Voice search has come a long way since the debut of virtual assistants like Siri, Alexa, or Google. Today’s tech can do far more than tell you a celebrity’s birthday or a pre-canned joke. With more complicated algorithms and the advancement of AI learning, voice search has leapt out of the home and into the B2B world, helping businesses find efficiencies that weren’t possible before.
What is Voice Search Optimization and Why is it Important?
When we talk about Voice Search Optimization (VSO), we’re talking about optimizing your website and its content to be the most relevant answer from voice search results. Think of it like SEO, but for how people talk.
VSO looks to understand how people search with their voice. How we ask a question out loud may differ from how we type it. Aligning your content to speech patterns will help you be the top result.
Below we’ll explore several factors that you should consider when thinking about Voice Search Optimization.
Change of Search and User Behavior
As more and more people use voice assistants in their homes and on their phones, optimizing your website for voice search can help you capture more relevant traffic.
- Compared to typed searches, voice searches lean more conversational. Think about how you type vs. how you talk.
- There’s a shift in the B2B space towards embracing voice search. It’s a convenient and hands-free way to access information. As more people and companies embrace VSO, voice search will provide a user-friendly way to access answers more quickly and easily.
- When you think of your B2B target, you can identify and target long-tail keywords that reflect specific searches related to your industry/products.
Improved Visibility and Traffic
If you want a better chance of being featured prominently in search results, you’ll want to make sure you’re optimizing for concise answers or featured snippets.
- That increased visibility can lead to higher traffic, more leads, and the potential for more customers finding their way to your website.
- To capture more local traffic, optimizing for location-based voice search can help capture a more centralized audience who are looking for nearby products or services.
Competitive Advantage
Voice Search Optimization is still a burgeoning area in the tech space. That means if you move now, you can have a competitive advantage as an early adopter over your competitors. Enhancing your website for VSO, not just SEO, can put your company in a position to potentially attract more visitors and customers.
- Early adoption here doesn’t have a downside. You only stand to gain by demonstrating your commitment to innovation, which can help differentiate you from your competitors who have yet to adopt VSO.
Voice Search Optimization for B2B
Sometimes we forget that behind the business in B2B are people. That’s who you’re really marketing towards. That’s why VSO is just as relevant for B2B marketers as for B2C.
One B2B organization that has seen the benefits of voice search is Honeywell. Its “voice-enabled search service improves accuracy, efficiency, and safety for fulfillment center employees.” (Marketing Profs)
- What we see here are the advantages of implementing voice search tech and best practices. Looking for opportunities to integrate voice into your B2B offerings with AI assistants like Honeywell can help develop voice-activated systems or even voice-guided maintenance instructions for industrial products.
- Looking at the breadth of offerings from Honeywell’s portfolio, there’s a lot that can serve B2B needs across many industries.
- The cherry on top is Honeywell’s commitment to eco-friendly solutions and reducing their environmental footprint. Going green isn’t just good for the planet, it’s good for business as it appeals to B2B customers seeking sustainable and responsible business partnerships.
While marketing and tech continue to evolve, it’s important to stay on the cutting edge of what’s possible. Voice Search Optimization is a relatively untapped area that early adopters are going to get the greatest benefit from. They’ll also find it easier to stay at the forefront of VSO innovation as they won’t have to waste time onboarding and implementing a new system. The moral of the story here is to jump in head first now; you’ll have time to figure it all out. It’s better to learn as you go than to try playing catch up when everyone else has a few years head start.