Conversational AI is the Next Big Disrupter, Not Voice Search

Recently updated: January 4th, 2019

Voice search is making a lot of noise in the search marketing space today, and some marketing folks consider it as the next big thing. Or say a next marketplace disruptor.  But what is the truth?

It is a fact voice search has a great role and will have to play in the search marketing space in the future. But what is going to really a big disrupter here is not voice search. It is the conversational AI. Voice is the small part of the disruption that conversational AI is doing today.

Yes, you heard it right…

It is conversational AI that is really disrupting and shifting the consumer behavior. The voice search is a mere part of that bigger picture.

Though it is hard to make the distinction between those things, when we look at the differences between them, it is quite clear to understand what the big disrupter in the world of search is. So we here in this blog will tell you about the differences between those two entities.

Here we go….

Take a look at the voice and you will find it is not that revolutionary. But it is the AI based technology that enables voice search.  Remember that, voice search is just a way people use to engage with search engines.

People also engage with search engines through image and text. So there are three ways you can use search engines to find information about the questions you have in your mind. With voice search, you have to speak. And this is the only difference.

But when it comes to conversational AI and voice search, the most interesting thing that you should know is that searches are continuously happening. This is what makes conversational AI a big disrupter in the search marketing space.

To find an answer or to control other technology and the IoT, voice assistance uses your voice to engage with some sort of intelligent technology like a digital assistant, a chatbot, or potentially even a voice skill.

The big difference is: rather using search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc, we are now using digital assistants such as Alexa, Cortana, Google Assistant, Siri, and the like. These digital assistants can engage with your voice. So all you need to do is to just utter your commands and they will do things (searches) for you. For example, you have a Google Alexa, and you want to use it to search for the best places in Delhi to shop for electronic items. All you do is just say, “Hey Alex, tell me about the best places in Delhi to buy electronic goods.” And your digital assistant will engage directly with its corresponding search engine to fetch you the right answer or information from the specific knowledge repository.

And this is the single big advantage of digital assistants what makes conversational AI the next big disrupter in the search world.

Touch As the Primary Interface Is Getting Outdated

Given the advent of conversational AI, it is quite clear to see a big shift in the way people engage with search engines, from where the search results are coming, and how that response is derived. So as marketers we need to think beyond the touch and screens as the primary user interface between consumers and devices.

The time of touch and screens is disrupted and being pushed out to the blink. We are entering into conversational interfaces that can be commanded through voice and gesture if AR/VR technology components are involved. Screens are now meant only for involving listening and delivering a spoken response.

And this also brings a real opportunity for marketers…

But to know about the opportunity it brings for you marketers, you have to learn about how it works.

How Does Voice Search Work?

Just put in a keyword in a search engine. Hundred of options regarding your query will pop up before you. But the scenario is quite different with voice. As you do the same using a digital assistant, you will discover that about 40% of responses are derived from the featured snippets within the search results. And this is called position zero in the search word.

When you are that featured snippet in an organic search, you are more likely to be the spoken response of your digital assistant. All digital assistant from Siri, Google, Cortana, and Alexa don’t pay heed to other ten things that might be on that search page.

You might be number two in the text based search results, but you are getting little or no traffic if people use voice search to find out what they are looking for. This is because of position zero.

So now you can understand the importance of position zero. And to get traffic from voice search, you have to learn how to make the best use of position zero. And all you have to do include practices of organic search, basic SEO, and having a solid strategy.

Include schema markup and structured data within your website. This way, you provide the search engines with signals and insights to be included in the knowledge graph. In addition, you should also do business listings and make sure the data is up to date and correct, look for the questions people are using to search and incorporate those questions and conversational tone into your content.

In other words, you should understand the language people are using so that you can provide them the answer and information in their own language.

To Conclude:

To gain a win in the voice search dominated world for your website, it is very crucial that you put in enough into understanding the language and the way people are using to engage with conversational AI.  And to do that, you had better talk to some of the digital assistants such as Google, Alexa, Siri, and Cortana.  Or do the same with anyone.

You will find conversational AI is quite different from the text based searches. You will, if you see the top 80 perfect of searches, also find that voice searches are longer than the text based ones. This means people are engaging with the digital assistant as if they were in a conversation.

This brings a big benefit for the marketers. You can understand more about the intent of the searches because consumers are providing more information. The better you understand your audiences’ intent, the more able you are to engage with them.