An In-Depth Guide to Voice Search in E-commerce

Do you believe the relationship between eCommerce and voice search is still in its early stages? Reconsider your position. According to 2018 figures, 16 percent of Americans (over 39 million people) already possess a smart speaker, and the number is constantly growing. What does this mean for your eCommerce business? 

Consumers love voice search, but what does this mean for you? We live in a world of convenience, and we want it to get even better. You have a busy life and attempt to strike the perfect work/life balance, so you may find yourself multitasking frequently. That’s to say, whether you want to know the weather, the latest news, or where to buy particular products, you want precise results as soon as possible. 

Everything related to voice commands and searches is rapidly expanding. So the ‘voice revolution’ is already here and is spreading. What does this signify for your online store? How does voice search function for an eCommerce business, and how can you harness and optimize it to get the most out of it?

Voice Search Optimization in a Nutshell

You’re probably already an SEO specialist, or you employ white label web design to tweak your website content, ensuring that it ranks well in search engines when users search for specific keywords or phrases. The vocal continuation of that strategy is voice search optimization. When you optimize your landing pages for voice searches, you’re making them appear (verbally) when a potential consumer conducts a voice search. When your pages are optimized, the voice search device used by the consumer can read them out loud.

Voice Search Device Options

When using their smartphone, most people will utilize one of two virtual “assistants” like Google Assistant or Apple’s Siri. Siri is exclusively available on Apple devices, whereas Google Assistant is available on all Android devices. In reality, while using Google Chrome to search the internet on a home computer, voice search is available. A smart home speaker, such as Google’s Home speaker or Amazon’s Alexa, offers another voice search option.

Voice Searches and eCommerce

When you employ voice search in your eCommerce business, you’re allowing your consumers to search for goods in your store using only their voices rather than using a keyboard. If you already have a voice assistant, voice search inquiries for eCommerce will operate similarly. Speech search makes use of artificial intelligence (AI) voice recognition, which combines the sciences of computers and linguistics to allow individuals to search for items without having to type. 

The AI recognizes a person’s words and phrases and the phonemes that help differentiate one word from another. A consumer may begin a voice search by simply clicking on the microphone button on their device. 

When individuals type a manual search, they make errors. Perhaps someone misspells a brand or product’s name in their search parameters. When this happens, the search engine’s AI generally recognizes the mistake and proposes what the consumer is trying to say. This is something that voice search AI can accomplish by suggesting what it believes the client could have mispronounced.

Dialogue Systems

A dialogue system, often known as a ‘conversational agent,’ is a computer system that can converse with humans. The majority of conversation systems have at least three modules: A module that detects and distinguishes words, sentences, phonemes, and other aspects of human speech, a module that generates synthetic speech to respond to searches, and one that can manage dialogues.

Your voice search engine employs natural language processing (NLP) to learn and interpret your speech and patterns by combining computer-based linguistics with machine learning. This implies that, depending on the complexity of the system you’re using, performance will increase with time.

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Benefits of Using Voice Search Technology

The popularity of voice search is growing as more families acquire smart speakers and virtual assistants. However, the surge in the number of individuals using mobile devices to access the internet is likely more significant. So how can voice search benefit you? 

Searches That Are Both Faster and Easier

The first consideration is a person’s typical typing speed, which is around 40 words per minute. However, it’s on a regular QWERTY keyboard, and your typing speed on a mobile device’s keyboard is likely to be far slower. Consider speaking the same script you just typed: on average, you’ll be able to utter the words three times faster. 

As a result, a voice search is quick and straightforward because you may multitask while conducting your search. You still think about essential words or phrases to find what you’re searching for, but you’re doing it faster and with less effort.

Appropriate for Mobile Devices

Mobile devices already account for over 55% of all internet traffic, and this percentage is only expected to rise. Considering many individuals find manual typing on a mobile device to be inconvenient, the appeal of utilizing a voice search is clear. You may search for whatever you desire with a single click on your microphone icon or, even simpler, a voice command – “Hey Google.”

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How To Optimize for Voice Search

So you’re starting to see the light. The expansion rate is astonishing, and it’s clear that using voice searches makes good financial sense. The technology is already in place, but how do you go about optimizing your voice search for the best possible results? You want your company to expand and perform well, and understanding how to break through any growth barriers will help you achieve that goal.

Aim for Position 0 on Google

You’re probably already conducting SEO for traditional searches and digital marketing, so you’re well-versed in the pursuit of Google Position 0. This is when Google chooses select pieces of information and displays them in a box at the top of any search results, resulting in more significant traffic to your website and, perhaps, more consumers. For voice searches, it’s the same concept. You want to respond to straightforward inquiries with direct responses. 

Integrate the User’s Journey With the Site’s Structure

It’s always been the case that you want to give a pleasant and satisfying user journey and experience, and voice searches are no exception. While the goal is the same, the path is somewhat different. You can merge the voice search user’s journey by adjusting or adding to your site’s structure.

Improve Site Speed

Whether conducting standard or voice searches, page speed is critical. People expect answers promptly, and if your site’s pages are sluggish, they might as well go somewhere else. If your website is too slow, search engines won’t get the information they need rapidly, and Google will rank your site lower. 

It’ll become increasingly critical to ensure that your landing pages are optimized for both manual and voice searches. If you don’t have an IT department, you may employ a white label web design service or hire an agency to handle everything.

Conclusion

While voice search is a relatively new child on the block, it’ll become increasingly crucial to your eCommerce marketing plan as technology improves and use grows, especially for lively online businesses. By jumping on board today, you’ll be able to improve your voice search strategy to increase traffic to your website.