By Matthew Forrest | September 8, 2014
As technology continues to advance and we continue to adopt it we are seeing shifts in behavior. One such shift is with online search, as highlighted by Search Engine Journal.
More and more people are using Siri, and similar services, to search like they speak. The queries we see are going to be different from what they would have been if they were typed out. One example illustrated in Search Engine Journal’s post was as follows:
- “Typed Search: ‘new pink golf clubs intermediate skill full set womens’
- Voice Search: ‘Find me a full set of new pink women’s golf clubs for sale that would be perfect for an intermediate level golfer’”
Both searches are different looking, but achieve the same goal. “The difference is when we speak, we’re including filler words like ‘a,’ ‘for’, and ‘me,” which can give search engines an idea of what your intent was.”
Predictive search is becoming increasingly important. For instance if you look at pictures of the Liberty Bell and your next query is asking how it cracked, search engines know you are referring to the Liberty Bell.
Keywords aren’t as important as they once were – people want a search result based on what they are thinking at the moment. For instance, when I’m looking for a new pizza place to try I say “good pizza near me” instead of typing “good pizza places in Boston.”
Voice search is going to have a major effect on geo-local results because “people can find the information they are looking for without having to visit a website.” Because of this business are likely to see more foot traffic and less website traffic. This means that content will have to be people – not keyword – focused.
Learn more about these trends on Search Engine Journal.
