Voice search optimization in digital media: challenges, use and training

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2023.may.07

Keywords:

Digital news media, Voice search optimization, VSO, Digital journalism, Web visibility, Search engine optimization, SEO, Voice search, Training

Abstract

In view of the widespread use of virtual voice assistants and/or voice searches on smartphones to find all kinds of information, this article explores voice search optimisation (VSO) and its application in the journalistic sector. To this end, 32 semi-structured interviews were conducted with experts representing different professional profiles in the fields of journalism, search engine optimisation (SEO) and academic research. On the basis of the data, eight semantic categories were created and the experts´ perceptions were correlated to identify response patterns. The results confirm the existence of various degrees of convergence and divergence between these three professional profiles in relation to different dimensions of VSO, such as its definition, its techniques, its current and future strategic role in digital media, and its application in journalistic writing. This study confirms that although the use of VSO in digital news media is still in its embryonic stages, it will be useful in the medium and long term to train journalists in basic aspects of voice searches. In addition, internal SEO departments should be prepared to optimise the visibility of news for virtual voice assistants when they become widespread and when the technology companies that develop these assistants define a viable business model.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Alves, Kellyanne; Dí­az-Noci, Javier (2019). "Informatius de televisioÌ i audieÌ€ncia activa: Estudi de cas de TV3-TelevisioÌ de Catalunya". ComunicacioÌ, n. 36, n. 1, pp. 9-29. https://doi.org/10.2436/20.3008.01.176

Amazon (2022). Alexa skills kit. https://amzn.to/3KsLmMS

Barr, Alistair (2014). "Google to shut Google News in Spain in response to new law". The Wall Street Journal, 10 December. https://www.wsj.com/articles/google-shutting-google-news-in-spain-1418265199

Bonelli, Sherry (2017). "How to optimize for voice search". Search engine land, May 1. https://searchengineland.com/optimize-voice-search-273849

Cachón, Marí­a-José (2019). "¡Esto es La Voz!". Sistrix toolbox, 27 abril. https://es.slideshare.net/sistrixES/esto-es-la-voz-mjcachon-en-ensaladaseo

Carlson, Matt (2007). "Order versus access: News search engines and the challenge to traditional journalistic roles". Media, culture & society, v. 29, n. 6, pp. 1014-1030. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443707084346

Charlton, Graham (2016). "How much do journalists and editors need to know about SEO?". Search engine watch, March 15. https://bit.ly/1UIOyp5

Checa, Esther (2020). "Qué oportunidad tienen las marcas si quieren optimizar para voz". Vamos Talegon, 28 abril. https://www.slideshare.net/EstherCheca/que-oportunidad-tienen-las-marcas-si-quieren-optimizar-para-voz-234779052

Codedesign (2023). Voice search optimization. A complete guide in 2023. https://codedesign.org/voice-search-optimization-complete-guide

Coller, Xavier (2000). Estudio de caso. Colección cuadernos metodológicos. Madrid: Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas. https://bit.ly/2NjqLPZ

Dick, Murray (2011). "Search engine optimization in UK news production". Journalism practice, v. 5, n. 4, pp. 462-477. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2010.551020

Edell, Patrick (2023). "How Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant lost the A.I. race". The New York Times, 16 March. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/15/technology/siri-alexa-google-assistant-artificial-intelligence.html

Fagundes-Pase, André; Noll, Giselle; Gomes-Da Fontoura, Mariana; Dallegrave, Leticia (2020). "Who controls the voice? The journalistic use and the informational domain in vocal transactors". Brazilian journalism research, v. 16, n. 3. https://doi.org/10.25200/BJR.v16n3.2021.1316

Garcí­a-Carretero, Lucí­a; Codina, Lluí­s; Dí­az-Noci, Javier; Iglesias-Garcí­a, Mar (2016). "Herramientas e indicadores SEO: caracterí­sticas y aplicación para análisis de cibermedios". El profesional de la información, v. 25, n. 3, pp. 497-504. https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2016.may.19

Gareth, Brian (2022). "Voice search: 10 ways to optimize your site for future SEO success". Search engine journal, May 16. https://www.searchenginejournal.com/voice-search-optimization-seo-webceo/446158

Giomelakis, Dimitrios; Veglis, Andreas (2015). "Investigating search engine optimization factors in media websites. The case of Greece". Digital journalism, v. 4, n. 3, pp. 379-400. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2015.1046992

Gonzalo-Penela, Carlos; Codina, Lluí­s; Rovira, Cristí²fol (2015). "Recuperación de información centrada en el usuario y SEO: Categorización y determinación de las intenciones de búsqueda en la Web". Index.ComunicacioÌn, v. 5, n. 3, pp. 19-27. https://indexcomunicacion.es//index.php/indexcomunicacion/article/view/197

Google (2018). Speakable beta. https://bit.ly/3LLOvrg

Google (2021). Search quality rating guidelines. https://bit.ly/3LImdOc

Google (2022). Actions on Google. https://bit.ly/3v1Rrcw

Guallar, Javier (2015). "Prensa digital en 2013-2014". Anuario ThinkEPI, v. 9, pp. 153-160. https://doi.org/10.3145/thinkepi.2015.37

Guy, Ido (2018). "The characteristics of voice search: Comparing spoken with typed-in mobile web search queries". Transactions on information systems, v. 36, n. 3. https://doi.org/10.1145/3182163

Huffman, Scott (2014). "OMG! Mobile voice survey reveals teens love to talk". Google, October 14. https://blog.google/products/search/omg-mobile-voice-survey-reveals-teens

Isidigitaldata (2020). El uso de la tecnologí­a de voz en España. https://bit.ly/3jkSJd6

Jones, Kristopher (2019). "How SEOs can master voice search now". Search engine land, 22 April. https://bit.ly/3umAWsw

Jung, Hyunhoon; Hwang, Changhoon; Hwang, Gilhwan; Yoonjung, Cindy; Lee, Joonhwan; Suh, Bongwon (2019). "Tell me more: Understanding user interaction of smart speaker news powered by conversational search". In: CHI Conference on human factors in computing systems extended abstracts (CHI´19 Extended Abstracts), May 4-9, Glasgow, Scotland Uk. ACM, New York, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.1145/3290607.3312979

Kischinhevsky, Marcelo (2019). "De las sí­ntesis informativas a los resúmenes para altavoces inteligentes, desafí­os al periodismo radiofónico de carácter local". Estudios sobre el mensaje periodí­stico, v. 26, n. 1, pp. 167-175. https://doi.org/10.5209/esmp.67296

Lee, Angela M.; Chyi, Hsiang-Iris (2015). "The rise of online news aggregators: Consumption and competition". International journal on media management, v. 17, n. 1, pp. 3-24. https://doi.org/10.1080/14241277.2014.997383

Lochrie, Mark; De-Neef, Robin; Mills, John; Davenport, Jack (2018). "Designing immersive audio experiences for news and information in the Internet of things using text-to-speech objects". In: Proceedings of the 32nd International BCS Human computer interaction conference (HCI). https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/HCI2018.90

Lopezosa, Carlos; Codina, Lluí­s; Dí­az-Noci, Javier; Ontalba, José-Antonio (2020). "SEO and the digital news media: From the workplace to the classroom. [SEO y cibermedios: De la empresa a las aulas]". Comunicar, v. 63, pp. 65-75. https://doi.org/10.3916/C63-2020-06

Lopezosa, Carlos; Trillo-DomiÌnguez, Magdalena; Codina, Lluí­s; Cabrera-MeÌndez, Marga (2021). "SEO in the journalistic company: perceptions and key elements for its adoption in writing". Revista latina de comunicacioÌn social, n. 79, pp. 27-45. https://www.doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2020-1487

Lovato, Silvia B.; Piper, Anne-Marie (2019). "Young children and voice search: What we know from human-computer interaction". Frontiers in psychology, v. 10, n. 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00008

Machill, Marcel; Beiler, Markus; Zenke, Martin (2008). "Search-engine research: A European-American overview and systematization of an interdisciplinary and international research field". Media, culture & society, v. 30, n. 5, pp. 591-608. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443708094010

Mairesse, Franí§ois; Raccuglia, Paul; Vitaladevuni, Shiv (2016). "Search-based evaluation from truth transcripts for voice search applications". In: Proceedings of the 39th International ACM SIGIR conference on research and development in information retrieval, pp. 985-988. https://doi.org/10.1145/2911451.2914735

Makhyan, Ludwig (2022). "Voice search optimization at scale: A guide for enterprise marketers". Search engine journal, March 24. https://www.searchenginejournal.com/voice-search-optimization-guide/437467

Marcos-Recio, Juan-Carlos; SaÌnchez-Vigil, Juan-Miguel; Olivera-Zaldua, Marí­a (2015). "Google News y el impacto de la Ley de propiedad intelectual en la prensa: un nuevo amanecer para la información". Documentación de las ciencias de la información, v. 38, pp. 67-81. https://doi.org/10.5209/rev_DCIN.2015.v38.50809

Mehdi, Yusuf (2023). "Reinventing search with a new AI-powered Microsoft Bing and Edge, your copilot for the web". Official Microsoft blog, February 7. https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2023/02/07/reinventing-search-with-a-new-ai-powered-microsoft-bing-and-edge-your-copilot-for-the-web

Muhr, Thomas (1991). "Atlas/ti. A prototype for the support of text interpretation". Qualitative sociology, v. 14, n. 4, pp. 349-371. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00989645

Newman, Nic (2018). The future of voice and the implications for news. Digital News Project. Reuters Institute; University of Oxford. https://bit.ly/3LOJ1fj

Paulus, Trena M.; Lester, Jessica-Nina (2015). "Atlas.ti for conversation and discourse analysis studies". International journal of social research methodology, v. 19, n. 4, pp. 405-428. https://doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2015.1021949

Pedrosa, Leyberson; De-Morais, Osvando-José (2021). "Visibilidad web en buscadores. Factores algorí­tmicos de SEO on page (FAOP) como técnica e práctica periodí­stica". Estudios sobre el mensaje periodí­stico, v. 27, n. 2, pp. 579-591. https://doi.org/10.5209/esmp.71291

Pichai, Sundar (2023). "An important next step on our AI journey". Google. The keyword, February 6. https://blog.google/technology/ai/bard-google-ai-search-updates

Rabit & Pork (2021). Voice search ranking report. https://bit.ly/38BRynI

Sa, Ning (2016). "Improving query reformulation in voice search system". CHIIR "˜16: Proceedings of the 2016 ACM on Conference on human information interaction and retrieval, pp. 365-367. ISBN: 978 1 4503 3751 https://doi.org/10.1145/2854946.2854951

Schema.org (2018). Schema Speakable. https://schema.org/speakable

SchultheiíŸ, Sebastian; Lewandowski, Dirk (2020). ""˜Outside the industry, nobody knows what we do´ SEO as seen by search engine optimizers and content providers". Journal of documentation, v. 77, n. 2, pp. 542-557. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-07-2020-0127

Shokouhi, Milad; Ozertem, Umut; Craswell, Nick (2016). "Did you say U2 or YouTube?: Inferring implicit transcripts from voice search logs". In: WWW´16: Proceedings of the 25th international conference on World Wide Web, pp. 1215-1224. ISBN: 978 1 45034143 https://doi.org/10.1145/2872427.2882994

Smyrnaios, Nikos; Rebillard, Franck (2009). "L´actualité selon Google. L´emprise du principal moteur de recherche sur l´information en ligne". Communication et langages, n. 160, pp. 95-109. https://doi.org/10.4074/S0336150009002087

Smyrnaios, Nikos; Sire, Guillaume (2014). "The news according to Google how does algorithmic infomediation frame the work of French journalists?". In: JSS-Ecrea 2014 Conference, Thessaloniki. https://bit.ly/33bA5tN

Spencer, Stephan (2017). "How to rank for "˜position 0´ in 3 simple steps: A featured snippets primer". Search engine land, 30 April. https://bit.ly/3rwzdiD

Sterling, Greg (2016). "Google says 20 percent of mobile queries are voice searches. Voice search growing as virtual assistant market heats up". Search engine land, May 18. https://bit.ly/3rbBwY2

Sulé-Duesa, Andreu (2015). "Schema.org, la millora de la visualització dels resultats en els cercadors i molt més". BiD: textos universitaris de biblioteconomia i documentació, v. 34. https://doi.org/10.1344/BiD2015.34.23

Turow, Joseph (2021). "Journalism and the voice intelligence industry". Digital journalism, v. 9, n. 7, pp. 1000-1006. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2020.1829979

Valles, Miguel S. (2002). Entrevistas cualitativas. Colección cuadernos metodológicos. Madrid: Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas. ISBN: 978 84 74763423

Published

2023-05-09

How to Cite

Lopezosa, C., Codina, L., Guallar, J., & Pérez-Montoro, M. (2023). Voice search optimization in digital media: challenges, use and training . Profesional De La información, 32(3). https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2023.may.07

Issue

Section

Research articles