VSEO: How Voice Search and Conversational AI Are Changing SEO

Siri. Alexa. Cortana.

These three virtual assistants have become household names and a regular part of our daily lives. In under ten years, we’ve actually started to become reliant on our voice search assistants, turning to them to do everything from help us find a local ice cream parlor to play our favorite music to entertain us when we ask it questions like “Do you love me?” just to see what it says.

Voice search is fast becoming more common, and conversational AI is developing quickly to keep up. This isn’t a trend that’s going to slow down; it’s estimated that by next year, 50% of all searches will actually be voice searches. Because of this, you need to optimize for the rank zero snippet, which is essentially the one and only answer that voice assistants will give when responding to user questions.

Marketers have made a career from the consumer’s tendency to get a little distracted during the journey of seeking answers to a question, but now that they’re only getting one specific answer from an audio speaker, there are no visual distractions and no backlinks to send them bouncing around your site. It’s becoming more difficult, in other words, to display your brand throughout the users’ journey.

Voice search and conversational AI have started to have a dramatic effect on SEO – called VSEO – and will continue to play a crucial role in the future of search engine optimization.

Here’s what you need to know to stay up to date on what these changes are and how they impact your marketing strategy.

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What Is Voice Search?

Voice search is the technology that enables speaking into a search engine (as opposed to typing) to request information. That information can be anything from “where is the nearest dentist” to “who is Max Headroom” to “call Mom”.

Common applications of voice search include:

The always-increasing prevalence of both mobile devices and The Internet of Things (IoT) has resulted in the rise of voice search. It’s so convenient to ask Alexa or Siri to look up the showtimes for a new movie or set an alarm, especially if we’re driving or otherwise unable to use our hands.

But even if you’re just sitting at your desk, it’s almost always preferable to verbally ask a question rather than type the query into a mobile device with its tiny on-screen keyboard that inevitably “autocorrects” to the wrong word:

What Is Conversational AI?

Conversational AI is the use of tools like chatbots, messaging apps and voice assistants that use Natural Language Processing (NLP), a subset of Artificial Intelligence (AI), to provide direct answers in a conversational way.

NLP “enables computers to process and understand human language. Recent advances in machine learning and, more specifically, its subset deep learning have made it possible for computers to better understand natural language.”  In other words, chatbots like Siri are nothing more than well-programmed bots that have been trained to spout off information in a friendly, human way:

If you’re interacting with a chatbot, they’ll start by saying “hello” and ask what they can help you with. Siri will follow up with “is this what you were looking for?” instead of giving a mechanical “no matches found” or “invalid, please try again.”

Unlike basic phone navigation menus, chatbots and conversational AI tools are able to go back and forth with a customer in a way that resembles an actual dialogue.

The Difference Between Voice Search & Conversational AI

Voice search is simply the practice of looking up information by speaking into a search engine (often on a smartphone). These searches can yield direct, straight-forward results, such as:

That’s it. End of story.

Conversational AI, on the other hand, is the technology that allows voice assistants to feel semi-human, responding to users in “real” and conversational ways, like:

In many cases, people are using conversational AI tools to make voice searches, but not always. Most people still interact with a chatbot, for example, by typing messages directly to them.

The bottom line is that the use of both voice search and conversational AI are increasing and, as people get even more used to all the ways they can use this technology (like advanced chatbots), this trend will soon become the norm:

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How Voice Technology Will Change Online Traffic

Voice search and conversational AI are going to directly impact your online traffic in ways that are both positive and negative for your marketing campaigns. Let’s take a look at what areas you will need to keep an eye on and update:

And Backlinko’s analysis of 10,000 Google Home results also shows that voice search is faster:

What Needs to Change

There’s clearly both advantages and disadvantages that come with the increase of voice search, but either way, we need to adapt our marketing strategies. Let’s take a look at the three key changes you need to make with your content marketing campaigns.

Optimize for the Rank Zero Snippet

You’ve heard us mention the “rank zero snippet” (also known as “position zero,” “featured snippet” or also “zero-click search”) several times in this post, and that’s because it’s of crucial importance when it comes to voice search.

When users make a voice search query, they’re given one answer, similar to the featured snippet that appears at the top of a traditional search result page. The difference, of course, is that this is the only answer they’re given. That rank zero snippet is how you can get your content in front of users via voice search.

In order to compete for the position zero snippet, do the following:

Adjust Your Keyword Research Strategies

As we just mentioned above, keyword research is going to be a little different when you’re targeting voice search queries.

If you’re sitting at a computer, for example, and want to find a local coffee shop that has dairy-free options, you might search “orlando coffee, dairy-free.” If you use voice search, however, you might say “Hey Google, where’s the closest coffee shop near me with dairy-free options?”

We’re seeing an enormous surge of “near me” keywords, but they’re also becoming more conversational, addressing their voice assistants almost like an actual person. They’re a little more specific, so content that capitalizes on specific niche needs may do well.

Your keyword strategy needs to account for that. Go all in on location-based keywords if this is relevant to you and you’re trying to target local traffic, but you’ll also want to focus on more long-tail, conversational keywords. Try to incorporate more conversational keywords into your H2 headers, and consider looking for question-based keywords with a tool like SEMrush to see exactly what – and how – people are asking:

Create More Voice-Friendly Content Types

Certain types of content will work best when it comes to voice search optimization, and those are typically going to be posts that appeal to three different search query intents: informational queries, navigational queries and transactional queries:

Navigational intent is all about trying to find store locations, customer service information or businesses that serve the purpose they’re searching for. Having a fully optimized Google My Business profile will definitely help here, but having a list of the products and services you offer and distributing press releases can also be valuable for this purpose.

Informational intent will help answer questions that searchers have and provide valuable information. Think detailed blog posts, guides and how-to content. People who ask how much it costs to replace an AC unit want to be guided to a post with details of the pros and cons of different units and their pricing points.

Transactional intent is focused on either researching a potential buying decision or actively making a purchase. Someone who asks about the best-rated walking shoes, for example, is ready to make a purchase soon. Videos, online product information, comparison reviews and stories detailing the use and value of your products are all great choices here.

Keep in mind that as you’re creating content, Google now offers Actions that can be used during voice searches. Users can ask Google to “talk to my favorite shoe store” or “check on my order status.” You can see some examples here:

This helps with both navigational and transactional intent searches, so go to your Actions console and consider setting up some of these options to add more voice functionality to your business and drive more mobile, voice-driven actions. As we’re moving more into voice search across the board, this will give you a strong competitive edge that users will respond to.

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Final Thoughts

The rise of voice search is changing the game for marketers and brands, and it’s essential to adapt now if you haven’t already. It’s not that traditional search is now null and void – it’s not, and it won’t be for quite some time, if ever – but you’ll need to structure your content in a way that appeals to both traditional SEO and voice search engine optimization.

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Snapchat looks to Stay Ahead of its AR Competition with $750k for Lens Creators | Social Media Today

While Snapchat’s growth has been slowed by Instagram, one area in which Snap has continued to hold a lead is innovation, and creating standout, must-see new AR tools and visual features that get people talking about the app.

We saw this again back June when Snapchat saw a huge increase in downloads following the launch of its ‘baby’ and ‘gender-swap’ lenses.

Those types of trending additions – which also include the Dancing Hotdog, the dog ears, the rainbow vomit – all help to give Snapchat a boost and get more people downloading the app. And Snapchat knows that, in order to stay ahead of the increasing competition in the AR space, it needs to keep innovating, and maximizing user attention with such features.

In line with this, and as reported by AdAge, Snapchat recently announced that it will pay out more than $750k to its top augmented reality stars in 2020, 3x what it paid out to creators in 2019.

That’s a significant commitment, especially when you consider that Snap is on track to generate around $2.1 billion in ad revenue next year. But as noted, Snap knows that innovation is key – it can’t compete with Instagram and Facebook on audience size, but it can help to maintain its position by continually rolling out new and engaging AR tools. It’s not the only key, but it’s one of the ways that Snap can fuel its renewed momentum.

The ultimate goal, of course, is for Snap to iterate its Spectacles video sunglasses into fully functional AR devices. 

That, seemingly, has always been the objective – back in 2017, Snapchat filed a patent that detailed how their AR-enabled Spectacles would work, with display sensors built into the glasses which could overlay digital images on your real-world view.

It seemed, at the time, that Snap believed it was closer to making this a reality than it thought – when Snap re-branded as ‘Snap Inc.’ back in 2016, and labeled itself ‘a camera company’, the next stage seemed to be the shift to AR-enabled Spectacles, with all the development releases and details pointing to this next stage. 

But as all the tech giants well know, building functional, compact, AR-enabled glasses is hard – Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says that he thinks consumer-viable AR glasses are still a few years away, and that’s with all of Facebook’s resources and development capacity behind it. 

Definitely, Snap still appears to be working towards this goal, but even if it is going to make it to that next level, it will need cutting edge AR experiences to elevate it even further. Hence, the investment in increased AR development makes sense – and as noted, that should help it to maintain that creative capacity, and keep up with the larger players.

But it could also help usher in Snapchat’s AR-enabled Spectacles. The latest version of Spectacles, released back in August, doesn’t include this capacity, but it’s getting closer. 

Could Snap, with its established production of similar glasses, and advanced AR tools, actually be on track to advance on this front ahead of its competition?

Could we see AR-enabled glasses in 2020? 

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YouTube to update harassment and gaming policies, clarify changes to kids content

In YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki quarterly letter, released today, the exec addresses a number of changes to YouTube policies, including the recent FTC-mandated rules for kids content that have alternately confused and infuriated video creators, as well as forthcoming policies around harassment and gaming videos, among other things.

On the latter, Wojcicki said the company was now in the process of developing a new harassment policy and was talking to creators about what needed to be addressed. She did not give an ETA for the rollout, but said creators would be posted when the changes were finalized.

YouTube also responded to creator concerns over policies around gaming videos that include violence.

“We’ve heard loud and clear that our policies need to differentiate between real-world violence and gaming violence,” Wojcicki said. “We have a policy update coming soon that will do just that. The new policy will have fewer restrictions for violence in gaming, but maintain our high bar to protect audiences from real-world violence.”

This topic was recently discussed at YouTube’s Gaming Creator Summit, as well.

The company also said it’s now working to match edgier content with advertisers who may be interested in it –like a marketer who wants to promote an R-rated movie, for example.

The letter briefly addressed the creator uproar over kids’ content, with promises of more clarity.

In September, YouTube reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over its violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which required it to pay a $170 million fine and set into place a series of new rules for creators to comply with. These rules require creators to mark videos that are directed at kids (or entire channels, if need be.). This, in turn, will limit data collection, put an end to personalized ads on kids’ content, disable comments, and reduce their revenues, creators say.

Creators will also lose out on a number of key YouTube features, The Verge recently reported, including click-through info cards, end screens, notification functions, and the community tab.

YouTube creators say they don’t have enough clarity around where to draw the line between content that’s made for kids and content that may attract kids. For example, family vlog channels and some gaming videos may appeal to kids and adults alike. And if the FTC decides a creator is in violation, they can be held liable for future COPPA violations now that YouTube’s new policy and content labeling system is in place. YouTube’s advice to creators on how to proceed? Consult a lawyer, it has said.

In today’s letter, Wojcicki acknowledges the fallout of these changes, but doesn’t offer any further clarity — only promises of updates to come.

“We know there are still many questions about how this is going to affect creators and we’ll provide updates as possible along the way,” Wojcicki said.

She also points to a long thread on the YouTube Community forum where many questions about the system are being answered — like the policy’s reach, what’s changing, how and when to mark content as being for kids or not, and more. The forum’s Q&A also addressed some of the questions that keep coming up about all-ages content, including some example scenarios. Creators, of course, have read through these materials and say they still don’t understand how to figure out if their video is for kids or not. (And clearly, they don’t want to err on the side of caution at the risk of reduced income.)

The being said, the rise of a kid-friendly YouTube has had a range of negative consequences. YouTube had to shut down comments after finding a ring of child predators on videos with kids, for instance. Parents roped in their kids to the “family business” before the children even knew what being public on the internet meant. Some young stars have been put to work more than should be legal due to the lack of child labor laws for online content. There’s even been child abuse at the hands of the parents. Children watching the vides, meanwhile, were being marketed to without their understanding, addicted to consumerism by toy unboxings and playtime videos, and targeted with personalized ads. Kid YouTube was overdue for a reigning in.

The letter addresses a few other key issues, as well, including the launch of the new Creator Studio and the latest on the EU’s copyright directive Article 17, which is now being translated into local law. Wojcicki cheers some of the changes to the policy, including the one that secures liability protections when YouTube makes its best efforts to match copyright material with rights owners.

And Wojcicki addresses the growing concerns over creator burnout, by reminding video creators to take a break and practice self-care — adding that it won’t harm their business by doing so. In fact, YouTube scoured its data from the past 6 years and found that on average, channels both large and small had more views when they returned than they had right before they left.

“If you need to take some time off, your fans will understand,” she said.

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Facebook Has Launched Another Teen Focused App, This Time to Make Memes | Social Media Today

For pretty much its entire history, Facebook has been afraid of losing touch with the kids.

Well, maybe not since its inception, as it came to prominence by superseding former youth champ MySpace. But likely because of how it overtook MySpace as the cool place to be, Facebook knows that it too can be trumped by the next big app, if such an option manages to gain significant traction among younger users. And that’s a fate that Facebook is desperate to avoid.

Enter Facebook’s latest attempt to stay cool with younger folk:

These screenshots are from a new app called Whale, which is now available to Canadian users via a company called NPE Team LLC. NPE – which stands for ‘New Product Experimentation‘ – is actually part of Facebook’s experimental app division, which is headed by former Vine GM Jason Toff.

Whale is the latest app from NPE, following on from music app AUX and chat app Bump. The new app was first reported by The Information. 

Whale enables users to create their own memes with simplified templates and tools.

As per Whale’s App Store description:

“No distractions, no hidden subscription pricing. Use your own images or choose from our stock photo library and get creative with text, tools, effects, and more right inside the app.”

To use Whale, you first pick an image you want to use as your template – either your own or from the stock library. You can then add text, emojis and filters to turn your image into a meme. You can then save and share the image to various social networks direct from the app. 

The functionality is fairly basic, but it may work as a means to help more people get involved in meme trends. If Whale offers up the latest meme templates, and simple ways for users to add their own spin, that could come in handy, and it could gain traction among younger user groups.

Which, as noted, Facebook would love. You can look to the growing list of Facebook’s previous youth app failures as an indicator of their enthusiasm for staying in touch with the next generation.

For example:

You can also add the aforementioned AUX and Bump, and a range of others which have appeared then disappeared just as quick. It’s not entirely clear what Facebook gains from these experiments – but really, it only needs one to catch on, or even catch on a bit, in order to slow the momentum of the competition.

Whale doesn’t appear to have a direct comparison, though its likely aimed at the evolving tools of Giphy (which claims to have 300 million daily active users) and/or a range of other meme creation apps.

So will it work? As noted, it could have functional value, it could help more users lean into meme trends. It’s hard to say whether it’ll gain momentum, but Facebook will start by testing it out with Canadian users, then growing it from there if it makes sense.

More interesting, however, is to note what youth trends Facebook is looking to tap into. AUX is about sharing music, Bump is about connecting students through Q and A style messaging. Whale is about making memes. These are the areas that Facebook feels it can facilitate, either because there’s a gap in the market for such tools, or there’s a way that it can build apps which exceed similar offerings from the competition. 

That could provide some indication of where The Social Network will look next in its mains apps also.

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5 Ways Solid SEO and Web Design Work Together to Build Rapport With Google

November
18, 2019

6 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Do you think of SEO and web design as separate elements of your website?

You shouldn’t.

In fact, to do both correctly, they have to work together. Google cares about how your site looks and feels more than you might think it does. Even if it can’t “see” it the same way a human user can, there are benefits to building a responsive website that will make your SEO more solid than ever.

Building rapport with Google takes more than keyword frequency. Here’s how you can make your website show up higher on search rankings and stand out from the pack:

1. Mobile matters.

At the end of 2017, Google announced on its webmaster blog that it was going to start indexing mobile sites first. Previously, the desktop version of a website was the one that would get indexed. But from then on, Google slowly began rolling out a mobile-first program.

Google knows what it’s doing. According to a Quartz report from media agency Zenith, 70 percent of all web traffic came from smartphones in 2017. And that number is only expected to climb.

If you want to optimize for Google when you design or redesign your site, spend some extra time working on the mobile version, since that’s the one its algorithm is going to be looking at. How responsive is your text? Your pictures? Is everything tagged the same way it is on your regular site?

Using the mobile version as your main test bed — as Google will — is the best way to ensure you get all the elements right. Designing your site carefully for mobile devices will make your SEO better.

2. User-friendly is Google-friendly.

When someone comes to your website, browses around and leaves because they can’t find what they’re looking for, you might call it a lost sale. Google calls it a bounce.

It’s getting clearer than ever that as its algorithm improves, what’s good for users is good for Google and vice versa. When you’re designing your site, if you have a clear design that’s easy to navigate, your users will be able to find what they’re looking for. That means more time on site, more engagement, more backlinks — all things Google loves. And they happen because of design.

“User-friendly, intuitive design is an underrated component of SEO,” said Damon Burton, president of SEO National, in a recent email conversation with me. “Google basically says, ‘Treat us like you treat a regular customer.’ Therefore, when your site is hard to navigate and not responsive (mobile-friendly), it’s just as much of an issue for Google as it is for your users. Design and SEO aren’t separate things. If you’re doing it right, they combine to make a good user experience, which can also lead to an increase in rankings.”

3. Slow and steady doesn’t win the race.

Good design should load cleanly and quickly. Keeping your design simple and your page clear of clutter helps with page speed, which is one of the key components Google measures when it’s indexing.

As Moz’s Fundamentals guide on page speed points out, pages with longer load times tend to have higher bounce rates and lower time on page. And as an iCrossing study shows, slow pages lower your conversions.

If you want to speed up your page, good design is a start. Use the correct format and compression on images. Optimize code and strip out Javascript. The cleaner your page is, the better off your load times will be — and a speedy page means a happy user.

4. Good content is good SEO.

Is your content clear, concise, intuitive and to the point?

Google loves sites that have clear and intuitive content structure, with pages that are easy to follow, keywords that are in the right places and content that makes sense.

As Copyblogger’s Brian Clark shows, if you build cornerstone content that’s clear, relevant and tailored to common user queries, you might even wind up on the Google snippet. And as Search Engine Journal notes, how-to posts, FAQs and other user-friendly pages are the easiest way to get there.

Good structure and relevant content make you rank higher and might even get you to the coveted “position 0” of search results. What’s not to like?

5. Your site map should make sense.

When you map out your site, what does it look like? Is it some sort of octopus with arms flailing in every direction? Or an overgrown hedge, with dead wood sticking out here and there where forgotten branches have died?

If your internal linking structure doesn’t make sense to you, it won’t make sense to your users either. And it definitely won’t make sense to Google. That’s why you need to put some time into making your link structure make sense. Look at your anchor text and make sure it follows best practices (Joshua Hardwick of Ahrefs has a great guide).

Make sure you’re not leaving dead ends your users will get hung up on. Is your design intuitively leading people to the right places? Your site map is just as much a function of design as SEO, so getting your design team and your SEO people in the same room to work on it is probably a good idea.

Even though SEO comes off as a very technical art, it’s indistinguishable from great web design. Google’s smarter than it’s ever been, and gaming the system is a lot harder now. To make pages that appeal to both Google and your users, marry your design to your SEO.

You might see results like this Search Engine Land example, where one firm took a site from nothing to 100,000 visitors in a few months — and they started with good-quality content and design first, before doing any SEO.

Use good design with your SEO. You can’t divorce them from each other. But if you marry them together, you’ll see the results both now and in the future.

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Here’s How To Make Your SaaS Marketing Strategy Generate Revenue

November
13, 2019

4 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Entrepreneurs who venture into the SaaS industry are often fueled by the passion of building phenomenal products that can change their customers’s lives, but also consider marketing and sales central to realizing their goals. Marketing for a SaaS business is uniquely challenging. Unlike traditional product- or service-based businesses, the element of tangibility is low.

While there are many so-called hacks to follow when strategizing, there is only one approach that can yield consistent revenue regularly. It involves successfully leveraging content to your advantage. Here’s how.

1. Optimize your website for conversions.

Content optimization and keyword research are central to ensuring that your SaaS site comes up when customers search for a product that you offer. How do you go about doing it? Identify all the buy-intent keywords that your potential customers may be searching for and optimize your existing landing pages to target them. The idea is to direct potential customers to your website whenever they’re making a purchasing decision. 

You should be focusing on drawing traffic that has the potential to convert, impact the business’s bottom line and deliver promising ROI. This is exactly what’s promised by the hockey-stick content-growth strategy, which focuses on generating leads with content.

2. Create content that meets your target audience’s queries.

To drive organic traffic to the landing pages, it needs to be layered with content pieces. Focus on answering queries that cover what customers in the consideration phase of marketing funnel would ideally be looking for by targeting middle-of-the funnel keywords. This ensures that the leads entering your funnel will be higher along in their journey of discovery and more likely to convert. These content pieces also act as a bridge when building backlinks to your landing pages, driving link equity as well as referral traffic back to the conversion-optimized pages on your blog.

3.  Make sure your content comes up in relevant searches.

In a perfect world, you would only need to produce stellar content and your audience would automatically discover it, publications would organically link to it and you would get a string of leads flowing in right away. The truth is, no matter how well-researched your content is, it seldom reaches its audience unless you put forth some serious effort. How do you do that? Build backlinks for your content. Pitch to high-authority industry publications within your niche that target the same audience as you and offer to write guest articles for them. This builds the authority for your SaaS website, getting your content to rank organically while driving referral traffic at the same time. 

Now that you have attracted leads, nurtured them with information and gotten them to convert into paying customers, what next?

Optimize your content for the entire sales cycle. The retention stage of theSaaS sales cycle is often of crucial importance, because the SaaS model relies heavily on ongoing subscriptions rather than one-time purchases. Having an ongoing relationship with the customer is crucial for their engagement and retention. The value of content isn’t limited to the inbound traffic. It can be used as a tool for training the existing users and offering them added value to retain them as well. 

Leverage content as a remarketing tool. Content can be used to connect with the leads stored in your SaaS CRM software and re-engage with them. The SaaS industry is highly dynamic and rapidly evolving, and SaaS entrepreneurs need to stay abreast of all changes by constantly upgrading their products. Content opens up new avenues for upselling and cross-selling in Saas. 

Monitor the customer actions. While content is certainly crucial to getting qualified leads into your sales funnel, getting them to eventually convert requires insights into analytics and expertise in user experience. Monitor what actions your users are performing on your website to figure out what is working and what isn’t.

SaaS is an industry where everything — the product, its marketing, sales interactions and customer support — is tightly bound. Every touchpoint of customer interaction needs to provide a seamless experience to the users to unlock revenue potential and ensure long-term growth. Marketing is no exception.

The post Here’s How To Make Your SaaS Marketing Strategy Generate Revenue appeared first on One Second Agency Blog.

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