50% of ALL search queries will be by voice by 2020! We've all heard a lot about voice search optimization, but what does it really mean? Does it matter? And should we be doing better than just peddling easy answers about a trend that has very little actual business impact? Read on to find out!

1. 1
VOICE SEARCH:
Is it really such a big deal?

2. Hi!
I am Clark Boyd
You can find me at @ClarkBoyd
Search ‘Clark Boyd’ on LinkedIn (There
aren't many of us)
- Ex-iProspect (Dentsu Aegis Network)
- Course Leader for Emeritus (Columbia
Business School/MIT)
- Google Squared subject matter expert
- Research lead for ClickZ
2

3. TODAY: VOICE SEARCH
▹ The Voice Search Pitch
▹ What They Don’t Tell You
▹ The Real Future of Search
￭ Brand-driven
￭ Sensory
￭ Accurate
￭ And yes, mobile
3

5. 1.
VOICE SEARCH
The Pitch
(I read every voice search
article, so you don’t have to)

6. 6
The classic three-act
structure. It applies rather
readily to all the voice
search pitches I’ve read
and seen.

7. 6/10
Adults say they couldn’t live without
their voice-activated device.
50%
Of ALL searches will be voice
searches by 2020.
50%
Of US consumers use voice search
to research products.
7
EXPOSITION

8. RISING TENSION

9. RISING TENSION
...do you have a strategy for
this??? Your competitor does.

10. RISING TENSION

11. YOU :-)
(If you
work
with us)
DÉNOUEMENT

12. YOU :’-(
(If you
don’t)
DÉNOUEMENT

13. DÉNOUEMENT
Here’s how you can get involved!
If you weren’t already doing these things, you should be doing them anyway. Except number 4 - do not “do LSI”.
It matters that people are misled by “voice search strategy”, even if most of these points would benefit their overall
SEO. These are basic best practices, not advanced strategies. Distracting people from the real future of the industry
is never in their best interests. We need to do better!
1. Think and write like a human being.
2. Optimize for mobile.
3. Go for snippets.
4. Use “LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keywords.”
5. Answer questions.
6. Look at Search Console for longer queries.
7. Focus on speed (???)
8. Use Schema.org markup.

14. 2.
VOICE SEARCH
What They Don’t
Tell You

15. People who do shop through their
smart speakers tend to buy paper
towels, detergent and other home
staples.
- The Information
15

17. 17

18. People are speaking to their voice-
activated devices in growing quantities.
That is true.
There is an opportunity for brands to
sell products/services through these
interactions, as in this Google example.
But this is not ‘voice search’. It’s not
even search.
In the Amazon example from the last
slide, the device infers an underlying
intent state and preemptively makes a
recommendation.
This is much more likely to be the
future of commerce through
Alexa/Google/Siri/Cortana.

19. It
won’t.

20. Text
Search

21. Voice Search

22. What does ‘voice’ really
change?
It’s great to know the
question, but only if it
affects the answer.

23. Input Output Use Cases
Voice Voice
One answer
Actions
Voice Text
Multiple answers
Device with screen
Voice Image
Shopping
Directions (local listings)
Image Image
Shopping
Ideas
Historical user data
(‘searcher’ not directly
active)
Suggestions
(Voice/image/text)
The search engine knows
enough to preempt and
answer the query

24. 3.
VOICE SEARCH
What To Do
Instead. (Or at
Least, As Well.)

25. 1 2 3 4
THE FUTURE OF SEARCH IS:
Brand-driven Sensory Accurate And yes, mobile
25

26. THE FUTURE OF
SEARCH IS:
1. Brand-driven
26

27. Sneaky
Amazon
results
Shopping
(Expect to
see a lot
more of
this)
Paid
search
Lots of
other
options(Good
luck)
“SEO”

29. ● Standard
● Taller Organic
Cards
● Local 3-Pack
● Quick Answers
● Shopping/PLA
● Rich Snippets
● Site Carousel
● Site Links
● Site Image
Carousel
● Top Stories /
News
● AMP
● Google Flights
● People also ask
● Category
● Images
● Videos /
Trailers
● Live
● Top sights
● Reviews
● Blogs
● Knowledge
Panel
● Carousel
● Apps
● Google for Jobs
● Recipes
● Scholarly
Research
● Weather
● Game Scores
● Twitter Tweets
● Discover more
places
● Send to Google
Home
● People also
search for
● See results
about
● Widgets
● Found in related
search
● Quotes
● Events
(AT LEAST) 37 SERP FEATURES AVAILABLE

30. 82% of people will click on an SEO result because they know the
brand. This far outweighs any other factor and as screen space
decreases, this will grow in importance.
https://www.redcmarketing.com/secret-life-of-
search/

31. Branding needs to influence every digital
asset.
Having a ‘brand voice’ will become a quite
literal requirement and forward-thinking
companies are experimenting in this area
already.
31

32. 32
YouTube
Display
TV

33. 33
Home

34. We can safely term this ‘SEO content’. It has none of the brand’s character and, while the information is
important, could be written by any insurance company with a keyword list and a keyboard.
These are the pages that digital assistants will pull information from, so they need to be more than keywords
stitched together with prepositions.
SEO

35. Traditional ‘SEO
content’ does not
respond to the
modern consumer’s
needs.
If a digital assistant
can’t find anything
suitable, it reverts to a
traditional SERP. On
mobile, that means
SEO is even less likely
to get the click.
If SEO doesn’t take
control of this content
space, another team
will.

36. 61% of consumers
aged 18-34 discover
new products
through social
media.
Google and Amazon
both want to
encourage discovery
beyond the search
bar - they know this
shift has happened.

37. THE FUTURE OF
SEARCH IS:
2. Sensory
37

38. 38

39. Most voice actions
require the consumer
to have a prior (and
positive) interaction
with the brand.
This is not a broad,
exploratory channel
where optimizing for
the right question will
get you to the head of
the pack.
It is a combination of
branding to create
demand, and
conversational
interfaces to convert
the demand.

40. “Shopping has
always been visual
- we’ve just been
taught to do the
opposite online.
Amy Vener,
Pinterest
40

41. https://www.clickz.com/resources/the-era-of-ecommerce-
capitalizing-on-the-new-customer-journey/

43. Intent state Input Output
Open to ideas
Looking for a style
Looking for a specific
type of product
“Which sneakers should
I buy?”
Ready to buy “Adidas originals white”

44. THE FUTURE OF
SEARCH IS:
3. Accurate
44

47. These are
the
spaces
we need
to
influence
- even if
they do
not result
in a click.

48. THE FUTURE OF
SEARCH IS:
4. And yes,
mobile
48

51. People are asking questions in a way that implies an expectation that the search engine ‘knows’ them. This isn’t
just about going on Answer the Public and picking out a few questions for a new FAQ page. Your audience is asking
what they, as an individual, should buy or do or visit.

52. LOCAL LISTINGS
Google Posts is a tentative foray
into social media-lite, but Google
does have an advantage on the
local front. It’s not just about NAP
optimization - it’s about content
and branding too.
Place your screenshot here 52

53. Search: The New
Customer Journey
53

54. Informational
queries
Video search
Image search
Vertical
search
engines
Position
Zero
Ratings and
reviews
Social media
Product
comparison
Product
questions
Assistant
Search for
store
Subscribe and
save

55. THANKS!
You can find me at:
@ClarkBoyd
clarkboyd15@gmail.com
55