Voice search impact on SEO

This phenomenon is growing. Indeed, it is now possible to speak to your computer or smartphone to search the web.

The numbers speak for themselves: with over a billion cell phones in use worldwide, the opportunities are real for voice search.

Moreover, 20% of searches from the Google Search Android App and 25% of searches on Bing mobiles are voice searches; voice search has therefore taken off!

The impact of voice search on SEO

A new challenge appears since it is no longer a question of positioning oneself only on keywords but on complete requests. Indeed, we don't talk like we write! The challenge here will be to respond to phrases that are grouped in the method of 5W in English or QQOQCP in French. Having a direct impact on natural referencing, the SEO strategy will have to adapt.

The hotel sector is directly impacted. We are noticing an increasing interest in queries associating "find me a hotel near me" or "hotel near me". Note that we have identified that voice queries are different compared to a classic search, being notably longer and more precise, and even incorporating the geolocation algorithm.

Actions implemented since 2016 at Eliophot. For more than 2 years, aware of the rise of voice searches, we have been optimizing our solutions to fully respond to them. As digital marketing experts, we have to adapt our content mainly to offer the most accurate user experience with respect to the evolution of searches. By the important link with local optimization, we do what is necessary to have a quality local referencing. By the whole of our writing to answer the requests of type voice. We target here mainly the questions via an internal matrix QQOQCP.

1- What?
Description of the problem, the task, the activity
What is the type of product, what is the hotel classification?
L’internaute recherche de l’information générique sur les établissements / prestations.

2- Who?
Description of the stakeholders involved, (owners, director, label, voluntary chains etc...)
Who is involved? Who do we put forward in the story telling?
L’internaute veut de l’information en phase d’avant-vente.

3- Where?
Description of the place
Where are we? Where does each service take place? In which geographical and tourist areas?
The user is looking for an establishment/service in a specific geographical/tourist area or wants to identify the location of a hotel via the cell phone to activate the GPS function.

4- When?
Description of the moment, opening hours, availability
What is my temporality, my calendar for each service?
The Internet user wants temporalized information: month, day, hour, duration, frequency, schedule, delay...

5- How?
Description of the know-how and positioning of the different services
What do I offer my target audience for all my services?
The Internet user wants information on: means of payment, equipment, services...

6- How much?
Description & transparency on all public prices for all services
What cost?
The user searching for pricing information, or incorporating "price" semantics in their voice search.

7- Why?
Description of the reasons, causes, objectives
For what purpose? What commitment?
Description of the reasons, causes, objectives

As these searches are mainly coming from mobile, we optimize the user experience as much as possible by proposing an easily accessible usage and content as well as an optimized loading time. Customer reviews are also important and are taken into consideration.

The objective is simple, to target popular locations on mobiles resulting from a mobile search: answer Box, featured snippet (position "0")...

From SEO to AEO ?

Voice search represents a major milestone in the evolution of queries since the birth of the web. The digital landscape is changing, the notion of "answer engine" is emerging at the expense of "search engine". SEO is therefore evolving in a logical way towards an AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) strategy.

After the arrival of smartphones, Voice Search continues in the same vein: that of searching for the most intelligent and precise results in the fastest way.