It is the voice search trends for local queries in Australia that are dictating how one goes about finding a good café, a tradie or a clinic in the neighbourhood. For businesses the solution is straightforward: have a Google Business Profile in order, put out some natural-language content, ensure the mobile experience is up to scratch and make sure local information is correct.
One should not mistake voice search for a magic button to be had at position zero. It is simply an expression of local intent, done while you are behind the wheel, in the kitchen or with a phone and a toddler in hand. Olivia Redfern examines what is in flux, where businesses tend to err and how to put local information in a form Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant can comprehend.
How Australians Use Voice Search
There is nothing flashy about the way Australians behave when they do a local voice search; it is all practicality. They want to know what is on offer nearby, the hours, the price, if there is parking and get some recommendations they can act upon.
A query put to a device has the ring of conversation as opposed to something typed in. You will hear “Where is the nearest chemist open now?” rather than someone keying in “chemist Melbourne CBD”. The former conveys timing, location and a certain urgency in a single sentence. This reflects Australia near me query growth.
Intent in Spoken Queries
With voice you see local intent in plain words like “near me”, “in my area” or “open now” which allows the system to map results and put a person in touch with a business in South Yarra for instance. Yet not every voice search is drawn out or involved. There are the odd question along the lines of “Which tyre shop is open on Sunday?” and then there are short commands, “call the dentist” or “navigate to the bakery”. A business would do well to be ready for either.
The Pre-eminence of Mobile
Most people have a voice-enabled device to hand so mobile search is still king. A customer might employ voice search to track down a business and its route, make a call and follow the map to the door. Recent communication trends highlight the growing reliance on voice search for local information in Australia.
This puts onus on the business. If an address leads to the wrong side of the building or the phone number is old, the visit will be over quickly. No amount of good copy will save a listing that has the shop listed as open with the roller door pulled down.
The Case for Conversational Search
Keywords are no longer to be thought of in the same way. There is no point in having “local voice search Australia” in every paragraph of a page; better to put forward answers in the language customers use. When you optimise for voice you are making things plain for the person in front of you. The search engines will find it easier to make sense of a page with sensible headings and consistent details.
Put Real Questions to Your Customers
Long-tail keywords have their place since they speak to a particular need. A hair salon could put the case for “Do I need an appointment for a fringe trim?” or a mechanic field the question “Can I get a roadworthy inspection near Footscray on Saturday?” An FAQ or service page can accommodate these, as can a post from a café on the availability of takeaway coffee for an early train. The object is to take away any friction before the customer dials or gives up on the search, not to fill a page with every turn of phrase.
Get the Local Details Right
Those using voice want an answer straight away on matters of accessibility, payment, parking, public transport and which is the best entrance to use. Keep such information relevant and up to date.
In Australia local parlance is of some consequence too. Depending on where you are a customer might be looking for a “dunny repair”, “mozzie treatment” or a “four-wheel-drive mechanic”. Make use of what your customers say but leave the professional descriptions uncluttered.
Growth in ‘Near Me’ Queries in Australia
You can see in the growth of the Australia near me query a move towards action and urgency. People want their results to tell them what they need and where they are.
As for the statistics, there is no Australian figure that is universally agreed upon to cover the ground on all devices from Google Assistant to Siri. The published numbers for voice search in Australia will vary in their time frame and sample group, so one should not be taken in by a percentage without knowing the source.
Expectation Versus Reality
The expectation is that more “near me” on the website will translate into more voice searches for a business.
The truth of the matter is that search engines will put together location data from the user, his device and what they can find on your business information. There is no need to have “near me” in the copy; it tends to be inelegant and can erode trust. Better to rely on a full business profile, sound content and location signals that are on the mark.
You might expect the top website to provide the only answer for a voice query.
In fact, the response could be sourced from any number of places: a website or directory, map data, reviews, a business profile or something built into the device itself. It is not uncommon for results to differ depending on the language, the device, where one is or even past searches.
What this trend entails
A local business would be wrong to think the commercial prospects are confined to those using voice. The very same enhancements serve the mobile and map user, as well as anyone putting in a conversational query by typing. And clear service details are of use whether the customer is speaking to a phone or thumbing out words at a tram stop.
| Voice Search Signal | What you may hear from customers | How to respond |
|---|---|---|
| Location | “Tell me where the nearest dog groomer is.” | Make sure the map pin, address and service area are correct. |
| Availability | “Are you open at the moment?” | Put in any changes to trading or holiday hours, temporary closures and the like. |
| Service fit | “I need someone in Carlton to fix a leaking tap.” | Lay out the services you provide, the suburbs you cover and if there are urgent options. |
| Visit planning | “Where do I park for the clinic?” | Give them the lowdown on access, public transport and where the entrance is. |
| Trust | “Any good reviewed businesses in the vicinity?” | Be helpful in your responses to feedback and solicit some real reviews. |
Winning with Local Signals
In Australia, voice search SEO is grounded in the fundamentals of local SEO. You have to give the search systems dependable proof of who and where you are and when to contact you.
Your local visibility is a combination of the Google Business Profile, your site, the maps, reviews and other bona fide references. Should they conflict, the customer will be left with an ambiguous answer.
Be Consistent with Your Data
There has to be NAP consistency in your key listings; the name, number and address must be right. The presentation need not be uniform but it should leave no room for doubt as to your location or how to get hold of you.
Look over your suite numbers, the spelling of the suburb, phone numbers and hours of operation. A prompt update of all listings is called for if you change premises. Leaving a map pin at the former shop is a practical hindrance, not some small point of order.
Reviews to Build Trust
When a customer makes a spoken request for a recommendation, reviews are how they will size up the competition. Put in a word for honest feedback following a transaction and deal with complaints in a constructive way, not with defensive prose.
Resist the temptation to put in a fake review or to have customers parrot certain phrases for an incentive. Such expedients are risky and do not engender the kind of trust a local customer wants before parting with cash.
Get on top of your Google Business Profile
Optimising the Google Business Profile is a sensible first step for local voice search. It is the hub for a search system or customer to see your category, location, hours, reviews and so on.
Then again it is where a lot of businesses flounder. They put in a claim and a photo or two of poor quality and let it lie for three years like a shed that does not require a once-over.
Do not skimp on the core information
Pick the right primary and secondary categories and put in what can be booked or purchased. Be current with your hours, especially for Christmas or a public holiday. Have a local number, link the proper page and make sure the marker on the map corresponds with the entrance. For a service-area operation, state your areas without implying you have an office in every suburb.
Facilitate a Visit
On the website and profile, put in the sort of access information the platform will take. Is an appointment in order? Where is the parking? Is the place accessible? If you are in an industrial estate or medical building, make that plain. “Take the lift to level two off the rear car park” will be better received than being told you are conveniently located.
And then there is the routine: verify the address and phone, add photos and products, see to the map pin, put in your services and set the record straight on any public misinformation.
- Verify the address and phone.
- Add photos and products.
- See to the map pin.
- Put in your services.
- Set the record straight on any public misinformation.
A Website That Works
For voice search the website should be quick and readable, allowing a person to make up his mind. Not a series of answers from a robot.
There is a good reason to put some emphasis on mobile speed: a lot of what is spoken in a query will be from a phone. Should the page be slow to load, or put the customer to work with a number of menus to get to the phone number, he or she could well have put in a call to a competitor by the time your content has rendered.
Useful Local Pages
Make sure every service of consequence has its own page with a heading that tells you what it is, an answer in brief at the top and the rest of the detail to follow. You can put down the suburbs and service areas you are in, but do not go about making a dozen pages of little substance that amount to the same thing.
Employ a natural way of speaking. “We provide same-day lock repairs in inner Melbourne, provided we have a technician free” is far more readable than putting “same-day lock repair Melbourne near me” into a sentence one would not be heard saying.
Be forthright on logistics
Local queries call for straight talk on access and travel. Put out a notice as to how long a visit runs, if there is a parking problem, whether an appointment is needed and what to have on hand. Update it when roadworks or the season dictate. A tourism outfit in the Top End will set out the facts on permits, crocodile safety and the state of the roads in the wet. One doing business on the Stuart Highway will note where the fuel and mobile coverage is. And no service on the Gibb River Road should suggest easy access when the track is rough as guts.
Snippets and Structured Data
You can get a concise answer from a featured snippet or position zero on a question-driven search, though no one can put his name to that. The point is to have an answer that is straightforward to read and verify.
Structured data is there to give a search engine some context and aid its interpretation; it is not a back door to the top of the results.
Get to the answer first
A relevant section should open with a direct response before any elaboration. “Yes, you will need an appointment for a Saturday consultation” does not require the customer to wade through six paragraphs to find out. Reserve a Q and A format for what customers actually want. Be consistent with your Google Business Profile and keep it accurate.
LocalBusiness Schema
This will serve to describe the likes of your opening hours, location, telephone and address. See that the information you mark up is both correct and in plain view on the page, and use the right subtype. Do not put in services or prices for the customer to see that are not there. Let the structured data be a true reflection of the page rather than the fancy of a marketer.
Putting a figure on voice search
Analytics will not always make a distinction for voice so it is hard to measure local performance in this regard. Rather than pursue a single metric for voice, look at the local actions it is supposed to prompt: calls, bookings, direction requests, map-listing visits and searches with a local modifier. Make your comparisons of periods with care, demand being what it is with the weather and trading hours.
Practical measures
Inquire of new customers in a simple, optional way as to how they came to you. Call quality is worth reviewing as much as the volume. A hundred calls for a concern that closed last year is no cause for celebration, just something to clean up in the data. What you want to know is if the customer was able to book, put in a call, or find the entrance. A vague assertion of greater “voice visibility” is not as significant as these results.
A Monthly Check
From time to time, put your service areas to the test with a few natural queries. Do this on a monthly basis. Be sure to use devices and locations that are realistic given that one will get different results; verify the phone number, opening times, how you are described and the directions on both desktop and mobile.
- Take five customer questions that have a definite local intent.
- Look at what comes up on the profile, map or website.
- Note any omissions or information that has gone stale or is simply wrong.
- Make the necessary updates at source and retest.
- Over the course of time, see how calls, direction requests and bookings stack up.
What It Means for Business
The voice search trends in Australia are of interest to business because they are rooted in the everyday requirements of the customer: to ask a question, act on it, check if something is available or find where they need to be. In short, good optimisation for voice is an extension of solid local SEO, dependable data and content that is of some use, all underpinned by a mobile experience that works.
Make the most of a day by tending to the essentials on your Google Business Profile: contact details, services, address and hours. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes and run a test. Should a query on your business return an incorrect answer, go and correct the source, there is no point in expending effort on a blog post.
Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant and the like will continue to evolve, as will smart speakers and mobile search. The businesses in a position to gain from it are those that make the next step plain, give straight answers and remain accurate. It is not exactly glamorous but it is what puts food on the table.
For more extensive advice from the Australian Government on having an online presence that can be relied upon, their business essentials guidance is worth a look.
Frequently Asked Questions
To put it briefly, when it comes to optimisation and voice commerce, hard facts and utility win over any kind of ruse. The following are responses to what is commonly asked about local voice search.
Current Voice Commerce Trends?
One sees an increase in assisted actions: to start a booking or call, put something in a basket, compare options or see what is in stock nearby. As for payment, the customer will likely do that on a screen to be sure of the delivery or appointment particulars and for security.
Voice Search Local?
It is a means of tying a spoken request to local data in the form of a review, website, listing or opening hours. A person can use it to confirm a service, get directions or come across a business in the area.
Optimising For Voice?
Have a Google Business Profile in order and NAP consistency. Put forward natural answers to the sort of questions customers actually ask, employ LocalBusiness schema where appropriate and make sure your mobile is fast. Leave the unsupported claims and “near me” repetitions alone.
Usage Figures?
You will not find an Australian statistic that is authoritative for every device and definition of voice search. The data reported in Australia varies enough that one should be wary of a percentage without checking the date and methodology. When making a decision, the likes of a call or booking are better indicators than a headline figure.
Is it confined to Smart Speakers?
Hardly. There are voice searches on cars, headphones, mobiles and other connected hardware. For a local business the mobile is of particular import since the customer may be in transit or out shopping and trying to decide his next move.