“OK Google, How Do I Master Voice Search?”

Chances are, if you asked Google, Siri, Alexa or Cortana, you’d get an answer right back.

According to Google, 20% of all searches are voice searches and that number is slated to skyrocket to 50% by 2020. To help claim your spot in the 20% and strengthen your marketing, let’s walk through what voice search is, how it works and three tactics you need now to start seeing success.

What is Voice Search? Just as it sounds, a voice search is simply any search a person performs on the internet using a voice command instead of typing or text. You initiate a voice search by pressing a button or speaking to your voice assistant (Apple’s Siri, “Okay Google”, Amazon’s Alexa, Microsoft’s Cortana), which then uses location-based data and SEO to match keywords and phrases.

Master Voice Search with These 3 Key Marketing Tips

1. Think like your customer. Then, think like a marketer. What do your customers ask or search for to find your company? Narrowing down the “who, what, where, why and how” your customers use is crucial to showing up in a voice search. People aren’t searching in two-word fragments like they have in the past. They’re searching for certain places, people or things near them in phrases — usually in question form. To begin, write a list of questions to start building the framework of being optimized for a voice search, then add specific details and descriptions in full sentences.

2. Create a FAQ page. Once you’ve made your list of every possible question a customer might ask – and have the answers to those questions – it’s time to put that information into a FAQ page on your website. Remember, to write questions that are conversational, so use natural language. In other words, keep your thesaurus in your pocket, smarty pants!

Not sure you’ve covered all your bases? Check out the tool Answer the Public where you type in simple keywords and receive data on how those terms fit in with search queries on the web. Or, consider using Image Source, Google’s free tool which grades your website and provides information on how to improve your scores.

3. Optimize for mobile and BE QUICK!

At any given time, what’s the #1 device you have by your side? 99% might say your phone and you’re right. Google is boosting mobile friendly sites and penalizing those that aren’t, so get to it!  You’re missing out if you haven’t updated your website in a while anyway – so now is the time. With short attention spans, customers might pass you by if they can’t read your content and it’s too much work. Not sure? Check out your competitors, they’re mobile friendly, right?

You may think that voice search is way out of your league, too complicated a marketing process and out of the question.  But, I’ll challenge that.  If you’ve been following digital trends and want to grow your business – look into mastering voice search.  Mastery might take a bit more time, but starting the process can lead to a better bottom line, not to mention lots of free PR.