How to Get Voice Search Right: 6 Questions to Help You Achieve Position Zero

Do you have an Amazon Echo or a Xiaomi AI speaker? Have you ever used Siri or another voice assistant to ask a question or send a text while driving? Many of us are already using voice assistants in our personal lives, but it’s time to start utilizing them in the professional realm as well.

Voice search is becoming a critical entry point for brands looking to secure future market share on digital assistants. If we wait too long to join the race, we might miss out. “Whoever wins this [voice search] race by a nose, wins,” said an industry expert. “If brands take a ‘wait and see’ approach, they’ll likely end up in second place. And second place doesn’t win a prize.”

In China, the competition to get ahead in voice search is growing. As marketers, we’re at a critical juncture. We must act now to ensure our content is optimized for the digital assistants of tomorrow.

Why Chinese Digital Marketers Need to Join the Voice Search Race Now

While forecasts predict a significant rise in voice search adoption (for instance, ComScore forecasts that by 2025, 50% of Chinese users will use voice search), many digital marketers are cautiously optimistic about the technology’s rise and are adopting a “wait and see” attitude.

The challenge: As marketers, we’ve already spent time and resources researching local search intent to create optimized, multilingual content that engages our audiences. In China’s crowded digital marketplace, it’s essential that we adapt to voice search to stay competitive. Website optimization and traditional text-based SEO are no longer enough to capture customer attention.

According to experts, there’s serious potential for first-mover advantage in voice search. Fortunately, brands that want to lead in this space need only make some relatively simple adjustments to get ahead.

6 Questions to Ask to Understand Your Brand's Voice Search Ranking

There is only one ranking that matters when it comes to voice search: Position Zero. If you want to reach Position Zero, where do you start?

Begin by thinking about the types of questions your customers might ask. Keep in mind that not every query will produce a voice search result yet, and longer-tail searches tend to have a higher likelihood of triggering voice search results.

Currently, voice search works best for certain types of questions. Here are the six questions you should ask your voice assistant (whether it's Alexa, Xiaomi AI, or Baidu’s voice search) to get started:

1. Who is <your brand>?
   This question helps you determine if the voice assistant provides a branded result. Does it respond with “According to Baidu Baike (Wikipedia)...”? Is that how you want your brand to be defined?

2. What is the best way to …?
   Content tip: Search engines, including Google and Baidu, love tables or step-by-step instructions. If your current content isn’t optimized for voice search queries, creating content that is tabular or includes step-by-step instructions is a great starting point.

3. What are …?
   (For example, "What are the best features of your product?" or "What are your services?")

4. When was <your brand> founded/launched?
   Ask the same about your competitors.

5. Why do …?
   (For example, “Why do people choose your service over others?”)

6. Do I need …?
   (A personal query like, “Do I need an umbrella today?”)

As you ask these questions, you’ll likely discover the need to develop new multilingual content to address potential voice search queries.

Voice Search and Its Impact on Global Content

Research shows that people speak about 150 words per minute, while they type only 40 words per minute. As a result, voice search queries are usually longer and more conversational than text-based queries. For instance, a user might type “home security systems” into a search engine, but they may ask their voice assistant, “What’s the best way to protect my home from a break-in?” This type of longer search query is actually great for companies, as it opens the door to longer-tail keyword searches, which are more likely to rank well in voice search results.

For voice search, multilingual and cultural considerations become even more critical, as the way people ask questions can differ based on factors like region, language, and ethnicity. “The structure of sentences varies widely from one place to another,” one expert notes. “If you think translation alone will solve the problem, you’re mistaken. You need to conduct localized market research to understand what drives these markets and the types of questions local customers will ask.”

Once you’ve identified where your brand stands in voice search, here are four things you need to ensure for your global content strategy:

1. Answer the questions your customers are asking, in the specific languages and ways they ask them.
2. Optimize your schema to capture rich snippets (paragraphs of text that are read aloud), which account for approximately 75% of voice search results.
3. Use rich, snippet-optimized content to promote marketing messages.
4. Consider the questions each marketing campaign will trigger from your target audience as you design and execute those campaigns.

Winning the Voice Search Battle and the SEO War

This battle to capture the hearts and minds of voice search users won’t be won by doing just one thing. Success requires a balanced approach that includes global technical search, content voice optimization, and data analysis.

Global marketing experts are working with brands around the world to help adapt their strategies to be visible on digital assistants. In China, this might mean optimizing for local search engines, adapting for regional variations (such as Mandarin vs. Cantonese), or developing local back-link strategies for SEO.

As marketers, we must adjust our strategies to be visible to voice assistants, make our content discoverable through both voice and text-based searches, and engage with audiences in a way that truly resonates with them—no matter where they are or what language they speak.

◀️：5 Tips for Choosing a Telephone Interpretation Service

▶️：Exploring Human Roles in AI-Driven Language Services