Voice Search: Getting To Know The Virtual Assistants
Updated: Sep 5, 2022
What Are Virtual Assistants, And Why Are They Important For Law Firm SEO
These days, search queries no longer exclusively come from desktop browsers. Technology has come so far that users can do everything on their phones—not just use mobile browsers, but also ask intelligent virtual assistants to do things for them. Since then, Lawyer SEO has changed, and the optimizations and strategies have evolved to welcome Voice Search. Let's get to know our assistants.
What Are Voice Assistants?
Voice Search allows people to speak directly to their virtual assistants and have those assistants look things up for them. Because of advancements in voice recognition technology, this is becoming extremely reliable and popular among smartphone users.
You can order pizza, access your bank account, call a friend, buy groceries, and—of course—hire a lawyer. In addition, you can ask for directions, answer mathematical equations, and ask for trivia. Virtual assistants also allow users to do anything on their phones without ever having to pick them up, so it's ideal for when people are driving or have mobility issues.
Because of their versatility, Voice Searches are available on most mobile devices—and not just phones, either. As a result, this is a sizable demographic that can be targeted to drive a lot of traffic to your law firm's website.
Get To Know The Most Popular Voice Assistants
Any type of AI (like chatbots) intelligent enough to help you with certain tasks can be considered a virtual assistant. However, we're talking about the most widely-used ones, especially those popular enough to drive significant search traffic on relevant search engines.
Let's meet them:
Optimize For: Google
If you prefer Apple's iOS platform, Siri has you covered. Siri is an intelligent virtual assistant that can help you with a variety of things like making phone calls, texting, and searching the internet. Siri can also do other things, like open apps, play specific songs, and tell jokes. You can also ask them to set reminders, and alarms, and mark your calendars.
Siri is available on various Apple devices, including smartphones, computers, Apple Watches, and other Apple-branded entertainment devices.
Back then, Siri used Bing as its primary search engine. However, they switched to Google to match the default browser.
Optimize For: Google
Google Assistant is specifically designed for Android devices. This virtual assistant is powered by Google's own artificial intelligence and voice recognition technology.
Much like Siri, Google Assistant can help you plan tasks, open apps, set alarms, tell jokes, text, and do search queries for you. You can also trigger Google Assistant by saying "Hey Google," and the app pops up even when you don't pick up your phone.
Many household devices are also compatible with Google Assistant. Additionally, Google Assistant isn't just for smartphones; it's also available on wearable tech and Android Auto.
This also means more traffic for Google—since both virtual assistants so far have been utilizing it as the main search engine.
Optimize For: Bing
Microsoft has its own virtual assistant, and it's designed to compete with those offered by Google and Apple. Cortana is available on any device that runs the Windows OS. Though less popular than the first two on this list, Cortana can still be found practically everywhere: laptops, desktops, or smartphones.
Like other virtual assistants, Cortana can help you schedule tasks, make reminders, and even browse the web without using your hands. This is especially beneficial when you're multitasking on a work computer, and you can simply ask Cortana to check something or set a reminder for the next day without having to close or minimize the windows you're currently working on.
Unlike the first two, Cortana does its search queries on Bing. This means it's one of the very few virtual assistants that doesn't use Google. However, this doesn't mean it's insignificant traffic, because Microsoft still has an impressive number of customers who use their devices and apps.
Optimize For: Amazon
Alexa is Amazon's version of the virtual assistant that allows you to use their services in your everyday life. Amazon Alexa connects to your Amazon account and will enable you to search for, order, and track things on Amazon using your voice. In addition, Amazon leveraged its next-day deliveries to encourage users to use Alexa for their daily needs.
When you use Amazon's Alexa, you're naturally searching the Amazon website. If your colleagues or law firm happens to sell books listed there, it might be a good idea to optimize Amazon's searches.
Unfortunately, Amazon no longer publishes search query data, so you'll have to rely on studying your target audience to figure out how they use voice search.
How LawyerLeadMachine Helps Law Firm SEO
Lawyer SEO uses several on-page and off-page strategies to keep your pages ranking high and boost your traffic and conversions. While it seems too complicated at first glance, you can always start with the basics—take a look at our Free Lawyer SEO guides to help you start.
If you're too busy, we have experts to help you with law firm digital marketing.
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