Siri, Where's My Car?! - Being Voice Search & Mobile Ready

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Many people still dislike voice searching (VS) and It's true that voice search still has a long way to go but what's surprising is how quickly it's sneaking up on the big players. If you're driving, cooking, trying to avoid getting dirt on your precious iPhone, or you're just too lazy to type VS is a godsend, and people are starting to realise this.

A study by google showed that 12% of all mobile queries are now coming from voice and with Cortana, Google Now, Amazon's Alexa and Facebook's "M" coming soon, voice search is sure to grow. What's more the traffic is normally high intent as well. 50 percent of consumers who conduct a local search on their smartphone visit a store within a day, and 18 percent of those searches lead to a purchase within a day.

Not sure what you want for lunch? Nearly half of people won't search for a restaurant until within an hour of going. Not sure if your lunch is Gluten Free? 40 percent of Millennials look up information about their food while in a restaurant. Similarly, "coffee near me" is a popular search on mobile, but so is "macchiato calories." So here's the question; does your content and bidding strategy account for voice search and mobile as a whole?

Tongues v Thumbs

Voice queries and mobile queries are very different. When it comes to voice search you see 2 patterns; ramblers who haven't fully thought out their query and so will tend to search long tail.

"Siri do you know where I could find a Chinese restaurant in Manchester"

And blurters who use quick key phrases;

"Chinese restaurant near me"

Siri will match based on the key phrases within each statement to give a localised match, resulting in an explosion in "near me" queries:

"Petrol station near me" & "Pub near me".

To fully adapt to VS you need a 2 pronged approach; first make sure that the key short tail phrases are in your title and that that your first paragraph uses longer tail language which will catch the ramblers.

Your title could be "best widget deals near you" and the opening paragraph "if you're looking for great widgets at affordable prices in the Manchester area come to widge co on king street!" This way you are likely to get common queries but you will catch some of the more obscure queries too.

Mobile Ready? Go Voice Search!

By now you should be mobile optimised, if not, sort it out. Not having a mobile strategy borders on being irresponsible.

To get the basics of your mobile strategy right you need to have your site mobile responsive as a start, but you also need to make sure your content is localised and that your google business page is primed and ready for those "near me" search queries.

A great strategy isn't just about ensuring the basics, you also need to relate your mobile strategy to your consumers needs

Mobile is all about small moments and touch points with your consumers, but small moments also means smaller spaces.  If you are not on within the first 3 spots on a mobile S.E.R.P then you're losing a hell of a lot of traffic, so make sure you have your modifiers and bids high for your key terms. What's more, you need to have your ad copy shortened and concise to fully utilise the space available. Use your customer data and observations to create strategies that fit perfectly into your consumers lives.

For example if you run a restaurant, when are your peak times? Are your bids optimised for these? Does your content hit the key messages your consumer is looking for? If you tailor your content and bids correctly the next time someone searches for "best pizza place near me" you will be at the top of their screen.

In Other News

We have been looking at the development of Facebook's "M" with the anticipation the same as a child at Christmas! For those who don't know, Facebook are trialling a new voice service which is like Siri, but better.

"It can purchase items, get gifts delivered to your loved ones, book restaurants, travel arrangements, appointments and way more."

Such customer service tasks aren't something Apple, Google, Microsoft or Amazon's assistants offer. This offering sits within the FB app meaning its cross OS and device combine this new tech with FBs behavioural targeting, Geo targeting and new localised Ads and you're looking at pinpoint campaigns for your business and micro targeted experiences for your consumers.

Mobile is changing how advertisers work and voice search is now a major part of that. Don't wait until we evolve past keyboards before you start thinking about VS! Make it part of your core focus, future proof your strategies and reap the benefits.

If you want to achieve any marketing aim then biddable is a great way to boost our activity however, biddable is difficult to get right. If you want to get some solid advice on how to do it right, then read our blog on "Biddable media can accelerate any inbound marketing campaign"