To begin with, it is obvious to many of us that the use of voice search is proliferating, and for good reasons. One reason is that many people find it easier to verbalize what they want to say than to type it out. While the convenience seems to be the major reason for most users, there are many others, which will be discussed later in this article. One of the main aims of SEO is to provide the best results for queries made on search engines. It is then the duty of webmasters to optimize the content and platforms to adapt to whatever method users make search queries with, which in many cases is voice search.
If you are a webmaster, content creator, or end user looking for tips on how to better optimize your platform for voice search or get better results from said search method, you have arrived at the right page.
Voice Search and the Future of SEO
Many studies have been made on how fast the use of voice search is increasing, and the results so far have been interesting, to say the least. Here are some recent statistics gathered so far.
- 27% of the global online population uses voice search on their mobile devices.
- 41% of US adults and 55% of US teens use voice search daily.
- 6% of US consumers have used voice search.
- Voice search is only the sixth most popular voice activity.
- Voice search is the second most popular channel for mobile searches
- Smartphones are the most popular devices for voice search.
Perhaps the biggest detail that can be extracted from these results is the fact that the figures quoted were far less just 365 days ago. We can then imagine where they will be a year or two from now. What’s more, voice queries are more conversational and organic which is the direct opposite of typed searches where users input as few keywords as possible in order to get the best possible results. This means users will get the feeling of having a chat with an expert on the other end, instead of being redirected to more websites and blogs as obtainable in typed web searches.
You are probably already familiar with voice assistant software. Here are some of the mainstream ones and the devices they come with:
- Google Home: Google
- Amazon Echo/Alexa: Bing
- Google Assistant: Google
- iPhone/Siri: Safari
- Android phones and devices: Google
- Microsoft Cortana: Bing
This means that any device, including your phone, TV, portable speaker, and others, has the capability of conducting a voice search on the internet.
Voice Search Vs Text Search
You might be wondering why voice search has its own category of optimization if you work in the web industry as a marketer, website owner, or SEO specialist. You, presumably, are familiar with typical SEO tactics for ranking higher in search results.
While there are some similarities between on-page search optimization and voice search optimization, voice search differs significantly from text searches on websites like Google.com in several key ways.
Specifically, compared to text searches, voice search inquiries are more conversational. They sound more like the way we speak in daily life. For example, a user may enter “where are some decent spas near me?” into a voice search engine. Whereas text search inquiries are more often phrased like “spa near me,” for example.
Search engines became better at deciphering the meanings of longer, more conversational questions and returning pertinent results as voice search gained popularity. By identifying the underlying meaning of searches (rather than just the specific terms in a query) and offering more pertinent results to more conversational voice queries, Google’s Hummingbird and BERT algorithm improvements shifted the emphasis on searcher intent.
Now it’s your responsibility to provide material that voice search users will find useful. Thankfully, you don’t have to change your current SEO approach in order to increase voice search traffic. We’ll discuss several methods to assist you in the next section.
How to Optimize your Content for Voice Search Queries
Voice search optimization is a set of SEO strategies that increases the likelihood that your content will show up in voice search results. In order for voice search technology and virtual assistants to expose your page to users in voice search results, your content must meet typical verbal search inquiries. Here are some tried-and-true methods and actions you should take to modify your content and platform so that it appears in voice search query results.
1. Construct Conversational and Brief Content
The days of overusing keywords in your content just to appease spiders are long gone. In order to succeed with SEO, you must be genuine, speak naturally, and provide worthwhile material.
Voice search is a good example of this because when individuals search orally, they speak more naturally than when they type a search term into a search engine. Not merely for voice search purposes, your material should flow naturally with the way consumers speak to their voice assistants.
The rankings of today emphasize the user experience. The websites that provide the best information and share the best experiences will be ranked at the top.
To accomplish this, you must provide consumers with quick access to the information they require (while being succinct), and you must do so in a fun manner (natural, conversational language). By doing this, you can satisfy user intent by utilizing the language they used in their voice searches, and you also increase user engagement.
2. Optimize Local Search Efficacy
When compared to text-based searches, voice searches are three times more likely to be for local information.
This makes sense if you stop to think about it. It’s simple to pull out your mobile device while you’re out and about and need a quick answer to your issue. This indicates that it’s crucial to concentrate on the local component of your SEO.
Local SEO is already a crucial component of digital marketing for many firms. Nearly 46% of all searches are local, and the users who conduct these searches are highly motivated. Local customers are the ones who will go into your store and make an immediate purchase; thus, being visible in the local search pack is crucial, especially if you run a brick and mortar establishment.
The fundamentals of local SEO are the same as those of standard SEO, and the crucial component—which many websites overlook—is continuously identifying yourself as a local business. Ensure that the material you produce is pertinent to your neighborhood and that your copy incorporates local keywords.
3. Include Frequently Asked Questions
When conducting voice searches, individuals frequently use queries. Google is wonderful for this because it offers you a better understanding of the questions people regularly ask.
Look through the results after typing a question about your website. There’s a good probability you’ll see a “people also ask” box. You can see the questions your target audience frequently asks by using the FAQ tool, which is available for various inquiries.
You can start producing outstanding content that responds to those inquiries once you have a good understanding of the queries people use to seek information. It’s all about the user experience, as has been stated throughout this post, and in order to provide the best experience possible, you must first have relevant content.
Provide information, alleviate people’s problems, and make it fun. You will have a great chance of ranking if you can do this better than all the other websites.
4. Implement structured data
Who was the country’s first president? is a question you can ask your voice-activated device. Your gadget will probably begin reading out a response about George Washington.
How does it determine which passage of text to read when this information is pulled from a lengthy website about George Washington? Structured data probably contains the solution.
A page’s relevancy and position in search results are determined by a number of variables other than its content by search engines. These extra elements are used by skilled SEOs to better optimize their content for search engines.
One such element is schema markup, commonly referred to as “structured data.” Although it has no direct impact on rankings, it can give you an advantage over rivals, especially when it comes to voice search.
It is essentially metadata: information about the content of your website. It enters the source code of your website. Although visitors cannot see it, microdata aids in the organization and classification of your content by search engines. Due to the work involved, it is an underused tactic.
5. Make your Content and Platform Mobile Friendly
Smartphones quickly transitioned from being an expensive, innovative new technology to an everyday item. Anyone leaving the house without their phone seems odd to us in the modern world. People looking at their phones are a common sight in public spaces like theater lobbies and hospital waiting areas (back when those places were open, that is). This means that for website owners, it is past time for your website to offer a positive mobile experience. Here are some tried-and-true measures.
- Select a theme or template that is mobile responsive.
- Content should be reduced, and pictures and CSS should be as light as feasible.
- Observe Flash
- Modify the button’s size and location.
- Spacing between your links
- Use a readable, large font.
- Get rid of pop-ups
- A regular test
6. Get Featured Snippets for Your Site
Position Zero, or snippet was mentioned earlier when we noted that voice search selects the top search result. Being the top result in organic search is no longer sufficient. You’ll have to set even higher goals. Featured snippets are the source of 40.7% of voice search outcomes.
The majority of the work is already done if your website has a FAQ page. Voice search and highlighted snippets both favor brief yet clear responses to user inquiries. Here, straightforward language is best: Avoid using academic jargon because research has discovered that the average Google voice search result is written at a 9th-grade level.
7. Engage Social Media
Yes, social media is compatible with voice searches as well. The results of voice searches frequently receive a ton of Facebook, Twitter, and other social network likes and shares. Make sure the pages are active and show them a lot of tender loving care. More users will find you through a virtual assistant the more frequently you interact with them.
8. Employ Schema Markup
This is so that search engines may choose the elements that are most pertinent to the user’s query by understanding the function of each element on a page thanks to structured data. Google is also hard at work on a “speakable” schema property. It’s used to mark up material on your website that you want the smart assistant to read.
We predict Google wants Schema to have more influence over voice search. Voice search isn’t a trend; rather, it is indeed gradually taking over. A voice assistant is used at least once a month by 40% of internet users in the United States, mostly on their smartphones and smart speakers. By 2024, there will be more than 200 million smart speakers worldwide, including in the United States.
No matter what sector you’re in, voice search offers a crucial additional opportunity to gain organic search traffic. By utilizing voice search, you may reach a new group of consumers who use their smartphones and smart speakers to look for businesses and make purchases.
Voice search optimization can also benefit your site’s overall SEO and rating. Search engines enjoy it when websites are voice search optimized since it gives your site more authority and lands it higher positions on results pages, possibly even in the voice search results.
Voice search has developed over the past ten years to become a significant player in the SEO industry, and it isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Especially if you’re a local business looking to increase website traffic and foot traffic, you should actively work to grab this vital group in addition to being aware of voice search searches.
By applying the above recommendations, you’ll improve the reputation of your website with search engines, which will help you attract more traffic through voice searches. Even if you don’t initially see any changes, these actions will help your site’s overall SEO. That sounds like a win-win situation. We will provide even more details on this as they are needed. Do stay in touch with us.
