Voice Search Creates Disruption in SEO

In the previous post I pointed out that over half of all searches now start on Amazon. To further complicate matters in the world of SEO, voice search has become a huge factor. Global Web Index reports that 20% of mobile users employ voice search and more than half of 18-34 year-olds use it every day. Benu Aggerwal adds that 50% of all search is now mobile with 82% of mobile users searching for a local business, 50% of those visiting a store within 1 day and 18% making a purchase within 24 hours. In her SMX West presentation she also has a nice graphic on how search has changed since 2008.

Whether the user is on a mobile device or using a virtual assistant like Amazon Echo/Alexa, Google Home or others there is a common driver. Users who are speaking tend to voice a conversational question, not to voice a keyword search. That has a number of important implications for how marketers must optimize for search today. Increasingly marketers will use AI to understand context and intent. Experts agree that it will be a “winner take all” market. The first search result in voice is likely to be the only one listened to, so just being on the first page is not enough.

Keywords are still important but conversational keywords tend to be different from text keywords. Conversational search strings are longer and tend to be in the form of a conversational question using conversational wording. Creating FAQ pages to extend the conversation is a good idea. Those pages need to correspond to Google’s Answer Box for the subject.

Google’s Answer Box is important because it precedes organic search results. It keeps searchers on Google, giving the search engine even more influence. In addition, it is often the only source for answers to voice queries by one of the virtual assistants. An example suggests both the influence of the Answer Box and the necessity to optimize for both keyword and conversational search,

When I conduct a specific search for ‘definition of SEO’ the first capture is what I get. It is the standard Search Engine Results Page (SERP). But when I use a conversational type of search ‘what is seo and how does it work’ I get a result with the Answer Box. If a brand’s FAQ is the link in that answer box, the brand owns that item in the search. (Note: this is a good classroom demo. We have probably all used the AB but how much attention do we pay to the source of each answer?)

Finally, there are a growing number of partnerships between virtual assistants and branded sources. Amazon’s Echo with the Alexa voice service was first on the scene, Its major goal appears to be controlling the smart home. It can work directly with products like selected brands of light bulbs and thermostats. In addition, Alexa offers a ‘skills’ kit that allows homeowners to create their own apps for their system. Amazon's purchase of Whole Foods offers new vistas. At the moment writers are focusing on the integration with Amazon Prime, although it seems obvious that services will be offered through Alexa.

Google’s Home has successfully played catchup to the Echo according to some experts.  In addition to interfacing with smart home devices it offers many services like an alarm, calendar and shopping list. It is able to access Google customer data and to learn from use, both of which offer personalization opportunities. A major development will occur in September when users of Google Home will be able to purchase Walmart products through their device.

Search specialist seoClarity offers a checklist of activities for voice search optimization. Most of those are familiar to us from discussions of mobile and of search marketing. The most technical item on the list refers to schema markup. A schema is a common vocabulary and on the web the accepted schema (managed by open-source schema.org) improve search results by helping the search engines understand the meaning of a specific word or phrase on the website. Although that sounds a bit complex it only requires a basic understanding of HTML to implement schema markup on a site.

Of course, advertisers can try to make direct use of the voice assistants, Last spring I posted a series of Related Links that described a Burger King ad that triggered the Google Home. The first voice assistant spam? Not surprisingly Google didn’t like it and shut it down. BK tried again, seemingly without intervention from Google. Wonder if Google was amused when the ad won a top prize at the Advertising Grand Prix?

A suggested word for your students about the thorny subject of SEO. Yes, it is complex and requires technical understanding. While that makes it harder to learn, it also makes it an excellent career choice. Busy brand marketers, and a lot of agency people also, don’t have time to learn it, so experts are much in demand. Students who want to take this career path should learn enough to gain themselves an internship (or multiple internships in various aspects of search) and they are off to the races! I’ve been watching former students who work in search for many years, and they tend to become specialized before their career goes very far. If your students think all of SEM/SEO is too much to learn, they are right! And the way the world of search is working takes that into account.

Infographic with updated stats and additional content

Related Links
Amazon, Walmart and Conversational Commerce 
This is voice search 102 but it is interesting; note link in Related Reading about optimizing for voice search 
Download page - New data on voice search and Google's Answer Box 
Commentary on Google's new line of voice-activated products 
Unilever is using voice search, co-creation in move away from traditional ads 
Will tech companies own customer relationship through voice search 
Related to the Answer Box; the Featured Snippet 
Voice search will be a major factor in 2018
Growing impact of voice search with link to report that has good charts
Voice commerce on the horizon
IAB report on "interactive voice"

 Optimizing for voice search
More on optimizing for voice search
Status of voice technology
Parrot obsessed with Alexa
Voice commerce gaining traction
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Amazon Disrupts Again--This Time the Advertising Industry

Facebook and Google are often referred to as an advertising duopoly because they control such a huge share of digital advertising. Basic data is given in Chapters 6 and 11 but here is an explicit comparison based on recent data from PWC/IAB. The most powerful figure of all is the 10% share of growth for “everyone else.”

https://digitalcontentnext.org/blog/2016/06/16/google-and-facebook-devour-the-ad-and-data-pie-scraps-for-everyone-else/

 There is, however, a looming challenge to that dominance.  It is not surprising when Amazon disrupts an industry (Chapter 3), but advertising? As early as 2013 Business Insider estimated that Amazon had $835m in advertising revenue. eMarketer forecasted that U.S. ad revenue would be slightly over $1b in 2017.  All figures are estimates because Amazon does not break out its ad revenue. Google’s U.S. ad revenue is expected to be approximately $34b in 2017 while Facebook’s is expected to be more than $15b.

Amazon’s ad business is currently only a fraction of Facebook and Google’s. Why, then, do industry pundits consider it a formidable threat? Consider these recent statistics from the WWP Group:
•    55% of U.S. consumers now begin online product search at Amazon, 20% start on a search engine and 10% begin on a retail site.
•    Amazon.com and Prime Now accounted for 43% of all online sales and 53% of the sales growth in 2016.
•    63% of U.S. households are Amazon Prime members.

Those figures were quoted in a press release announcing a partnership between WWP agencies Mindshare and POSSIBLE that will provide Amazon advertising services to advertisers, joining a growing list of specialty agencies focusing on Amazon. In the U.K. only 38% of searches currently begin on Amazon, but that is enough for L’Oreal (Chapter 12) to shift some of its search budget to Amazon.

Amazon has two advertising platforms:

•    Amazon Marketing Services (with video) is a vendor-only platform that supports the advertising needs of Amazon Affiliates.

•    Amazon Advertising Services (with video) allows advertisers to “reach Amazon customers wherever they are.” Ads can be placed on Amazon itself or on a network of external sites.

https://advertising.amazon.com/ad-specs/en/landing-pages

In addition, Amazon has recently begun to offer its Sponsored Products product on the business marketplace, so it is offering targeted advertising on a third platform, this an e-commerce platform, not an advertising one.

Amazon Advertising Services is a self-service platform that allows any publisher to advertise on Amazon. Formats offered are PPC, Sponsored Products and Product Display Ads. Amazon also offers formats for eCommerce Ads, Non-Standard Media (special formats) and Mobile. The Landing Pages formats illustrated provide an example of the variety of options within each format. Their advertising platform (AAP) offers a large array of display ad formats. The important difference in the AAP is that it also allows the publisher to place ads on non-Amazon sites that create “a brand safe media environment that meets Amazon’s high brand bar and is appropriate for all audiences and ages.”  It also offers ads that appear on Amazon Kindle and Amazon Fire devices. All of this is offered as a premium service to brands and agencies under the umbrella of the Amazon Media Group.

Amazon Business is the new business marketplace launched in 2015. It is believed to be enjoying rapid growth and offers access to Sponsored Products ads and Headline Search Ads. That is the way AMS started, so it seems safe to assume that the business platform will offer more advertising options as time goes on.

This is a rather bewildering array of advertising offerings but when you look at the underlying structure of AMG it makes sense. It also seems to make sense that Amazon’s ad revenue will grow. Whether that will be the result of organic growth or of advertisers diverting some o their advertising budgets to Amazon remains to be seen. For sure, you haven’t heard the last about Amazon advertising.

Related Updates

Amazon strong competitor; can see entire customer journey
How large is Amazon's ad business?
Skills add to Alexa's ability to meet user needs
Ad growth continues
 Revenues continue to climb also in Q2
Growth of sponsored ads on Amazon