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How to Stop Amazon Echo From Leaving Your Business in the Dust

Last Updated: February 15, 2024

Did you get an Amazon Echo or Google Home as a gift during the holidays? Statistically speaking, you or someone you know probably has one of these smart speakers.
A January 2018 report from NPR and Edison Research shows 39 million Americans now own smart speaker devices like Amazon Echo and Google Home. This equates to about 1 in 6 Americans and is a 128% increase from January 2017. Furthermore, according to sales numbers, there are actually about 45 million smart speakers installed in the U.S.—which make sense, considering 20% of Echo users and 13% of Google Home users own multiple devices.

Why You Need to Care About Smart Speakers

Why should you care about these sales numbers? It’s simple: These numbers prove that a major, undeniable change is underway. This change will certainly impact your business, whether you’re ready for it or not.
You probably haven’t given much thought, if any, to the idea that Amazon Echo and Google Home could affect your business in any way. At first glance, it seems absurd.
However, as smart speakers and voice assistance continue to gain prominence, they’re going to have a tremendous influence on how people engage with technology, the internet, and search engines.
These are things you absolutely must care about and pay attention to if you have any hope of thriving in 2018 and beyond. Keep reading to find out why!

The Connection Between Smart Speakers and Voice Search

First, let’s take a look at how smart speakers and voice search relate to the larger online world.
As more and more people use their smart speakers to get basic information (“Hey, Alexa. What’s the weather forecast for today?”), the act of voice search is becoming more familiar, even habitual, for many users.
This has major implications for how we’ll interact with our technology in the very near future. In fact, as TechCrunch notes, our comfort with smart speakers is already starting to affect how we use other devices, too:

The adoption of the device for in-home voice assistance had a trickle-down effect as well, as 44 percent found they started using the voice assistance on their phone more since getting a smart speaker.

In other words, due to the popularity of smart speakers, voice assistance and voice search on smartphones are seeing an increase in usage, as well.
And, as we’ve covered in previous blog posts, the rise in voice searches has led to significant changes in search engine algorithms.

READ: “Do You Know What Siri and Voice Searches Mean for Your Website?”

How Voice Search Directly Affects Your Business

So, to recap: Smart speakers like Amazon Echo clearly contribute to the growth of voice search. In turn, the growth of voice search leads to changes in how search engines work… But how does any of this relate to your business?
It boils down to the impact voice search has had on search engines. People use their normal speech patterns when they ask questions to their smart speakers and phones. Of course, their natural speech is much different from robotically typed search terms. Therefore, Google and other search engines have adjusted their algorithms to better detect natural language. This way, they can deliver more relevant and accurate results to voice search users.

READ: “How Voice Search Is Changing the Way You Need to Write”

As a result, all website content must follow suit. Your site must be optimized for voice search by containing more natural language (while still hitting important keywords, of course). If your website doesn’t satisfy this need for natural language, then Google will be less likely to pick it up during routine searches. It’s as simple as that.

Get Ahead of This Sweeping Change Now!

Smart speakers are only the latest advancement in the larger trend of voice search and voice assistance. If you don’t embrace the impending voice search revolution and adapt accordingly, you’ll be left behind in the dust.
Don’t let your website become an artifact of the past. Update and improve your content now before it’s too late!

How Voice Search Is Changing the Way You Need to Write

Last Updated: September 21, 2017

Are you one of the millions of Americans who own a smartphone? Then you’re probably aware of voice search. You hold down a button on your phone, ask a question out loud, and voilà! In a matter of seconds, your phone gives you an answer.

The New Language of Voice Search

However, Siri doesn’t just magically have all the answers. Instead, your phone’s virtual assistant transmits your question directly to a search engine (most likely Google or Bing, but we’ll refer to Google from now on for simplicity). Then, the search engine bases its search on the exact words you spoke: “Where can I find someone to fix my fridge overnight?” Google can’t just plug in a keyword and a town name anymore and find matching webpages, because that’s not how people are searching. Now, due to the natural, human language of voice searches, it has to focus on context, synonyms, and the overall relevance of a page’s contents. (For our fellow nerds, this process is called Latent Semantic Indexing, or LSI.)
This is a major shift in the way search engines operate. We’ve written about the growth of voice searches before, and the issue is only becoming more urgent. Today, fewer and fewer people manually type in the old “[keyword] + [location]” formula to find local businesses. Instead, more people are using their phone’s voice search for complex requests. And it doesn’t even have to technically be a question anymore. Your search could be a casual statement like, “Hey Siri, I need a plumber in Ann Arbor who’s not that expensive.” You can just start talking to your phone’s virtual assistant, and it will find what you need. What a time to be alive, as they say!
But what does any of this have to do with your local business? Let’s just say, you may want to rewrite your website ASAP. Keep reading to see what we mean!

Get Used to Voice Search. It’s Here to Stay.

As flashy and trendy as voice search may seem to some of us, the majority of experts assert it’s not going anywhere. On the contrary, they believe it’s the “next big era of computing.” As marketing specialist Simon Penson recently wrote:

“My view is that voice is not just an add-on, but an entirely new way of interacting with the machines that add value to our lives. It is the next big era of computing.”

So, as exciting as these advances may be, you can’t ignore what voice search means for your business’s website and web presence. Google wants to satisfy its users who rely on voice searches, so it now favors websites that meet new requirements. If you want your website to rank highly in local searches, it must be:

  • Well written
  • Informative
  • Chock full of content

Truthfully, Prospect Genius has always viewed well written content as a non-negotiable trait for high-ranking websites. However, in reality, there used to be some wiggle room. Those days are over. Today, if your website’s content is sparse and only written for a few, basic search terms, you’ll get a fraction of your potential traffic. You simply won’t have the right language to match natural voice searches.

How to Evolve Your Site for Voice Searches

This begs the question: What does the “right language” look like?
Here’s where things get interesting. Ten or twelve years ago, SEO was easy. All you had to do was stuff as many industry keywords, town names, and zip codes into your website’s footers as possible. Then, you could just write a sentence or two on each page with some bare-bones information about your company. If you did those two things, you had a decent chance of ranking. While the keyword-stuffing looked sloppy and spammy to the human eye, it didn’t matter because it appealed to search engines. It was a lazy way to work, but it was often enough to let you squeak by.
However, thanks to the rise of voice search, today’s SEO writing is far more complicated. The language search engines speak is becoming remarkably similar to the language we humans speak. You also get penalized for spam tactics like keyword-stuffing. So, you know that well-written content our team has always prioritized? Well, it’s no longer a bonus—it’s a requirement.
Today, your website must have lots of content that clearly spells out:

  • What your company does
  • Where you’re located
  • How you differ from competitors
  • What your products and/or services entail
  • And much more

Furthermore, each page has to be fully fleshed out (we recommend a 350-word minimum) so it contains as many related words and details as possible. Think of it this way: The more you write, the more opportunities for Google’s natural language processor to find your site.
For example, let’s say you want to show up in the search results for someone’s “overnight fridge repair.” Your content should contain related phrases like “available for emergencies,” “same-day service,” “after-hours appointments,” and so on. You can’t always predict the exact phrasing people will use in their voice searches, but you can vary your language enough that Google picks up on all those helpful synonyms.

To DIY or Hire Professional Writers?

We’ll be totally honest here. These new writing requirements are a lot of work. If you are comfortable with writing, know how to do keyword research, and are fairly confident in your language skills, then you’re probably in good shape to write your own website content.
However, if you’re like most local service providers, you spend your time either honing your trade or hanging out with your family. You likely don’t have the 8+ hours it will take to write your entire website from scratch—never mind the extra time it takes to research local keywords and learn best practices for SEO. That’s why many local businesses hire professionals to build their website or to do ghost writing for their existing site.

Get Writing Services From Prospect Genius

At Prospect Genius, well-written, human-optimized content has been our trademark since day one. When we started 10 years ago, we could’ve taken the easy way out and relied on keyword-stuffing, which is what a lot of our competitors did. But we took the extra time and did the extra work to optimize our content for real people, not just search engines.
The result is that all of our current clients are already in terrific shape for the takeover of voice search. If you don’t have lots of good-quality content on your site yet, give us a call and see how we can help!

Do You Know What Siri and Voice Searches Mean for Your Website?

Last Updated: January 11, 2017

When we shared our online marketing predictions for 2017, we detailed how Google is doubling-down on catering to its users’ expectations and experiences. And as virtual personal assistants like Cortana and Siri become more prominent in users’ lives, Google is seeing a significant increase in voice searches.

What Do Voice Searches Have to Do With You?

You’ve probably seen someone use voice search on their smartphone. Maybe you’ve even used it yourself.
With voice searches, users speak in complete questions. For example, they’ll say out loud, “Hey Siri, what’s the best kind of floss to use?” instead of manually typing “best floss brands” into the search box. The assistant sends these questions to Google. Then, it’s up to Google to process the question and deliver relevant, informative answers at lightning speed. This is why Google continues to hone its algorithm so it can process natural language and find precisely what users are looking for.
To aid in discovering webpages that are relevant to users’ questions, Google has adapted a new system called Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI). By using LSI, Google actually analyzes the content of individual webpages, assessing synonyms and context instead of just scanning them for identical keyword matches. This produces search results that satisfy a search query in a more specific, helpful way.
So, now that you have a basic understanding of how voice search has impacted Google’s nuts and bolts, we can get to what you really came here for: How will the voice search trend impact you?

Target Your Content

Because of the dominance of voice searches, your website needs to be chock full of valuable information that pertains to people’s pressing interests. This was always the case to a certain extent, but now it’s even more urgent.
If you want Google’s LSI system to capture your content and present it in the search results, your content needs to demonstrate crystal-clear relevance to the user’s query. A few well placed keywords aren’t enough anymore. This means there’s a strong chance you’ll need to rewrite—or, at the very least, expand—the content on your webpages. There’s really no way around it.
We suggest starting with a free tool like Answerthepublic.com. When you input a keyword relevant to your business, the tool will show you all the questions users are asking about it. For example, some of the popular questions related to the keyword “floss” are:

  • “How to floss back teeth with braces?”
  • “When to floss toddler’s teeth?”
  • “What does floss do?”
  • “Which is better, floss or mouthwash?”
  • “Who invented dental floss?”

The tool gives you hundreds of questions to choose from. To keep this example going, if you’re a dentist or orthodontist, you may want to consider writing a blog post about how to floss with braces or why floss is better than mouthwash. Or you may even want to have a whole page dedicated to flossing and answer some of the most popular questions there.
The point is, your efforts in promoting your business will go much further if these types of natural language questions influence the content on your site. This is the kind of content voice searches are targeting.

Use Keywords in Moderation

This is another rule that’s been around for a few years now. However, many business owners and some marketers still haven’t embraced it. Keyword stuffing is out.
A surefire way to make your content look like spam is to jam as many keywords as possible into it. Not only does this read terribly to humans, but it also lowers your Quality Score with Google. Search bots will recognize that your keyword-laden content isn’t bringing any informational value to the table.
Obviously, keywords are still important. However, keep your focus keyword density between 0.5% and 2.5%. Any more than that will read poorly and degrade your content’s value. Additionally, sprinkle in a variety of other relevant keywords, too, because Google’s LSI will now recognize them as synonyms in the context of your page. This means you can write naturally and still score big SEO points.

Above All, Make the Content Good

The goal of your online marketing efforts is to attract new customers. While it’s certainly important to rank well with search engines and their mystical algorithms, you ultimately want to gain the trust and interest of real people. So whatever you do, make sure you write your content in a clear, compelling way.
If you cringe at the idea of writing all your content yourself (What? You’re not a nerd like me?), you do have some loopholes available. Mainly, you can have someone else write your content for you! Many marketers and freelance writers offer ghost writing services.
A large number of business owners find ghost writing worth the small investment because it means:

  1. They get high-quality content that appeals to both search engines and humans.
  2. They save their energy for other projects.
  3. They spend evenings with their families instead of on the computer.
  4. They avoid bone-chilling flashbacks to high school essay assignments.

So whether you choose the DIY route or the ghost writing route, our advice is still the same: Create content your audience wants to read, write it naturally, and don’t overdo it with the keywords. 
Good luck!
And just for fun, here’s a quote from Search Engine Land’s report on an April 2016 keynote address by Google’s director of conversational search:

Google’s goal is to emulate the Star Trek computer, which allowed users to have conversations with the computer while accessing all of the world’s information at the same time.

The future is here.

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