Voice recognition software used to be little more than a bad joke, and some versions of it still are. Even now – although Siri, Cortana and Google Now are playing a bigger role in the lives of the more tech-savvy amongst us – it’s difficult to see voice-search playing a major role in the future of online marketing for many years to come. However, like many other niche markets, it’s a market that companies do need to cater for. So what can local businesses do to optimise their marketing for voice-searches?
Understand How it Works
With the advent of machine-learning and neural-language processing, there is a bigger role for artificial intelligence. Speech recognition, although still not perfect, is streets ahead of what it once was. Modern applications are now able to recognise and understand conversational, natural phrases that are simple and contextual in nature, making them much easier for any user to access. Examples of this in practice are Google’s latest Allo application, which continues to learn from its users even after it is installed, personalising itself to their individual speech patterns and preferences.
All of this means that the phrase: “Find me a someone local who can help with my website” should get you the same result in a good voice search application as typing “web design in Manchester” into a search engine – if, of course, you’re in Manchester!
Understand What Your Customers Talk About
The way that you talk about your products and services inside your company might not be the way that your clients or customers talk about them. A competent web design company such as Manchester web designers Bamboosolutions.co.uk will be able to help you resolve this by conducting research with your clients, listening to them, interviewing them and finding out from them, in their own words, what they are searching for when they find your company.
And Finally, Don’t Forget Your Geography!
People don’t just search for things, they search for places too. Voice search is almost exclusively used on phones and tablets, and all of those devices include location sensors, so make sure that your site is properly optimised so that search engines know where you are as well as what you have to offer. This will give you the best chance of making that sale.