Voice Search Optimization

Now people can search for information through voice searches and this trend is growing. Digital assistants are used for voice search. Some of the voice assistants available are Siri, Google Now, Cortona, Alexa and more.

When you optimise your content to rank it higher for voice searches it is called voice search optimization. It helps to make your content compatible with voice queries. With voice search people get to hear the right answer without going through any search results.

Voice search produces only one result and you cannot afford to rank second. You have to optimise your content to get the top spot. You should add voice search optimization in your SEO strategy.

Understanding voice search technology

If you are looking for a solution to a problem and need the answer immediately then you can ask your smartphone. You can optimise your website for voice search so that people can find you. 

For voice searches, you have to use full questions and phrases that are normally used in conversations. As soon as the device has input it will detect the language in which the query is asked. The keyword in the query will be taken and the query will be answered.

Voice search is not the same as typing a query on a desktop. In voice search the keywords are longer and conversational. Google uses knowledge graphs and rich snippets to answer voice queries.

Usually, the snippet result is answered back when someone searches with voice. This helps to give instantaneous results and this is the known characteristic of voice search results.

Voice search technology is used with smartphones, smart speakers and car speakers. Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri and Google Assistant all allow voice searches.

Factors influencing voice search optimisation

Tools can be used to find the actual data behind voice search, its uses and the patterns of user behaviour associated with voice search. This information will help marketers to create better content.

The main difference between text-based search and voice search is that the search terms used for text-based search are quite short. Another difference is the difference in language and conversational speech.

Nearly 20% of voice searches are done using mobile. Therefore you should optimise your website for mobile.  

Technical considerations for voice search optimisation

Voice searches need immediate results and if your website takes a long time to load then the content will not be used to answer the question. Mobile is the most popular device when it comes to voice search queries. Most voice searches are done using mobile therefore you should optimise your website for mobile. Make your website mobile-friendly and use a responsive web design.

These Are The Ways To Do Voice Search Optimization:

While using voice search people use conversational language rather than fancy words and phrases. You should make your content in simple language that people would normally speak in. Voice technology uses Natural Language Processing and therefore it is better to use natural language.

When people use voice search they ask a complete question. Therefore for voice searches you will have to use long tail keywords. You should create content with long tail keywords in your niche to increase the chances of ranking for the voice searches.

Optimising content for voice search

For voice search, you have to find the phrases and the questions that are normally used in conversations between human beings. You can use keyword-finding tools like WebCEO’s Keyword Suggestions for this. Other alternatives are Google Autocomplete and the ‘People Also Ask’  feature. You can also look into forums and websites frequented by your audience,

List the questions on your website page and write answers for them. Make your answers detailed but not long. You can create an FAQ section on your page. Create content that fulfils the user's needs.

Scheme markup helps search engines to understand the purpose of your content and select what is relevant to the user’s question.

Voice search ensures that your website is accessible by all including those with physical limitations.

Technical considerations for voice search optimisation

Voice searches are local friendly and it is important to make it to the top of the voice search results. People use their voice for ‘near me’ searches and the profile is an easy way to tell Google where your business is located.

You should follow the best practices while optimising your content with meta tags. Use natural language and conversational tone should be used for the meta tags.

Most of the voice searches are done for local listings like to find a store or a cafe nearby.

You can optimise your content to rank in the local voice search results. This will bring in more local traffic.

You can get a Google My Business listing to tap the local search results.

When people use voice searches they are more specific and they hope to get a relevant answer.

For example, when you type in ‘Homemade cakes” in the search query you will get results like ‘homemade cake recipes’, ‘homemade cake stores’, ‘homemade cakes to buy’ and more.

Improving user experience for voice search

How your brand interacts with the voice-searhc enabled devices decides what kind of experience a user has. You need to know how to design your vocal user interface. You should first make a flowchart that explains how the voice search users will navigate your website. You should use phrases and questions which are better than long-tail keywords.

Voice search and local SEO

You should optimise your website and Google My Business listing for local searches. Add your name, address and phone to the listing along with customer reviews. For your website you should create FAQ pages that address common questions regarding your business.

For voice search the question would be ‘Where can I buy Homemade chocolate from? You should use interrogatory words in your content. You can create a FAQ section and provide direct answers to the common questions. FAQ should be conversational in nature.

This way it will be easy to find an answer for the user query on your webpage. It will also increase the chances of you ranking in the featured snippets.

Most of the voice search results are from the web pages that have schema markup and structured data. Schema markup helps Google to understand what your content is about.

Once the search crawlers understand the content on your page only then it is ranked for search queries. Therefore you should use schema markup for your web pages.

You should find the questions that people are more likely to ask when they search for your products or services. You should not just focus on the keyword but the questions that get phrased with extra words to get a concise answer. You can build content along such questions.

Google aims to give the best possible answer to the user query. If a user gets an answer from your website then they will trust you more. When you optimise your website for voice search you are trying to put your business in front of more customers. This can help to increase the traffic to your website which can boost your brand and reputation.

Voice searches are faster than typing in a query. Website speed is one of the ranking factors. On an average people do not wait for more than 2-3 seconds for a website to load. Google looks for relevant answers to queries with the least loading time for it to appear in the voice search results. You should optimise your website for speed.

Tracking and measuring voice search performance

You can use tools like Google Search Console. Google Analytics and Google Trends to analyse voice queries. You need to track your position and performance for voice search queries. For this, you can use tools like Moz, Semrush or Ahrefs.

Voice search conversions are the action that people take after hearing your website in the search results. To track voice search conversion you can use tools like Google Analytics. Based on the information you can optimise your website.

Future trends and challenges in voice search optimisation

The global smart speaker market is dominated by virtual assistants followed by wireless speakers. The most owned smart speaker devices are Amazon Echo, Google Nest, HomePod and others. When you use Google Assistant the conversations are kept secure, safe and private. 

Conclusion

If you have not optimised for voice searches then you may lose out on sales. Voice search is gradually rising and you should take advantage of the technology.

You can hire SEO services if you want to optimise your website for voice search.