What Gas Station Owners Need to Know About Voice Search

Okay, Google, please tell me what is voice search exactly?

Voice search is a speech recognition technology that allows users to perform a search online by saying terms out loud rather than typing them into a search field.

That sounds cool. How popular is it?

Voice search is quite popular among mobile users. More than 60% of mobile searchers today, use voice search at least once in a day to get directions, local business recommendations, weather forecast and more.

Wow, that’s some numbers. But why is it so popular anyway?  

We live in the age of immediacy. Consumers want immediate gratification. They seek immediate answers to their queries. And voice search does that perfectly for them.

• It is faster than typing in a question
• It returns a single verbal answer rather than links in response to a search

Alright Google, now the most important question. How does voice search concern my gas station business?  

Glad you asked.

According to a survey by Uberall, mobile “near me” searches have risen by 200% in the last couple of years. These searches are usually associated with general business terms like “restaurants near me”, “grocery stores near me” and “gas stations near me”.

Fuel customers are trying to find you via voice search. They are open to doing business with you if your location is close to theirs. Can your gas station hear them?

Umm…But Google, are you sure that consumers would really want to buy gas from my fuel site given they’re likely to have preferences for certain fuel brands?

One hundred percent!

Fuel customers are the most brand agonistic consumers in the business world. For them, convenience, price and clean gas are the most important things when shopping for fuel; they don’t go after labels.

In fact, there is a whole study on the power of fuel brands which supports this. You can read about it here.

What can I do to make my gas station voice search friendly?

Enlist your gas station across multiple maps, search engines and apps. Also, create an account on Google My Business. Optimize these listings to include information about your operating hours, services, payment options and reviews. Finally, when writing the content for these listings, use long-tail keywords that fuel customers use to search for gas stations in their area.

Thank you Google for your help; you’re great.

For further reading: Is Your Gas Station Taking Advantage of the Quick Bite Rush?