Explore Some Effective Strategies to Master Your Voice, Vertical, & Visual Search Optimization in 2019

by ​Sujain Thomas, Guest Contributor

Vertical search engines, voice, and mobile trends seem to be completely revolutionizing the search landscape. Whether tapped, typed, or spoken search queries are supposed to be the medium used by consumers to explore important information and make critical decisions. We are aware that search is all-pervading. It is embedded not only in smartphone devices but it is also, very much at the center of digital assistants powered by artificial intelligence. With time, the search engine is becoming more and more sophisticated so this relationship and bond with consumers are being fortified by the day.

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As per BrightEdge, ‘From an interactive and transactional perspective, the search is the fundamental digital discovery activity. People input text or voice to search, find alternatives, explore, and then make decisions. Traditional or horizontal search engines report billions of queries per day and in excess of 2 trillion queries worldwide per year.’

Reports from Bloomberg show that over 48% of shoppers actually initiate their search at Amazon and 35% actually, start shopping searches mostly at conventional search engines. Despite all this, traditional Search still continues to be the undisputed leader and the largest ever trackable channel. As per the BrightEdge research in 2017, we find that sites actually get 51% of traffic on an average from Organic Search.

Moreover, as per recent research, mobile is accounting for 57 percent of the entire search traffic. We can understand that search is becoming more dynamic, fragmented, and powerful. We must acknowledge that today, the search has become far more complex, multidimensional, and relevant industry than before. This would prove to be extremely challenging but at the same time, it would bring wonderful opportunity.

A whole lot of bright avenues emerged that have helped us to engage effectively with web visitors by utilizing search function via a host of devices. We believe that by 2020 over 30 percent of the total web users would be using AI-supported search. Let us explore some of the glaring changes that took place in the search industry.

• The ushering in of the ‘Mobile-First Index’.
• Google came up with ‘Broad Core Algorithm Update’.
• Connected home devices gained more traction.

So the vital question that comes up is, where exactly is the dynamic search industry is heading for this year? There has been a major fortification around three core areas of activity namely, visual, vertical, and voice search.

Voice Search Strategies for 2019
Even though the buzz that was created by voice search has subsided, people are still very much excited and enthusiastic about the avenues opening up for them. Marketers are aware that voice facilitates conversational search yet just a handful of them have actually availed this great opportunity. Here are a couple of strategies that would assist you in developing an exceptional voice search stratagem for 2019.

Take Maximum Advantage of Structured Data
The most crucial trick for making the most of voice search is using effective structured data on practically all suitable factors and aspects of your content. As per Deloitte around 54 percent of the users of voice search usually, took help from voice search when they are looking for general information.

• As per ComScore, 50% of the total searches would be voice searches by the time we approach 2020.
• According to Google 72 percent of the voice speaker owners admit that they are using their devices as an integral part of their routines every single day.
• Over 40 percent of the adult population used voice search every day way back in 2016 according to the Location World.
• Voice-associated searches on mobile seem 3 times more probable to be local-based as compared to the text-related searches as per Search Engine Land.

All these statistics relating to voice search make impressive insights as it will be assisting search engines to determine all those long-tail keywords that are used by users while searching. This should help in showcasing the results accurately in the future. Moreover, Google has recently come up with an expanded form of rich results meant for Q&A pages on search. Earlier Google provided this facility restricted to only a few websites. This has now become a great opportunity for acquiring a good SERP ranking.

Be Precise & to the Point
The best service one could provide to their audience is utmost convenience. We know that convenience is the key to success as far as voice search usage is concerned. As such, your content must cater to the specific requirements of the consumers. If you succeed in doing that, the user engagement and traffic on your website would be enhanced dramatically. Moreover, we must appreciate the significance of the ‘micro-moments framework’ feature in voice search. Micro-moments are incredibly critical for Local SEO since users would be speaking to their devices for getting the required information or asking for directions.

Create & Establish Your Brand Voice
When consumers are speaking to their devices, it is natural for them to expect a clear and perfect response to their question. Sometimes, this would be forming a pragmatic and direct exchange while at other times; queries would be opening more conversational avenues. For instance, it has been reported by Google that ‘Which dog should I get?’ and ‘what car insurance is best for me?’ are the fastest-growing among Google’s personal searches. Every brand must necessarily have a voice in 2019 as that has become mandatory in conversational search landscape and era. Google has recently announced the concept of voice-driven news to be launched and this clearly indicates where voice search is heading to.

Visual Search Strategies for 2019
With more than 600 million visual searches taking place every month on Pinterest itself, it is quite evident that this cutting-edge technology is at its zenith. Visual search is supposed to be a wonderful feature that facilitates users in looking for important data or information using pictures they are having or capturing primarily as search queries. We know that Pinterest has already launched a mobile application known as ‘Lens’ which helps you in searching visually. Visual search is being given a lot of importance by Pinterest, Amazon, and Google and several other retailers are following their footsteps.

Follow Religiously Image Optimization Proven Best Practices
We know that the information retrieval method for visual search is the same as the image search information retrieval method. Hence, you must first of all, make sure that your pictures are being served for the correct queries. The load speed, structured data, and descriptive metadata seem to be mandatory. You must follow the industry’s proven best practices for image optimization. To know more click here [rankrabbitseo.com].

Consider Uploading an Image XML Sitemap
It is important to provide maximum information to search engines regarding your pictures. The most effective way of doing this is submitting an effective image XML sitemap or incorporating one into an already existing sitemap. It is quite simple to set up an effective image XML sitemap. It allows you to effectively specify the description of images.

Vertical Search Strategies for 2019
Search is forever evolving. As the visual and voice search improves, diverse kinds of searches are doing the same. Search is very much present in numerous industries like the Airbnb, Amazon, and TripAdvisor etc. All these industries are known to customize as per the unique requirements of their customer. The role of vertical search is to help the consumers to effectively search for a specific service or product within the website.

Data is All Important
Your focus must be on boosting information and data. We know that consumers would be visiting different sites for various purposes that imply that the expectations of these consumers would always vary as determined through the analytics data. You must consider analyzing data across every platform for determining the expectations of the specific audience visiting your website.
Generate Fresh & Authentic Content for Every Platform

The hazards of duplicate content are quite evident in the search landscape. However, several brands and businesses forget that all these hazards also are applicable to the vertical search engine. You need to necessarily keep in mind that all the content present in vertical searches could also be found on Google.

Conclusion
The interdependent relationship between digital expertise, technological SEO, and content marketing would be continuing to be boosted and improved as 2019 progresses. They would be dwelling on visual, voice, and vertical search improvisation.
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Author Bio: 

​Sujain Thomas is a data expert. She has been working with complex database architecture and big data analytics for almost eight years now. She has been helping many leading corporations optimize their customer service and product introductions as per big data analysis and predictive analysis.

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