Now is the time for you to create a voice engine optimization (VEO) strategy that will increase your brand traffic and awareness. Join this sponsored ThinkTank webinar and discover five things you need to know in order to create a successful VEO strategy.

2. YOUR PRESENTER
LBM: Local Brand Management
Founder and CEO, Chatmeter
Collin Holmes
VP of Marketing and Product
Management at V-Enable
• Pioneering mobile local search
Background

3. LBM: Local Brand Management
FEATURED CLIENTS
INCLUDE:
MANAGING OVER
1,500,000
STORES
BILLIONSOF REVIEWS, MENTIONS
AND BLOGS

4. AGENDA
LBM: Local Brand Management
5 Voice Engine Optimization Strategies
That Will Boost Your Rankings
Creating a Voice Engine Optimization Strategy
How Voice Search is Being Used Today
The Evolution of Voice Search
The Future of Voice Search

5. EVOLUTION OF VOICE SEARCH
LBM: Local Brand Management
1952
AUDREY
Recognized strings of digits
with pauses in between

6. EVOLUTION OF VOICE SEARCH
LBM: Local Brand Management
10 digits + 16 words
vocabulary!
1962
SHOEBOX

7. EVOLUTION OF VOICE SEARCH
LBM: Local Brand Management
1976
HARPY
Vocabulary of 1011
words

8. EVOLUTION OF VOICE SEARCH
LBM: Local Brand Management
1987
JULIE
World’s First Interactive
Doll

9. EVOLUTION OF VOICE SEARCH
LBM: Local Brand Management
1990
DRAGON DICTATE
2
V
As the first d
took wing, spe
achieved
Cost: $9,000
In 1997, a new $695 version released
but still required a 45 minute training
program before it would work

10. EVOLUTION OF VOICE SEARCH
LBM: Local Brand Management
CTATE
0
on released
ute training
ld work
2000s
V-Enable
Speech recognition technology
achieved 80% accuracy in 2001.
V-Enable pioneered voice search for local

11. VOICE SEARCH TODAY
LBM: Local Brand Management
Rapid Adoption
• Voice search in all devices
• Multiple Alexa’s in home
Many home devices
and speakers
Voice search on
phones
In your car

12. VOICE SEARCH TODAY
LBM: Local Brand Management
Online adults
makes a mobile
voice search
of searches will be
conducted by
voice in 2020
of voice search users
use voice search to find
local businesses daily
1 in 5 50% 46%

13. VOICE SEARCH ADOPTION
LBM: Local Brand Management
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2018
The creation and adoption of voice search has
been decades in the making
Now that the recognition levels are at ~95%,
usage is skyrocketing

14. USE CASES OF VOICE SEARCH: WHAT’S TRENDING?
LBM: Local Brand Management
Dozens of “smart” devices
have made a debut:
• Phones
• Tablets
• TVs
• Speakers
• Lightning and
Temperature Controls
• Video Game Consoles
People are looking for a
way to centralize all their
smart devices into a single
“smart hub”
Smart speakers are the
logical answer to centralizing
smart devices

15. USE CASES OF VOICE SEARCH: WHAT’S TRENDING?
LBM: Local Brand Management
Digital Centralization
Source: Forbes.com

16. USE CASES OF VOICE SEARCH: WHAT’S TRENDING?
LBM: Local Brand Management
Alexa, Your New
College Roommate
Students in these trials are able
to decide what information Alexa
has access to. Alexa can help
with the following types of tasks:
Several Universities are
testing out Echo Dots
The Echo Dot smart speaker
is linked to a student’s
university account
• Class schedule for the day
• Tuition payment information
• Meal card balance
• Setting alarms before classes
• Finding food and services nearby

17. USE CASES OF VOICE SEARCH: WHAT’S TRENDING?
LBM: Local Brand Management
Alexa For Hospitality
• Playing music
Virtual concierge helps
guests with tasks like:
• Ordering towels
• Controlling in-room
temperature or lighting
• Finding local restaurants
and attractions
• Calling
• Checking out
Marriott and Amazon have
teamed up for the launch of
Alexa for Hospitality
Available this summer
in 10 Marriott
locations

18. VOICE SEARCH REVOLUTION
34% of clicks go to
the first position in
SERPs
100% of voice search
results are first position

19. “Where is the best
soy milk vanilla
latte downtown?”
VOICE SEARCH REVOLUTION

20. DO YOU NEED A VEO STRATEGY?
LBM: Local Brand Management
MYTH:
Only a few businesses need a voice search strategy

21. VOICE SEARCH REVOLUTION

22. VOICE SEARCH REVOLUTION

23. VOICE SEARCH REVOLUTION

24. VOICE SEARCH REVOLUTION

25. 50% of all searches
will be conducted
by voice in 2020
Content as we
know it will forever
be changed
If you don’t have a
voice search
strategy, then you
will be left behind
We’re Here
VOICE SEARCH REVOLUTION

26. VOICE ENGINE OPTIMIZATION™ (VEO):
LBM: Local Brand Management
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION™ (SEO)
Optimizing your content, location, and brand information to
increase your likelihood of powering voice search results.

27. VOICE ENGINE OPTIMIZATION™ (VEO)
LBM: Local Brand Management
Why VEO?
Easier to speak than type,
especially when on the go.
And there’s only one result.
Game Over.
Voice search is 3x
more likely to be
used than text for a
local search
3x

28. DO YOU NEED A VEO STRATEGY?
LBM: Local Brand Management
Source: Hitwise Study, 2017

29. POLL QUESTION 1
LBM: Local Brand Management
When will you be implementing a VEO strategy?
Immediately/I’ve already started
It’s in our 2018 marketing strategy
It’s in our 2019 marketing strategy
No plans. Waiting for more adoption or proof it’s needed
1.
2.
3.
4.
No plans. Need more resources to tackle5.

30. CREATING A VEO STRATEGY
LBM: Local Brand Management
5 Steps to Make Your VEO Strategy
Optimize Your Business Listings (NAP)
Build New Content
Speed up your Website
Provide Answers
Test it
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

31. CREATING A VEO STRATEGY
LBM: Local Brand Management
Where are devices sourcing their information from?
Amazon Alexa
Cortana
Google Home
Siri
=
= =
=

32. CREATING A VEO STRATEGY
LBM: Local Brand Management
1. Keep your listings clean
An estimated $10.3
billion lost each year
due to inaccurate
listings
Smart speakers only
give one answer.* If
you’re not first,
you’re last
Business Listing
consistency is #1 = 45%
of how search engines
rank businesses
#2 = Reviews

33. POLL QUESTION 2
LBM: Local Brand Management
How are you managing your business listings?
We manage them internally
We hired an external agency to handle business listings
We’re not managing our listings or I don’t know
I don’t manage any business listings/locations
1.
2.
3.
4.

34. CREATING A VEO STRATEGY
LBM: Local Brand Management
2. Increase your site speed
Google confirmed in January that page
speed will be a ranking factor in mobile
searches starting this month
If your page takes more than 5
seconds to load the customer is
90% more likely to leave
Average Website
Speed is 8.8s

35. CREATING A VEO STRATEGY
LBM: Local Brand Management
3. Your New Content Strategy: Focus on Questions
41% of people who use
voice search say it feels
like talking to a friend
Consumers are asking
questions on voice
Simply provide Google
(and other voice engines)
with answers

36. CREATING A VEO STRATEGY
LBM: Local Brand Management
TYPING: Coffee near me
vs.
SAYING: “Where is the best soy
milk vanilla latte downtown?”
Find the questions that your
target audience is most
likely to ask that you can
provide the best solutions
3. Your New Content Strategy: Focus on Questions

37. CREATING A VEO STRATEGY
LBM: Local Brand Management
4. Your New Content Strategy: Provide Answers
40.7% of voice search
answers come from
featured snippets
Become a featured
snippet by answering
specific questions

38. CREATING A VEO STRATEGY
LBM: Local Brand Management
4. Your New Content Strategy: Provide Answers
What can I do to become a featured snippet?
Google leans on the top
ranked websites to pull
snippets
Snippets can be featured
anywhere on the results
page. Only 30.9% rank at #1
1. Create content (FAQ page) that answers
questions to drive conversions at an easy reading
level. (1 paragraph at 9th
grade reading level is best)
2. Update your content often, keeping it fresh
3. Markup Language: Questions should be
marked up properly in <h2> headers

39. CREATING A VEO STRATEGY
LBM: Local Brand Management
4. Your New Content Strategy: Provide Answers
1. Answer any existing
questions on GMB Q&A
2. Create compelling questions
about your products and
services that will drive
conversion

40. CREATING A VEO STRATEGY
LBM: Local Brand Management
Source FAQ content from your reviews. Yelp is already
doing this for local search results outside of categories.
4. Your New Content Strategy: Provide Answers
No content? Here’s where to start:

41. CREATING A VEO STRATEGY
LBM: Local Brand Management
5. Test It
Test the voice search
function and make
improvements based on
your findings

42. CREATING A VEO STRATEGY
LBM: Local Brand Management
5. Test It
How To Test Voice Search
1. Test different devices
Smart Speakers vs. Mobile
Google Assistant vs. Alexa vs.
Cortana vs. Siri
2. What are the results generated?
Where and who are answers pulled
from?
3. Single vs. Multiple Listings
How many listings does each
device/assistant offer you?
4. Rankings
Where are you ranking for your most
common questions? Where are your
competitors ranking?

43. LOCAL SEO TOOLS ALL UNDER ONE ROOF
Reviews
Measure reputation by location
from 20+ sites with daily
email alerts
Social
Location mentions on
Facebook, Twitter, blogs and
articles with daily email alerts
Rankings
Web and maps search
rankings for custom keywords
per location
Listings
Name, address, phone
and website variation across the
web with duplicate detection
LBM: Local Brand Management

45. Attribution
LBM: Local Brand Management
Blue Fountain Media
Mobile Payments Today
Tech Crunch
Car-Net
The Register UK
IMBD - The Perfect Storm
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