Is Your Business Prepared for Voice-Driven & “Near Me” Search?

Nowadays, speaking to do a search is commonplace. People are using home-based devices like Amazon Alexa, Siri, Google Home, OR apps on their cell phones. That’s right, our phones can be set up with an app’ for Voice-Driven Search. And so the question business owners should be asking is, “are we prepared for Voice-Driven Search?” NOTE: Regardless of how a person searches (computer, laptop, phone or voice app), the results are still coming from the same search engine indexes THAT ALREADY INCLUDE YOUR WEBSITE PAGES & LOCAL BUSINESS LISTINGS. Those results are coming from a search engine index like Google or Bing. So beware of those who suggest there is some ‘silver bullet’ registration solution for getting great voice-driven search results.

Voice-driven applications offer such searching convenience that people will inevitably use them on their phones. In adding an app’, we allow for the identification of our location to answer searches with hyper-localized results. What does a business need to know? We’ll cover what’s necessary as well as how Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri, and Google Home (or Google Voice Search for a phone) actually get their voice-driven search results for you in what follows!

Where Do Alexa, Siri, and Google Home or Google Voice Search Get Their Results?

Research does show that “near me” search growth is at over 1,000% in the last 5 years, including for phrases like “contractor near me” or “Chinese food near me”. It also shows that your business is prepared if you have a web presence. Again, beware of those who suggest there is some ‘silver bullet’ solution for getting immediate or better search results. How does a business actually get into Alexa, Siri, and Google Home or Google Voice Search Search Results? If you have ever thought about how – then this should help you. First off, where do these services get their search results? 

A) Google Home, Google Assistant, or Google Voice Search: Google draws directly from its vast & current index of web pages, including those in its locally-specific organized indexes. This can be managed aggressively and efficiently, for instance, by pursuing Local SEO Services!

B) Apple’s Siri: First off, Siri draws on a few databases including its own Apple Maps, also Google for the lion’s share of its responses and it uses Bing for image-related search data. Note: this can change in time. If you are not an Apple device user and do not want to get into their setup process, a Local SEO and/or Search & Directory Listing service will cover Apple Maps. If you are up to their setup process, you must have an Apple ID# or you can also go to Apple Maps Connect here: https://mapsconnect.apple.com and begin their registration process – direct. Optimization for Siri also requires that other local directory listings be consistent. Good reviews are going to matter and, being that they are competitive, it’s likely Siri will not draw upon Google listings for any there.

C) Amazon’s Alexa: As with the above, Local SEO and/ or Search & Directory Listing services cover Amazon Alexa. The belief is that Alexa draws on Bing, Yelp, Apple Maps, and its own search results. Good reviews are going to matter! And feeling competitive, it’s not likely that Alexa will draw on Google listings. Ultimately and as a result, Alexa is believed to trail in terms of its’ local search results.

Preparing For Voice & Near Me Search With Content!

If you haven’t optimized your business for voice-driven searches, including locally-driven “near me” searches, maybe it is time. In looking at how you optimize for voice & “near me” searches, we also need to look at the importance of website content and also at enhanced trusted listings. 

It starts with content: what is your target consumer’s intent and are you ready for them? We recently wrote on the subject here, “DOES YOUR CONTENT MEET YOUR TARGET CONSUMER INTENT ONLINE?” in order to get business owners thinking about their content. Using content to meet target market searches. To use a Google recommended strategy, it’s a matter of anticipating micro-moments and having published content that supports them. Google actually introduced the concept of micro-moments broken down into I-want-to-know, I-want-to-go, I-want-to-do, and I-want-to-buy moments in order to remind business marketers to think about addressing ‘intent’ with their content.

As locally driven business owners, we need to think more specifically: what do they want to learn about my products or services? Under what circumstances do they want to learn about them? What are they doing with our products or services (e.g. Home Inspection, Home Addition, Liability Insurance, MRI, Rehabilitation)? Would education and/or instruction, maybe even ‘how-to’ content support them or build trust as the right resource for them?

Consider, are the answers to their questions available on my web presence? Reinforce this information through your important listings and/or your social media via detailed descriptions, categorization, posts, images, reviews & Q&A when/where possible?

Preparing For Voice & Near Me Search With Local SEO!

Let’s look at locally-driven priorities with our websites, content, listings, and citations. Note: search engines cross-reference the most specific information on directory listings & citations (that they trust) with your website. They do it in order to determine consistent accuracy.

A) Does the website communicate a business location? Search engines look at the location in order to consider a business for hyper-local searches.
B) Does website content leverage opportunities to mention the areas where products or services are offered? This requires experience, tactics & finesse, depending on how broad that geographic target is. For example, have a look at GEO-TARGETING AND LOCAL BUSINESS AUTHORITY!
C) Have we created consistent accurate business listings at the leading directory sites, at least, including each one’s verification process? This can be managed aggressively and efficiently, for instance, by pursuing Local SEO Services.
D) Have you created a Google my business profile, including listing? Do you leverage its enhanced information opportunities? This is the no. 1 off-website and most important listing!
E) Have you created a Facebook business page?
F) Can you clean up inconsistencies in any existing listing or citation? This can be a headache, Local SEO and/ or Search & Directory Listing services can make managing this more efficient.
G) Prepare to manage these listings, one by one, as is necessary.
H) Find and build niche (e.g. your associations) and/or location-specific citations (e.g. town directories).

Where Do Alexa, Siri, and Google Home or Google Voice Search Get Their Results? 

And so we’re hoping this post answers any questions you might have had about being prepared for Voice Search via Google Home/ Google Voice Search, Siri, and Alexa. If not, please do not hesitate to get in touch with questions. Our Local SEO and/ or Search & Directory Listing services can make managing it affordable and simple.