Voice search for real estate websites

Is your real estate website found first with voice search?

Voice search is increasing by 12% a year and, according to Statista, in Australia, 17% of the population own a Smart Speaker in 2020. But how do you ensure your real estate website is found by Artificial Intelligence Assistants, such as Siri, Google or Cortana? 

Lucky for you, I have a checklist to help you improve the likelihood of your website being found by Artificial Intelligence Search Assistants. 

Watch this video to get the inside edge. 

Following is the video transcript.

Voice search for real estate websites

Google calls voice search the new playground for brands, and shares that 53% of people with a voice-activated speaker are happy to receive information about deals, sales, and promotions.

People have already got into the habit of seeking information on local businesses through voice search. Questions such as “What’s the best Thai restaurant?” or “Where’s the nearest bicycle repair shop?” are just two examples. 

It seems fitting that questions about the real estate market or real estate agencies will get asked too. Asking your personal assistant to confirm what price a property sold for or to set a reminder for a midweek home open are just two ways to interact, but there will be plenty more.

What’s interesting is that the immediate next step after doing a voice search is to visit the website address of the recommended business or data source. So ask yourself, how can you optimise your real estate website to answer the plethora of local property questions?

Why you need a voice search strategy

Let’s look at why your real estate agency needs a voice search strategy.

As artificial intelligence and machine learning evolves, more and more search query data will be stored to help surface answers faster.

Voice search should be a key component of your SEO strategy. For example, when somebody asks their voice assistant to “Find a real estate agent near me’, and your agency comes up, their next actions will be tracked.

If that tracking shows that they are happy with the result i.e. they spend time visiting several pages on your real estate website, or they don’t immediately ask the same question again, your real estate website will be logged as helpful for answering this, and then the very same question next time. Bingo!

How to optimize your real estate website for voice search

All you need to do is optimise your real estate website to surface on the first page of Google’s search results, and your website will be favoured by voice search assistants too.

There are some practical actions you can take:

1. List your real estate business in online directories

This includes Google Business, you could also include Yelp, True Local and other real estate specific directories. The platforms need to know that your business exists and where it’s located. You can set up accounts for free and it really doesn’t take long to add your location and opening hours to as many online portals as possible.

2. Seek out positive customer reviews

Google and other search platforms will favour real estate businesses with positive online reviews. Try using voice search to ask, “Where’s the best Thai restaurant near me?” You’ll see the results that come back for the business that has the highest star rating. Now try real estate.

3. Consider the most likely property-related voice-activated questions

The word, ‘best’ is a common term used by voice searchers. We also know people speak to their voice assistant the same way they do to a friend. So, they’re more likely to put a where, when, who, what, why question to Siri or Google.

Why not brainstorm ideas with your team, try them out on your device and see what happens. You could make your sales meetings a little more fun!

Will voice search drive traffic to your real estate website?

Voice assistants are becoming part of everyday life and each week a new gadget with voice-activated controls enters the market. Soon, even the phrase “Google it” may be a thing of the past, with more and more of us starting to say to each other, “Ask your phone”.

About this video series

Hoole.co’s video series brings together the best digital and social media minds in the real estate industry, to share the wonders of the web and the magic of mobile.

Subscribe to Hoole.co or follow us on social media for free tips and tricks to grow your reputation and attract prospects, digitally.

Written by Melanie Hoole

My team and I specialise in helping real estate and property professionals perfect their personal brand, build a first-class digital profile and implement inbound marketing activities to attract leads. If you are unsure which direction to take with your digital marketing contact me for help.