Opinion: Voice search optimisation is the next mobile frontier for retailers

Over the past several years, retailers worldwide have invested significantly in adapting to a ‘mobile-first world’.

New apps, interactive in-store tools, scannable mobile coupons and other innovations have sprung up to engage a consumer base that has more choice and information than ever before.

As we move from mobile-first to what Google chief executive Sundar Pichai termed an “AI-first world,” retailers must thrive in an environment where technology is making more and more decisions about retailer information before the consumer even sees it.

Voice search, once a novelty, is quickly seizing a high share of search volume – 20%, according to Google.

Its growing importance is changing search strategies for retailers in several ways.

Being the top search result

The most fundamental difference is that voice search only returns one result for most queries. Its value proposition is convenience, and part of that convenience is honing in on the user’s intent and providing one (hopefully) relevant and customised response.

The more information on products you promote, the more highly you will rank for tailored searches such as “Where can I buy a vacuum cleaner?”

Making artificial intelligence (AI) work for, instead of against, a business requires rich and precisely structured data about retailers’ individual locations, so that queries such as “Where’s a good supermarket near me?” drive customers to your business instead of the competition.

Clearly, your business will not be the top result for every possible search, but the more information on products you promote, the more highly you will rank for tailored searches such as “Where can I buy a vacuum cleaner?”

Google data shows that 30% of mobile searches relate to location. Not optimising for local search (including voice), jeopardises a huge revenue stream.

Diverse data

Feeding a wide array of high-quality location data into search will be a crucial part of any retailer’s customer acquisition strategy in 2017.

Pieces of information such as address, phone number, opening hours, products offered, special Sales, and location-specific reviews are all increasingly influential in signalling to voice search AI that your location fulfils the needs of the user.

It’s no longer enough to have a list of locations on your corporate website – each location now needs a vibrant and active presence across all major web publishers.

Review your reviews strategy

Location reviews are an often-overlooked opportunity in the competition for search rank and cannot be ignored in voice search.

Google recently updated its algorithms to take reviews into account in the order of search results.

The tricky thing is that it’s usually customers on the fringes who take it upon themselves to review your business

Since winning customers with voice search means a business needs to be the top result, retailers need to generate numerous high-quality reviews from their customers in order to compete.

The tricky thing is that it’s usually customers on the fringes who take it upon themselves to review your business – the least happy and most devoted, not the majority who are content, but not particularly passionate.

Being proactive in encouraging customers to review your business is a simple step to galvanise a torrent of positive reviews from your happy customers, and can make a big difference in your ratings and search rank.

AI is not going away. It will continue to grow in sophistication and popularity and, with it, users will receive increasingly targeted voice search results.

The structured data that voice search AI uses to tailor search results is up to retailers to provide.

Staying ahead of the times requires all businesses to be creative in devising new ways to tell customers who they are and what they offer.

The more local retailers can get with this information, the more customers will find their way to their doors.

• Jon Buss is managing director for the UK and northern Europe at Yext