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Branded Bull Podcast
Voice Search and the Green Industry: Can Saying "Hey Google" Actually Win You More Lawn Care Jobs? Ep 90.
00:13:48
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This is the Branded Bull Podcast, a show dedicated to helping take your business to the next level with winning marketing and branding tips and strategies built for today's competitive world. Ready for your business to make its mark and stand out from the competition. Let's get into it.
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Welcome back to another episode of the Branded Bull Podcast. I'm your host, Adam Fullerton, and this is the show dedicated to lawn care and lan giving companies who want to stand out, get found and win more work. Today. Guys, we're talking about something that's been discussed in marketing circles for years and years and years at that point, at this point, and that is voice search. Shout out to Jeremiah from Jay's Lawn Service for asking me about this earlier. And I said, hey, that's a good podcast episode. I'm going to share some pros and cons per usual, some data to help you guys decide whether or not voice search is something you should really consider for your business and to get the visibility that you're looking for and to help grow your business and whether or not it actually should fit into your marketing plan or your marketing strategy. And I'm sure everybody here listening, you've probably used it before. You probably said something like, hey, sir, you find me a pizza place near me? Or maybe while driving, you've asked your phone, hey, Google does who does lawn care? You know, who provides lawn care service near me? Something like that. And the question ultimately is, does voice search actually matter for lawn care and landscaping companies specifically? Since obviously you guys are listening to the show, is this, is it something you should actively optimize for or invest money into? Or is it just another marketing buzzword that sounds exciting but doesn't really move the needle? And so today we're going to go through that. We're going to look at both sides of the argument and help you guys figure out how to evaluate whether voice search is worth your time, your effort, energy, and of course, your money. So let's talk about why some marketers think voice search matters, and we'll kind of do this section by section for the next few minutes. And so let's start with the case for voice search. First. There's no question that voice technology is absolutely everywhere. There are reportedly eight and a half billion, billion with a B voice assistance in use worldwide, which is actually more than the global population, if you think about it. I don't know the exact numbers. I'm not counting. But from my understanding, that's the case. And a large percentage of people are, in fact, using voice commands regularly for example, over 50% of adults report using using voice search daily. Around 32% of customers use voice search to perform searches they would normally type. And here's where things get especially relevant for local businesses like lawn care companies is that about 46% of voice users search for information about local businesses every single day. And what's even more crazy is that 50, almost, I should say almost 60% of consumers use voice search specifically to get details about local businesses. And the majority of voice searches are local in nature. People are searching for things nearby or services or company service providers nearby. In fact, roughly 3/4 of voice searches involve near me in local intent, or I should say, or local intent. That means they're searching for something local again, like I just said. So when someone asks who does landscaping near me? Or hey, find a lawn care service provider near me, that search often has high intent, right? Because they're searching for a specific company in the area, which means the person is probably getting ready to hire someone or at least reaching out for information. And that's exactly the type of search lawn care companies want to show up for. Now, the second part of that is why voice search might be overhyped. So let's look at the other side of the conversation. Because despite all those statistics, and there's plenty of them, many marketing professionals will argue that voice search isn't actually a separate marketing strategy at all. And here's why. Most voice searches still rely on the same Google results as traditional search. So voice assistants typically pull answers from your Google's local map listing or AKA your Google business profile. The top organic search results featured snippets, and in many cases the assistant only reads one answer out loud. It doesn't give you a whole host of, you know, or a whole host of service providers in the area. That means the real competition isn't voice search optimized. I should say the real competition isn't voice search optimization. The real competition is still having great local SEO and a strong local ranking. Another factor is how people actually use voice assistants. And a lot of voice commands are things like, you know, for playing music, checking the weather, setting timers, sending text messages, not necessarily searching for contractors. And some studies also suggest that while many people try voice search, they often go back to typing in their phone or their computer when they're actually trying to have more control over the search results. And there's another practical issue there too. When someone uses voice search, the assistant might only recommend, like I said, one business. That means if you're not the top result voice Search doesn't really help you a whole lot. It actually reduces the number of choices compared to a normal Google search or a ChatGPT search. So the argument for, from a, from a skeptical standpoint is, is very simple. Voice search isn't really a new marketing channel. It's just another way people can access the same set of information or the same search results. Now, that said, voice search really means, I guess, what does it really mean for you guys listening, right? What does that mean for lawn care and landscaping companies? You guys listening? So if both sides ultimately have valid points, right, we talk about pros and cons here, then what should you guys actually do in this case? And the reality is that voice search optimization usually overlaps with good local SEO. In other words, if your online presence is strong already, you're probably doing most of the right things. For voice search, it kind of gets lumped together with Google, with ChatGPT and other LLMs or large language models. Voice search, again, is in there as well. So, for example, voice search relies heavily on your Google business profile, like I said. So that means the basics matter, right? Having accurate business information, correct address and service areas, updated hours, reviews, service descriptions. I mean, businesses with, well, optimized Google profiles are far more likely to receive local inquiries at the end of the day, and that's including those triggered by, again, Voice searches by ChatGPT and other tools. Another factor is how people speak versus how they actually type. And if you type something into Google, like lawn care near me, but voice searches often sound like, you know, who's the best lawn care company near me or who can mow my lawn this week, right? That's a little bit different. And that's why conversational content on your website can help as well. So things like FAQ sections, service explanations, even blog articles that answer common questions, these are all things that voice assistants often pull answers from and use directly in their sort of native or natural language when talking to somebody. So. So the thing is that, though, is kind of the cherry on top. I mean, at the end of the day, a strong foundational local SEO presence is what really matters, right? So last thing I'll say here is, how do you assess whether voice search is worth your time, your effort, and, of course, your money? And I say, hey. Instead of asking, should I optimize for voice search? A better question to ask yourself might be something like, hey, instead, am I doing the right things that make my business easy to find in any type of search? And if that's the case, well, then again, voice search is going to be covered for the most part because of that. So here's a few practical ways that you guys can evaluate this, right? One, test voice search yourself. Pick up your phone and ask who does lawn mowing near me and listen to the answers. Or hey, who's the best landscaper near me? Ask Siri, ask, ask Alexa, or Google, whoever you have in your house, whoever's listening, definitely not the CIA, right? But whoever's listening to you guys with the voice assistance in the home, ask it and find out if it's not yours. Look at what those companies might be doing better than you from a local SEO standpoint. Number two, check your Google business profile. As always, voice assistants again rely heavily on Google Google business directories and databases and details, right, pulled from your profile. So make sure you have your service areas are updated again. You have updated hours, reviews, you know, plenty and plenty of five star reviews. You have all your services listed, you have a completed description, I mean, everything is buttoned up as much as humanly possible in your business profile. And then look at the top results in Google when doing a search. And like I said, voice assistants usually pull answers from the top three or so search results. And if your website isn't ranking to the top already, voice search probably won't change that realistically. So between your profile, between your website, those are massive, massive opportunities to help you be found when it comes to voice search. Last thing here, number four, focus on local authority. We talk about this a lot when it comes to local SEO. But again, reviews, local backlinks are huge. Obviously having a professional website, consistent business listings in citations, you know, name, address, phone number across all the different directories out there. If you want to learn more about any of that, of course, listen to some other episodes where we talk about local SEO or go to brainable.com, look at our local SEO service and get an idea of what that's all about. But these are what are called the trust signals that help Google help Google trust your business, right? They're signals that help Google trust your business. They're called trust signals and that's what determines who gets recommended by Google at the end of the day. And so there's a lot of it, a lot of different factors that go into who gets recommended. But if you're doing those things right, then it again doesn't really come down to where are they searching. It comes down to can you be found and if people are using different mediums, then hey, you have the opportunity to be found. So hopefully that makes sense. Final thoughts is that voice search is absolutely growing. There's no denying that more devices are using voice search, without a doubt. And people clearly like the convenience of speaking into their phone or into Siri or Alexa or whatever it might be instead of typing. But for lawn care companies, for you guys listening, for landscaping companies, you guys listening, the takeaway isn't that you need something, you need to, you know, complicate the entire situation with some sort of voice search strategy. That's a big business problem. What you need to really do and your real takeaway, if you're listening and you got this far, and I apologize for making this longer than it usually is, is that if you're branding your website and your local SEO are strong, you're already positioning your business to show up in voice searches. Naturally, because of that. And at the end of the day, voice assistants are still pulling from the same places customers are already searching. That's Google. That's Google Maps. In the businesses that look the most professional and trustworthy online, those are the ones that are going to be found, stand out and win more work. Stand out, get found and win more work. I said that out of order, but you get the idea. So if that's your goal, that's what you want to do. Focus on the fundamentals. Have a professional brand, have a strong website, a well optimized Google presence, get customer reviews. That's a lot, I know. But that's what is important if you want to capitalize on the opportunity. Because whether someone types it or they ask their phone or they use ChatGPT, those signals, those trust signals, are what determine, like I said, who gets recommended. So that's what I've got, guys. That's another episode of the Brandon Bull Podcast. Every week, every Tuesday, new episodes. If you like what you hear, consider leaving that five star review wherever you're listening. And yeah, subscribe to the podcast if you love this content and it's helping you out. And as always, guys, that's what I got. So I'll catch you on the next episode. Take care.
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Thanks for listening to this episode of the Branded Bull Podcast. The podcast dedicated to giving you expert advice and actionable ideas so that your business can make its mark and stand out from the competition. Like what you heard in today's show. Visit brandedbull.com to see how we can help you achieve your marketing and branding goals. Also, please consider leaving a five star review. And again, thanks for listening.