In the past few years, there has been a major increase in popularity among smart devices such as Alexa and Google Home, as well digital assistants like Siri and Cortana. As these technologies become more integrated in our every day lives, they raise a lot of interesting questions about the future of search engine optimization.

Current SEO tactics involve researching and predicting what keywords user will search when looking for a good or service. However, while most searches happen in a choppy, keyword-based manner, voice searches are more conversational. These keywords are known in the voice search world as long-tail+. The plus is the name is referring to those organic, conversational phrases that should be included if you are trying to optimize for voice searches.

It’s important to identify the types of questions a consumer may be asking their digital assistant that could apply to your business, and then create content pages that focus on those longer search terms. A great way to go about doing so is by utilizing an FAQ page. Here you can word natural-sounding questions and phrases to best match the way someone would normally talk to their digital assistant. Not only does this optimize for voice searches, but this is also a great way to optimize for featured snippets on Google, which appear at the very top of a Google search page. Additionally, about 40% of voice search answers come from featured snippets.

While voice search is on the rise, it is still not the primary way people choose to search. It’s not an urgent matter, and it may not even be significantly beneficial for your company to address. However, it is something to consider and keep an eye on. Technologies have the ability to drastically change the way we do things in our everyday life, including search the web.