There are always new angles and new technologies to consider when optimizing for search engines. Your efforts toward SEO in East Bay and elsewhere will need to consider voice search and the impact it is sure to have on searches.

The reason it is likely to have an impact is that it is quickly becoming a more popular way to search. According to Baidu, a tenth of all searches are voice searches, and Google indicates that a fifth of all mobile searches on Android devices are voice searches. Cortana, owned by Microsoft, found that voice searches are done by people of all ages.

In order to properly take advantage of this trend, there are some things to keep in mind about the difference between voice searches and text searches. First, voice searches use more natural wording, so it is more clear for what the user is searching, and it is often in the form of a question. Due to this, the queries tend to be longer than those that are typed into the search bar. For example, the usual manner of searching for the president of a local company would be something like “local company president,” but with voice search, it would be, “Who is the president of a local company?” This change would be automatic for most people – there would not be a conscious decision to adjust the search behavior.

The search engines are adjusting to the natural way of speaking. Five years ago, the rate of error when search engines parsed the spoken word was more than 20%, but now they have adjusted to make the error rate as low as 8%.

Because they are often on mobile or home devices, local results are much more valuable, and third-party listings are very much impacted. When people are searching for products or services, the search engine wants to present relevant results, and locality is a very important part of quality results.

So how do you refine your SEO in East Bay efforts to take advantage of this new technological advance? Begin by choosing conversational style long-tail keywords that describe your business, product or service. Think about what people might say when looking for what you offer. Because more people are searching conversationally, they will find you more easily if your keywords reflect that.

Additionally, since the larger portion of voice searches are done on mobile devices, being sure that your site is optimized for mobile devices is a large consideration. Claiming your Google business listing, if you have not yet done so, Is an important part, because when you have confirmed your location and contact information, as well as business category and hours of operation with Google, it allows Google to serve users with your proper information when the search relates.

So when you are working on SEO for your East Bay business, remember that voice search is not only the future – it is now!