The digital marketing universe is a fast-paced environment wherein change comes quickly, and you must adapt your strategies even quicker to keep pace. One of the biggest changes to occur in the past year has been the rising use of voice search on mobile devices, and the impact it has on marketing strategies like Pay Per Call. Fear not though, this isn’t a post about the downfall of Pay Per Call. Instead, we’re going to look a few ways voice search will impact marking and Pay Per Call campaigns.
What is the Impact of Voice Search?
If you don’t think voice search represents a potential issue yet, it’s time to rethink that position. According to Search Engine Watch, voice search has gone from a position of “statistical zero” at the beginning of 2015 to representing 10% of all worldwide searches. That was in just one year!
The “Where” is Different
With most mobile searches, businesses have no real clue when and where (in particular) their target market is performing a search. The focus has been intently fixed on the devices and means of interaction. There is recent research available that shows 43% of those surveyed use voice search while at home, followed by 36% in the car. This can impact how you target your Pay Per Call ads going forward.
SEO Impact
SEO is still important, but the manner in which Pay Per Call marketers focus adds on language has to change. Most marketing and advertising efforts, as it pertains to SEO, now focus on targeted keywords. Voice search will place a greater emphasis on conversational language.
Local Search Impact
Local search functions are a critical part of all Pay Per Call campaigns, and Google has found that searches using the term “near me” have increased 34 times since 2011, and since doubled in the last year. That, combined with the fact that mobile voice searches are three times more likely to focus on local business, provides brick-and-mortar businesses with an ideal opportunity to increase traffic using Pay Per Call.
The market is still adjusting to voice search, and there are still hurdles to overcome such as compensating for different accents and pronunciations of the same word. Voice search will impact your marketing efforts, but with the information above you’ll be poised to respond in kind to keep your Pay Per Call ads well-targeted and effective.