong foundation is key to staying one step ahead of the competition.
