The Future of SEO

What is voice search?

Do you ever pick up your phone to Google that burning question or to find that local restaurant your friends have been talking about, and decide to search by voice? Well, that is voice search, and according to Google, 20% of mobile searches are now done by voice.

Most modern devices are now built with assistants such as Siri, Amazon Alexa, and Google Assistant. In addition to phones, voice assistants are also integrated into smart home devices like Amazon Echo, Google Home, and Apple HomePod, making voice search more accessible in everyday environments. This has completely changed how audiences access and digest information with instant gratification.

Instead of typing queries on a screen, users can now simply ask their smart speaker out loud, making voice search a more natural and frequent part of daily routines. Due to this becoming increasingly popular, it is now more important than ever for businesses to optimise their content for voice search to compete in their market.

How does voice search impact SEO?

Now that you know what voice search is, you may be wondering, what is the impact of voice search, and how does it affect seo? Well, due to the nature of how the general public speaks, you have to target keywords differently when optimising for voice search. People tend to search in a much more conversational and longer manner when using voice search, so the keywords and keyphrases must change to match this style. People do not type and speak in the same way, and since voice search is usually done through mobile devices and smart speakers like Amazon Echo or Google Nest, your website needs to be optimised for mobile, causing businesses to invest in mobile SEO.

With the introduction of voice-enabled home devices, users are also performing searches in more relaxed, spontaneous ways, often while multitasking, so their questions tend to be more natural, such as “What time does the nearest supermarket close?” rather than a keyword-based search like “supermarket hours.”

People tend to ask questions when conducting a voice search; for example, instead of searching “brown t-shirt mens”, they would verbally ask a voice-activated search, “Where can I buy a brown men’s t-shirt?”. This means that businesses have to account for more conversational queries, changing the way people optimise their website so their audience can find the information they’re looking for.

How to optimise a website for voice search tips

When optimising your website for voice search, there are a few tips and tricks you can follow to get the best possible results. Here are some:

1) Use natural language and long-tail keywords

When it comes to voice search and SEO, it tends to be a lot more conversational and natural than text. This is why it is best to focus on conversational keywords, such as questions. Optimise your content for long-tail keywords and question-based queries to match how people speak, especially within your area if you also want to boost local SEO. Long-tail keywords tend to get less search traffic, but they have a better conversion rate, and when it comes to voice search, they are much more fitted and conversational.

2) Create and optimise FAQ pages

When people search, they typically ask questions, especially on voice search, to find the right answers. By creating an FAQ page on your website or adding an FAQ section on your landing pages, you can help to drive leads to your website by providing the answers to their question.

FAQs are the perfect way to draw in traffic by creating answers to common questions that involve your company, products and industry. These are especially useful for voice assistants like Siri and Alexa, which often pull direct answers from FAQs to respond to queries. By providing your audience with a bit of knowledge, you can draw them in to get to know a little bit more about you and what you’re offering.

3) Create a Google Business profile

Do you want to improve your local SEO? Well, a lot of local traffic comes from your Google Business Profile, as people tend to use voice search to find answers to questions such as “Chinese restaurants near me” or “where can I buy flowers”. When people conduct these voice searches, they can come up with a list of the top three places near them, known as a local SEO 3-pack.

Make sure to claim your Google Business Profile and fill in all the relevant details, such as your address, phone number, opening hours and any images. By doing this and making sure everything is up to date, people can find you using voice search, and you can take it a step further by adding links and reviews to draw them in. This is especially important as more than 58% of people use voice search to find local businesses (Synup); therefore, prioritising local SEO can greatly improve your visibility!

4) Utilise schema markup

Do you want to help Google understand your website better? Well, utilising schema markup is like giving search engines a cheat sheet so they know exactly what your content is about. By doing this, your pages have a better shot at showing up higher in search results, including voice-search results. 

The best way to get started with this is by using Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper. Just pop in your page link, tag the important bits, and you’re good to go! This can be a great way to help you appear in featured snippets, and it may even help lead to more clicks and conversions.

5) Optimise your website

Mobile SEO is important for voice search since it is often done on mobile devices or handheld devices. Your website must also be optimised for these devices and not just desktops. When someone searches via voice on Google through their phone, and they get to your website, but it isn’t optimised, they will just leave. Therefore, make sure you optimise your website for mobile and improve performance on mobile, as this will have a noticeable impact on where your site ranks.

Conclusion

Voice search is completely changing the way people find information online, through multiple devices, and when search changes, so does optimisation. Therefore, to stay ahead, businesses must optimise their website to fit the more conversational keywords. This can be done by focusing on long-tail keywords, improving local SEO, ensuring the website works well on mobile devices, creating FAQ sections that focus on conversational questions, setting up a Google Business profile and using schema markup to help search engines understand your content. 

Need help getting started? Contact us at Clever Clicks Digital today to optimise your website for voice search and mobile use.