This document discusses voice search and ecommerce. It begins with an overview of SEO in 2018 and how voice search works at a structural level. It then discusses how voice search is changing ecommerce, with Google and Amazon dominating the voice search space. Tactical recommendations are provided for how brands can prepare for voice-driven ecommerce.

1. FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION:
VOICE SEARCH & ECOMMERCE
ANTHONY VERRE
UPASNA GAUTAM
STATE OF SEARCH 2018

2. ABOUT US
ANTHONY VERRE
VICE PRESIDENT, ECOMMERCE
INTEGER GROUP
DALLAS, TX
@upasnagautam
UPASNA GAUTAM
MANAGER, SEARCH
ZIFF DAVIS
AUSTIN, TX
@tonyverre

3. OBJECTIVES
• WHAT IS SEO IN 2018 ALL ABOUT?
• HOW DOES VOICE SEARCH WORK AT A STRUCTURAL
LEVEL?
• HOW IS VOICE SEARCH CHANGING THE WAY
ECOMMERCE WORKS?
• HOW CAN WE PREPARE FOR ECOMMERCE VOICE
SEARCH?
@tonyverre
@upasnagautam

4. • SEO in 2018
• The Voice Search Framework
• Ecommerce & Google
• Ecommerce & Amazon
• Tactical Takeaways
AGENDA
@tonyverre
@upasnagautam

5. SEO IN 2018
@tonyverre
@upasnagautam

6. SEO IN 2018
@tonyverre
@upasnagautam

7. SEO IN 2018
semantic search
voice search
search engine optimization
entity search
@tonyverre
@upasnagautam
ecommerce seo

8. SEO IN 2018
Search Experience Optimization
@tonyverre
@upasnagautam

9. FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION:
THE VOICE SEARCH FRAMEWORK
@tonyverre
@upasnagautam

10. THE VOICE SEARCH FRAMEWORK
AUTOMATIC SPEECH RECOGNITION
Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR),
fueled by deep learning neural networking,
is the system that powers applications like
speech transcription and voice search.
@tonyverre
@upasnagautam

11. THE VOICE SEARCH FRAMEWORK
AUTOMATIC SPEECH RECOGNITION
ASR is the FORM behind the voice search FUNCTION.
@tonyverre
@upasnagautam

12. THE VOICE SEARCH FRAMEWORK
How do humans do it?
Human articulation produces sound waves which
the ear conveys to the brain for processing.
New phone who dis
@tonyverre
@upasnagautam
AUTOMATIC SPEECH RECOGNITION

13. THE VOICE SEARCH FRAMEWORK
How Do Machines Do it?
@tonyverre
@upasnagautam
AUTOMATIC SPEECH RECOGNITION

14. THE VOICE SEARCH FRAMEWORK
GOOGLE’S VOICE SEARCH QUALITY METRICS
“We strive to find metrics that illuminate the end-user experience, to make sure that we
optimize the most important aspects and make effective tradeoffs. We also design metrics
which can bring to light specific issues with the underlying technology.” -GOOG
• Google has defined and uses a set of metrics
to track the quality of its voice search system.
• They use these metrics to drive their research
directions as well as provide insight and
guidance for solving specific problems and
tuning system performance.
@tonyverre
@upasnagautam

15. THE VOICE SEARCH FRAMEWORK
•Word Error Rate (WER)
•Semantic Quality (Webscore)
•Perplexity (PPL)
•Out-of-Vocabulary Rate (OOV)
•Latency
Google Voice Search Case Study
@tonyverre
@upasnagautam
GOOGLE’S VOICE SEARCH QUALITY METRICS

16. THE VOICE SEARCH FRAMEWORK
A WORD ON STRUCTURED DATA
@tonyverre
@upasnagautam
•Google is a data-driven machine that needs to be fed in order for it to learn
•Pieces of intelligence the crawler uses to build semantic relevance & authority
•This is how entities are indexed
•Speakable Schema is HERE & it’s just the beginning for voice search markup

17. THE VOICE SEARCH FRAMEWORK
The SERP has evolved into a
dynamic, purchase-driven environment,
with the integration of product carousels,
featured snippets with product rankings,
research carousels, and of course,
the shopping carousel.
@tonyverre
@upasnagautam

18. VOICE SEARCH &
ECOMMERCE IN GOOGLE
@tonyverre
@upasnagautam

19. VOICE SEARCH & ECOMMERCE
@tonyverre
@upasnagautam
VOICE SEARCH IS GROWING
AND PEOPLE ARE SHOPPING

20. VOICE SEARCH & ECOMMERCE
@tonyverre
@upasnagautam
29%
NEARLY 50% OF VOICE ASSISTANT USERS
USE VOICE SEARCH DAILY
USE DAILY MULTIPLE TIMES/DAY
17%
NetElixir, "Search Without Screens: Exploring the Rise of Smart Assistants and Voice Search," April 19, 2018

21. VOICE SEARCH & ECOMMERCE
@tonyverre
@upasnagautam
56% OF VOICE SEARCH USERS ARE
COMFORTABLE MAKING A
VOICE SEARCH PURCHASE
NetElixir, "Search Without Screens: Exploring the Rise of Smart Assistants and Voice Search," April 19, 2018
1 – NOT COMFORTABLE
2
24.7%
19.4%
3 26.8%
4
5 – SUPER COMFORTABLE
16.5%
12.6%

22. VOICE SEARCH & ECOMMERCE
@tonyverre
@upasnagautam
Top Consumer Shopping Actions Using Voice Search
Adobe Digital Insights, "State of Voice Assistants," Sep 10, 2018

23. VOICE SEARCH & ECOMMERCE
@tonyverre
@upasnagautam
Consumer Use Voice Search to Shop in These Categories
NetElixir, "Search Without Screens: Exploring the Rise of SmartAssistants and Voice Search"; eMarketer calculations, April 19, 2018

24. VOICE SEARCH & ECOMMERCE
@tonyverre
@upasnagautam
Google & Amazon Dominate Voice Search
eMarketer.com, “Voice Commerce Holds Promise, Yet Shoppers Are Skeptical” June 1, 2018
*Siri voice search powered by Google

25. VOICE SEARCH & ECOMMERCE
@tonyverre
@upasnagautam
Google Shopping Actions is
Google’s New Marketplace

26. VOICE SEARCH & ECOMMERCE
@tonyverre
@upasnagautam
How Does It Work?
GOOGLE
EXPRESS
COMMISSION
RATES
VOICE
eCOMMERCE
RESTRICTED
ACCESS

27. VOICE SEARCH & ECOMMERCE
@tonyverre
@upasnagautam
New Marketplace; New Rules
3 NEW SELLER METRICS1
NO CPC
STRUCTURE
2
NEW COMMISSION
STRUCTURE

28. VOICE SEARCH & ECOMMERCE
@tonyverre
@upasnagautam
The Future Relevance of Google Voice eComm
3
OPTIMIZED
PRODUCT FEED1
PRODUCT &
SELLER RATINGS 2
SELLER
METRICS

29. VOICE SEARCH &
ECOMMERCE IN AMAZON
@tonyverre
@upasnagautam

30. VOICE SEARCH & AMAZON
@tonyverre
@upasnagautam
It’s Amazon’s Choice. Literally.
HIGHLY RATED PRODUCT
READY TO SHIP IMMEDIATELY
WELL-PRICED PRODUCT
POPULAR SHOPPING CATEGORIES

31. VOICE SEARCH & AMAZON
@tonyverre
@upasnagautam
A9 First. Human for Correction.
RELEVANCE
RATINGS &
REVIEWS
INVENTORYVELOCITY
PRICING
PROFITABILITY
CONVERSIONS

32. VOICE SEARCH & AMAZON
@tonyverre
@upasnagautam
63% Don’t Think Amazon, Google, Apple, or
Microsoft Will Get Voice Search Right.
eMarketer.com, “RICHRELEVANCE STUDY SHOWS AMERICANS ARE SKEPTICAL OF VOICE-ASSISTED SHOPPING” June 4, 2018

33. THANK YOU!
@tonyverre
@upasnagautam