How Is Voice Search Going To Influence Copywriting?

Speech vs The Written Word. It’s the eternal debate. Whilst there are no prizes for guessing which side we’re on (although we do like to talk about our writing out loud!) technological advancements have given rise to an amalgamation of the two: Digital Voice Search.

You might not recognise the term, but you’ll have come into contact with Digital Voice Search in one form or another. If Google Home or Amazon Echo don’t ring any bells, Siri almost certainly will.

Digital Voice Search involves taking a spoken command and using it to look for relevant information – and it’s set to completely change the way in which we communicate. Let’s explore how:

Digital Voice Search: The story so far

Granted, Digital Voice Search is still very much in its youth, but we’ve already got a clear picture of where the technology is headed and how it is going to affect marketing and branding in the future.

The first thing to note is that people aren’t using Digital Voice Search to compare businesses or search for appropriate places to shop – at least, not for the most part. Instead, they’re using it to solve problems: how to set items up, how to translate a certain word, what sort of traffic to expect on the road, etc.

Many of these queries don’t work well with SEO, meaning marketers can’t take advantage. But there are other questions that can be tapped into. People also use Digital Voice Search to find things like restaurant opening times, as well as facts about particular people and places. These are the queries that have potential.

So, will Voice Search affect copywriting?

Don’t panic – there’s no need to embark on a total overhaul of your website at this point. However, it is worth bearing in mind the ways in which people use Digital Voice Search when you’re crafting new content, particularly for your blog.

Over half of teens and 41% of adults use voice search daily, meaning brands stand to benefit from getting ahead in this arena. By answering the questions that people are searching for, and writing in a way that favours natural speech, savvy businesses stand to gain a leg-up amongst the early adopters of Digital Voice Search.

We’ll be exploring this in more detail in our next blog, where we’ll be serving up some essential tips on writing for voice search. Want to discuss in more detail with our Manchester copywriters? Get in touch with our content agency to talk nerdy today.