33% Increase in Google Voice Search Languages

This is an extract from TWIS SEO News & Updates w/e 18 August 2017.

Read about the significant increase in the number of languages Google Voice Search can now cope with, and how you should be optimising for Voice Search now.

Contact me to discuss how to create optimised content for voice queries.

#SEO #MobileSearch #VoiceSearch #ContentStrategy

Summary – 33% Increase Voice Search Languages:

• Voice search is really starting to ramp up now. Or at least Google is hoping it will.
• Google has increased the number of languages it talks in voice search from 89 to 119, a 33% increase.
• The languages are not all small, or minor, by any stretch of the imagination, including Bengali, Swahili, Amharic.
• The other thing Google has snuck into this update is the ability, in the US at least, to include emojis in voice search / voice typing. “Insert winky face emoji etc”.

Actions to take – 33% Increase Voice Search Languages:

1. If you haven’t already started optimising for Voice Search, you should, although we arer still a very long way from this being the dominant type of searching.
2. Most Voice Searches are either relatively simple voice research queries: “what time is…”, “when is…”, “where is…” for an instant answer, or they are natural language versions of detailed search queries to pull up the search results page.
3. Create voice search content which answer specific research queries.
4. Create content which uses natural language versions of search queries.
5. Contact me to discuss how to create optimised content for voice queries.

Discussion:

We are still a long way from voice search being the dominant type of searching. The fact that Google hinted at the beginning of 2016 that Voice Search numbers would be coming to Google Analytics “soon” but we haven’t yet seen anything indicates that uptake is slow. (Google will be tracking the data, but it is choosing not to break it out – probably it it still statistically insignificant).

Still, it is always better to be prepared. Look how long it took mobile to become the dominant force in search, somewhere approaching 8-10 years. It could be that voice search takes as long, or it could ramp up supremely quickly now that we all have a mobile in our hand.  As we saw recently in these two posts voice is getting there, and everyone wants a piece of the pie: Millennials Making Voice Device Purchases, and Google Lets Okay Google Keywords Results Slip Out.

More info:

• Google Blog – Type Less Talk More
• Millennials Making Voice Device Purchases

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I recently wrote about how Google’s Mobile First is Not Mobile Friendly. Read it now.

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• Google added 30 languages to its Voice Search pool, an increase of 33%.
• Ignoring whether you like or dislike Google, that’s pretty impressive!
• You really should be creating Voice Search content now, ready for when it properly hits the big time.
• Read The State of SEO in mid-2017.
• Read about how Google’s Mobile First Index is not Mobile Friendly.

Thanks for reading. If you would like to discuss what these changes mean for your web property, or would like to know how to implement them, please feel free to contact me.

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