At this point everyone has heard about ChatGPT and other AI technologies that pride themselves on being extremely conversational. You can ask questions as if you were communicating with a real human. So far, Google is not this way. In Google, you type in “coverse shoes with gold eyelets” and get your results. But what if Google started moving away from that chunky, fragmented type of search? Google recently employed a new technology called LaMDA, built specifically to understand the nuances of language and how users naturally communicate.
As we watch Google move in this direction, especially as we teeter on the horizon of the AI era with ChatGPT and Google’s Bard, any SEO expert ought to pay close attention to voice search. Naturally, voice search is going to differ greatly from how a user searches via the keyboard. So how can you be ahead of the game when the times change (and they’re coming!) and search becomes more conversational?
The best way to prepare for this is by optimizing for voice search. Some ways to do this are by optimizing the right phrasing and targeting long-tail, question-like keywords. For example, “converse shoes with gold eyelets” would most likely be someone’s Google search but “Find me a store that carries converse shoes woith gold eyelets” would be their voice search. Another way to optimize for voice search would be to keep your answers short and punchy. Users like quick answers so a bullet-pointed blurb should do the trick. One should also strive to keep their mobile site sharp, as most people voice search via their smartphones. And make sure it’s a quick, smooth-running site! Finally, one should seek to understand how people talk… know the culture and vernacular of the people you’re targeting! For example (and it’s not the best one, I apologize), in England it’s a “courgette” not a “zucchini.” One must understand the nuances of the language to optimize for voice search in a specific region.
We are currently ushering in the age of AI and conversational search and these are just a few ways you can prepare for when that takes off at full speed.
3 Responses
Voice searching is complicated and I don’t know how relevant it would be. I mostly see my parents and other middle-aged adults using voice search, so there would be some kind of untapped market with the younger generation. However, I do like the idea of Google moving towards a more conversational approach in search. Great post!
Conversational search seems like a very interesting topic! Different research would need to be done because of how people phrase sentences when they talk versus the words someone would use to Google search something. And I also agree that there are also different markets because of the way different generations use different language to talk.
This is really interesting! I think it is important to understand different conversational aspect of search, and how different generations differ in how they search as well. I haven’t heard of the voice search becoming prevalent, I think it would be interesting to see how this expands in the future of search!