Voice search: a powerful local SEO tool for restaurants

Voice search is considered by SEO professionals to beone of their top 5 priorities for the coming years. This is hardly surprising when you consider that the use of voice assistants, especially when searching for "nearby" locations or establishments, is growing steadily: they are becoming a promising customer acquisition lever, especially for our favorite businesses - restaurants.

Increasingly present in the home, increasingly represented in the media, the voices of Siri, Google or even Alexa have become familiar to us. While just a few years ago these tools were still regarded as gadgets, and sometimes even mocked, advances in machine learning now enable them torespond more accurately to the questions put to them.But new tools also mean new practices:searches carried out with voice assistants are therefore not of the same nature as those commonly carried out on search engines, which still govern our referencing logic today. In fact, we don't communicate in the same way in writing as we do orally, and these differences, which may seem minimal, are tending to upset SEO (Search Engine Optimization) methods. So how can businesses, and more particularly restaurants, effectively take advantage of this opportunity to acquire new customers brought about by voice assistants? How can they adapt their SEO so that Siri, Alexa or Google will recommend their restaurant rather than their competitor? That's what we'll be looking at in this article. But before we share our concrete application tips, let's try to understand the stakes behind these new uses, and the transformations they bring about in terms of SEO.

1. Voice searches: a growing trend

Voice searches are the new playground for SEO practices. And with good reason, the trend is booming: back in 2016, Google declared that 20% of searches made on their app were done vocally.Since then, the number of such searches has risen by 60%and it is predicted that 50% Themarket for connected speakers is, of course, also growing rapidly. Worth 303 million euros in 2015, it is expected to reach 2.9 billion by 2021. This is hardly surprising, given that there will be more digital assistants on the planet than human beings in the same year.

Voice is taking on a major role in our society, and is likely to change a number of paradigms in the digital world.Until now, the dominant communication tool on search engines was the written word. It was the written word that submitted its logic to the search engines and governed the rules of referencing. Scott Huffman , vice-president of engineering for Google Assistant, explained this phenomenon last August on the Internet giant's blog. He said:

"Voice is fundamentally changing the way we use our terminals, often differently than we ever imagined."

But why are voice searches considered so different from search engine searches? How are users using this new technology? What are the concrete points of divergence between these two types of queries?

2. What are the differences between a written search and a voice search?

Voice search: action-oriented queries

First and foremost, it's the way in which queries are expressed that attracts the attention of SEOs. Indeed, voice assistant users tend to formulate action-oriented queries.

To see what's going on, just look at the instructions Apple gives its users when they switch on Siri. It suggests that users ask the voice assistant to perform concrete actions:"Call Thomas","Open the app". Siri invites us to address him using the imperative. It's interesting to note that these tools are called" voiceassistants ", a term that confers on them the position of executor. We are told that we can call on Siri, Google Assistant or Alexa when we want to see something done. 40 times more action-oriented than those made via a search engine.

A conversational approach is needed with voice search

While we haven't yet reached the stage of the film Her, in which users of smartphones and other connected objects converse with voice assistants that adapt to their owner's personality, it is nevertheless worth noting that we maintain a conversation-oriented mode of communication with these tools.[caption id="attachment_3959" align="aligncenter" width="813"]

Theodore, the main character in the film Her, in conversation with his voice assistant Samantha[/caption]Voice requests are on average 200 times more conversational than search engine queries. Voice humanizes the tool and transforms our relationship with the machine. In fact, studies show that the more users get to grips with the tool, the longer and more complex their interactions with it become. This conversational mode is triggered in special cases of assistant use: when the user is looking for a precise answer. We're no longer looking for an action, but for an exchange. In fact, the interrogative form is the mode of communication most frequently used by users of this technology, with45% of them believing they use it mainly to ask questions and obtain answers. Voice assistants thus encourage the formulation of far more developed queries than those we are used to formulating on search engines. On the latter, we mainly type in simple keywords and leave out any punctuation. Voice searches are therefore much longer, and based on a more fluid and natural conversational mode than we're used to on our browsers.

The end of the keyword reign?

Are we witnessing the end of the keyword's reign?

In the example above, the user simply typed the term "analytics" to access the Google Analytics page. With a voice assistant, we could imagine that the user would have asked Google to "Open the Google Analytics page". Thus, SEOs are faced with a new kind of query.In the past, SEO focused on keywords that had to be found within the content of website pages. But voice search seems to be reshuffling the deck, giving greater importance to more developed content.Could this be the end of the keyword reign in SEO? No, certainly not, but voice search is likely to renew search engines' interest in sites that emphasize questions and answers, such as forums, which give pride of place to more natural language.

A type of formulation that leads to specific requests

We note that these particular formulations imply the use of voice assistants for specific requests. In particular, these tools would be used when we're with friends and want to share information. It seems logical, then, that the user should favor a natural, conversational mode of communication.

It should also be noted that local SEO is strongly linked to voice searches. In fact, the vast majority of voice searches are carried out when on the move, when looking for an address or a recommendation of local businesses. 46% of voice searches are for establishments. 58% of users of this technology have even used it in the last 12 months to search for a local business. Finally, it's interesting to note that the first wish expressed by these same users is to be able to make reservations or find out about a product using voice search, so these new uses represent a real opportunity for restaurants to acquire new customers. But competition is fierce. Perhaps even tougher than on a conventional search engine, since the range of products on offer is much more limited. Voice search results are also based on criteria imposed by the Google search engine. So what are the practical steps you need to take to get your restaurant to the top of the search results suggested by voice assistants? Here are a few tips.

3. How can you adapt your SEO to optimize your chances of having your restaurant appear in voice search results?

Taking care of your Google My Business page

Voice searches are mostly used for requests related to local businesses. In addition, the majority of voice searches are carried out on mobile devices, which involves the user's geolocation. Last but not least, the number of queries containing the expression "near me" has exploded in recent years. 84% The first pieceof advice we can give to all restaurateurs wishing to appear in the results of oral searches is to work on their restaurant's Google My Business (GMB) listing, or to entrust its management to a high-performance partner . partner. When this listing is well optimized, your business will appear among the first search results, just above the first links to websites.[caption id="attachment_3984" align="aligncenter" width="802"]

On the left, the results of typing "restaurant gastronomique Paris" into Google before optimizing Sequana's Google My Business listing. On the right, the results a few weeks after we began optimizing the listing.[/caption]Here's an example of SEO for one of our customers, the Sequana gourmet restaurant. Thanks to diligent, regular work, we were able to place it in Google's top 3 for the search for nearby gourmet restaurants on the keywords most relevant to it. Here, the example of the keyword "restaurant gastronomique Paris".

This optimization is absolutely essential, as 75% of responses to spoken queries come from this top 3.

So, if you haven't yet taken the time to look at your GMB listing, the prospect of appearing among the results of voice searches will be an additional argument to convince you.

How to optimize your GMB file? Include all the necessary details, respond daily to comments posted by your customers, publish posts containing the right keywords, add eye-catching photos, place relevant links... We explain it all in this article.

Publish quality, conversational content and focus on long-tail keywords

Content is king when it comes to SEO. The publication of quality, clear, rich content, built with the right semantics (with relevant keywords), is essential to improve your SEO, but as we've seen, query logic is not the same orally as it is in writing. To optimize your presence in voice search results, you need to favor long-tail keywords, i.e. at least 3 to 5 words, and write titles in the form of simple questions. So ,whether it's on your website, your Google My Business listing, or on social media, it's important to take care with your content.

Working on your authority

Finally, Google attaches importance to the authority of companies present on the Internet, i.e. their influence, which is equivalent to talking about visibility in the digital world.

To improve your SEO, you need to :

• your restaurant is listed in relevant directories such as TripAdvisor, La Fourchette, Yelp...
• that you regularly update these pages and respond to your customers' comments on a daily basis
• be active on your social media (Facebook and Instagram)

And don't forget to work on your presence in relevant domains! Here's how, press relations and influencer marketing are indispensable. By contacting journalists and influencers with a well-crafted press release and press kit, you can invite them to visit your establishment and have them talk about you in their media. These references to your establishment will not only help you reach a wider audience, but also improve your authority in the eyes of Google.

Conclusion

It is estimated that voice search will account for 50% of all Internet searches by 2021. This new means of query is therefore being used more and more, particularly for searches for recommendations of local businesses such as restaurants, which, let's not forget, account for 46% of searches carried out by voice.

New tools rhyme with new uses, which in turn rhyme with adaptation by marketers, SEO experts and communicators. Voice search has not failed to live up to this adage.

Oral queries are very different from the classic written search engine queries. Users seem to have abandoned keywords in favor of a conversational mode of communication with the tool. This transformation in search engine optimization logic needs to be taken into account by restaurateurs if they don't want to miss out on the opportunity to acquire new customers through voice search engine optimization.