Heard for the Holidays: How Voice Search Can Influence Your Holiday Campaign Strategies

It’s never too early to start prepping for holiday campaigns. Brands that haven’t optimized campaigns for voice search yet have the perfect opportunity to incorporate this strategy into their winter planning. During the holiday season in 2017, 25 percent of shoppers utilized voice search, and experts predict voice commerce will be a $40 billion industry by 2022.

Focus on Holiday-Specific Long-Tail Keywords

Consumer interactions with digital assistants shift around the holiday season. Optimize long-tail keywords for voice search by rephrasing keywords into a question or informational statement to reflect the interrogative nature of voice search. Do some research on the best keywords for your brand and bid accordingly.

What are trending topics? New products? Projected sales? Tailor long-tail keywords to reflect holiday trends. Tools like Google’s Keyword Planner and AnswerThePublic can help. 

Create a mix of inquiry-based keywords and informative long-tail keywords. Instead of “black leather coats for sale,” for example, try “the best black leather coats for sale” or “what are the best black leather coats for sale?”. You encounter less competition with more specific keywords, and the right options can pick up more featured snippets.

Optimize Your Site for Mobile Shopping

E-commerce brands should make sure their sites are optimized for voice search. The more your content pops up on voice-activated devices, the more exposure you are likely to earn in the future.

Use schema metadata: Google will more easily understand the content of your site if you describe what the data mean.

Local SEO: Make sure your site has the correct business information and is optimized for key local phrases. 

Page load speed: Site speed is a top algorithm in ranking pages. Improve page load speed to avoid dropping in the search rankings. Optimize images, use Content Delivery Network (CDN), reduce the number of plug-ins, etc.

Understand Differences in the Sales Funnel During the Holidays

Holiday shoppers are easier to move through the sales funnel if you catch them at the right point. Consumer behaviors are more linear because there’s a deadline: the holidays. They are also more likely to branch out, giving your company a chance to become a trusted brand.

Prepare for voice search advertising for the holidays by asking yourself how the behaviors of target consumers shift over the season or when purchasing gifts.

Use a variety of long-tail keywords to reflect the holiday sales funnel. “Why or what” are found at the discovery end of the funnel, while “where and how” are used closer to purchase. Create a mix to cover all the touch points. Be the source of authority and information, but also the company with the answer to their question related to the product/service they seek.

Optimize PPC Ads for Natural Language

Google and other voice command devices recognize commands through natural language processing, or user intent. This means you can ask multi-step questions or partial inquiries, and Google can figure out the rest based on previous searches and online behavior.

Research your target customer to better understand how and what content to create. Anticipate queries and weave in inquiry-based content. Create an FAQ page, publish an informative blog post, or create content optimized around specific terms. Use paragraph formatting to optimize your brand’s voice search presence. The right approach could yield impressive results.