Stuart Shaw
@StuartShawUK
Zazzle Media
A Study in Speech
Voice Assistant Investigation
http://www.slideshare.net/zazzlemedia

This talk is about voice search,
it’s growth and how to potentially
benefit from it’s use…

We’ll cover:
o Importance of voice
o How to research it
o Optimising for it
o Threats to effort

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o Zazzle Media
o 9 years young!
o 50+ employees
o Content Marketing
o Part of IPG
o UK & International

Enough chit chat

o We started searching in full sentences.
o Then we adapted to keyword searches.
o But now, we’re moving back towards
natural search, with intent matching
being seen more frequently.

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
APR JUL
Siri
(Apple)
APR
Cortana
(Microsoft)
NOV
Echo & Alexa
(Amazon)
MAY NOV
Google
Home
JUNE THROUGHOUT 2018
Apple
Homepod
Amazon
Sony, Hisense &
LG support Alexa
(throughout 2018)
10+ major car
manufacturers
introduce
Alexa or Siri to
New Models
Google
Assistant

By 2020(ish), 50% of
searches will be
made with voice.
The likelihood is that most of these searches
will be informational, not commercial.

41%
Adults
55%
Teens
24, Registered Skills
million
Smart Speaker
X-mas Presents

The results are in…

18 - 24
25 - 34
35 - 44
45 - 54
55 - 64
65 - 74
75 or older
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Those that don’t, felt that:
• Their privacy might be compromised
• They would never use it
• It’s an unnecessary extravagance
• They’re waiting for a sale

The remaining participants tailed off
as we looked back but with a spike in
2013 due to the wider use of Siri.

Only a handful of users found the
devices rarely to work (4.96%) or
never to work (1.42%)

Bedroom
Living Room
Kitchen
Car
Work
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

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How does this affect

Our devices are powered by more than just one horse.
ALEXAG ASSISTANT CORTANASIRI

They’ve changed the way we
search for, and market products,
reducing organic clicks by 37%.
Featured snippets are everywhere!
No Click
Searches

As so often with marketing, we need to
start with a segmented analysis, aiming
to understand…
How Why

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Voice: 130 wpm
Typing: 40 wpm

Ask questions
Music
Weather, News & Sports
Alarms & Calendar
Play Games & Trivia
Cooking & Recipes
Skills
Smart home
Podcasts/Audiobooks
Purchase products
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Research products
Add to my shopping list
Track a package
Make a purchase
Provide ratings or reviews
Contact support
Reorder items

“Play …Baby Shark” “I’ve had a bad day!” “What’s the biggest
dinosaur?”

Why do I need
car insurance?
Saving money on
my car insurance
How does NCD affect
car insurance?
You have to be everything, from amateur to expert.

…and approximately 12 million more…

+ Keywords Everywhere

It’s an open door for users, passing
through at times with curses… but
always with questions.

Mobile search only
More than X words
Contains who/what etc
Branded/Non-Branded
Established brands who have
dabbled in informational content will
benefit from this approach most.
Especially when backed up with
queries & filters from Data Studio.

Here is the law in a nutshell: it is not illegal
to drive in the UK without shoes on and
the same applies for wearing flip flops -
there is a catch though. You can get behind
the wheel of a vehicle barefoot or while
wearing flip flops, provided you are able to
operate the controls safely. 25 Jun 2018
is it illegal to drive without shoes
is it illegal to drive in flip flops
how to drive a car for beginners
how many units can you drive on uk
what do i need to drive in france
do i have to pay a parking charge notice
how much is insurance for a new driver
Filtered data.

Answering ‘in a nutshell’ is actually a really
good way to think about it. You should be
succinct, ideally 40-55 words.
Estimate Traffic
Number of Snippets

Utilising a Google results page and
Keywords Everywhere provides some
quick snap shots of similar searches.

Isn’t this just Informational KWR?

Schema #intro+ Paragraphs Accordions

Can
Whose
It’s not always just headers and paragraphs…

How
Understanding what works best and where, is key to
ranking #0 - Google likely has a preference, find it.

Paragraph
List
Table
Paragraph
List
Table
Paragraph
List
Table
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
ALLHOWTOBEST

There is nothing worse than pouring energy into
something only for an apex website to dominate
your efforts. Voice is no different.

As if we didn’t have enough contend with!
There is the potential that Apps may have
a level of priority: depending on the OS.

Proactive Answers

Voice loves sites that load quickly,
the TTFB of voice results is 0.54s vs
a webpage average of 2.1s
Voice: 0.54s
Webpage: 2.10s

Alexa isn’t stupid. . .
In fact in a recent study only
1.71% of voice results had the
exact keyword in the title tag.

It could help.
However ranking in the top 5 will
often increase your chances of
being the chosen voice result.

#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10

Plenty of sites are talking about voice, creating great articles
and useful guides.

What about…

“I’ve had a bad day” Answer for everything“If you want to buy…”

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
APR JUL
Siri
(Apple)
APR
Cortana
(Microsoft)
NOV
Echo & Alexa
(Amazon)
MAY NOV
Google
Home
JUNE THROUGHOUT 2018
Apple
Homepod
Amazon
Sony, Hisense &
LG support Alexa
(throughout 2018)
10+ major car
manufacturers
introduce
Alexa or Siri to
New Models
Google
Assistant

Grapes…and a

54
j
Thank you for your attention