5 Tips to Optimize Your Website for Voice Search

There’s a new trend in town: an incredible rise in “Voice Search SEO” and this calls for everyone to take their time and learn about it. This new technology is growing so rapidly thanks to its outstanding capabilities.

Today, research shows that one out of two smartphone users is using voice search technology daily. Also, close to three-quarters of users owning voice-activated speaker devices ‘boast’ of their gadgets often being used daily.

Certainly, voice technology is receiving an adorable reception due to numerous reasons. One, as a matter of convenience; people would like to get quick answers without typing on the keyboard/keypad. Secondly, voice technology is surely faster compared with typing.

Thirdly, voice technology is an ideal method for on-the-go mobile searches, and consequently, the mobile application is up. Lastly, there is a surge in the application of smart speakers, and voice technology happens to be the interface between users and these gadgets.

These trends altogether portray a future where we would be talking to all our devices more than we are supposed to type on them – if we are still allowed/enabled to type on them.

What’s Voice search and how is it important?

It can be explained as a technique/technology that enables us to utter commands to get information/data on the web and search engines.

Technology giants such as Apple Inc., Microsoft, and Amazon have built voice technologies that allow users to access information on the internet. But some people would be worried to know how these firms decide the kind of information accurately and precisely answers the questions asked. 

To respond to this, take Google as an example; ever since the infamous Hummingbird Update, the company strives on ranking relevant data to all the searches made with utmost intensity.

But what does it concern voice search? When a person asks a particular question, the most relevant article that answers the question in the best way is sent to them. This new technology is useful as more voice-search-enabled devices are coming up, and consumers are to use them more often.

Technology leaders are reacting accordingly to answer the most probable needs. So, how do we commence? How do we optimize websites for voice search? This can be done in several ways:

Obtain featured snippet

Often, featured snippets represent one among the most sought texts on Google’s SERPs – search engine results pages. And what’s the truth about that? In the real sense, featured snippets do not only secure position 0 but also offer answers to the search query in the most appropriate manner.

Recall that an average voice search question has around 29 words in length. To get the most convenient featured snippet, offer the right answer to the voice query from the audience, including the key details, and keep it short.

Begin by responding to their search query and execute it before the fold on the page you want to rank, most probably in paragraph one.

For instance, looking into examples of queries: what’s the highest building on earth? Looking at the results of the voice search, you’ll see that “the list of the tallest buildings” pops up and you will be listed with these items.

Diving into a similar search from your smartphone, tablet, or PC, the same “line” carries the featured snippet in position 0.

On that particular page, the particular items (buildings like Burj Khalifa, Shanghai Tower, KXJB-TV Tower, and the like) are placed before the fold and structured in a manner that Google just retrieves the essential information when a selection is made on any of them.

Thus the line ranks in the first position on voice search as well as in the featured snippet for both PCs and handsets. Ideally, this assists in increasing the traffic to web pages and sounds good.

Increasing your mobile interaction and improving site speed.

In the past years, Google has been indexing its websites to become mobile-first optimized. What this means is that websites are indexed based upon their mobile versions (how they appear when viewed on a smartphone, tablet, or any other handset).

The reason behind it is that the majority of voice searches are performed on mobile devices, and this is where much effort of the optimization should be focused. Ideally, Google understands whether or not a particular website is deemed mobile-friendly and from here it’s ranked.

It’s therefore simple to decipher if a website has been optimized: through Google Search Console, an examination of your website to determine if it’s accomplished or whether it requires some improvement is executed. 

For instance, you might be having JavaScript problems that slow down your interaction with the website or your page might be having loading problems rendering it mobile-unfriendly. In such a case, Google Search Console diagnoses the issue and its location.

The speed of the site is proportional to the optimization of your device. Let’s review an example of a real-life situation. You’re busy with your tasks in your workplace or the house and you are performing voice search on your smartphone and unfortunately, the web page is loading too slowly.

Will you wait for the page to load or you are going to find another option? By improving the speed of your site, a better and quality user experience is created and your consumers feel appreciated.

Moreover, this signals Google that you’re surfing on a user-friendly web page. Ultimately, your ranking will be elevated and your web page will earn high chances of receiving the envied featured snippet.

Creating conversational content

When you are using voice search, certainly you tend to utter more conversational content than when typing on the keyboard. Recall about it; you do not say the same words as you would communicate online.

For instance, when searching for the “most expensive cars” on PC (using the keyboard), you’ll just type “the most expensive cars”.

While using voice search, it becomes a bit different as your choice of words appears to be more conversational like “what are the most expensive cars?” And the searches produce diverse results.

The majority of voice searches constitute long-tailed keywords, implying that they contain more particulars to what users are looking for.

With the creation of conversational content focusing on these keywords, you stand a better chance of getting to the targeted consumers and attracting substantive traffic to your site.

Focusing on local searches

It’s been found that a large portion of internet users apply voice search to interact with local businesses’ websites. Also, close to half of searches performed on Google are absolute through voice search.

The upward trend exhibits that the local businesses are going to benefit exceedingly from voice search technologies. Optimizing your website for popular local searches will earn you an edge over your rivals.

Using long-tail keyword search

As above-mentioned, long-tailed keywords play very well in voice search in gaining a bigger market share of the featured snippet as well as showing up in the prime time spots of Google.

The long-tailed keywords encounter light competition while having low search volume. They are more of specific searches and have been portrayed to be question-founded queries.

It implies that only a few web pages target these particular and only a handful of users search for them.

Sneh Ratna Choudhary, Beaconstac’s Content Marketing Manager says “Long-tail keywords are usually high-intent keywords with low search volumes that potential customers use when in the consideration and decision making stage of the funnel.

Targeting these keywords is a sure-fire way of improving conversion rates and acquiring engaged leads from your target market”. Optimizing long-tail keyword content pieces for voice search can be doubly effective. 

 Nevertheless, a better and quicker method of finding the questions queried by users is by applying the “Answer the Public” tool. What the “Answer the Public” tool does is to take the topic of interest and generate an array of questions associated with it.

Once the list of questions is pulled, the user can easily plug them into the research tool like SEMrush, Ahrefs, et al. Thus, Answer The Public can be used to generate more traffic too.

The keyword research tool assists the user in generating search volume, keyword difficulty as well as numerous ranking metrics. The long-tail keywords have conversational intent.

By producing a huge volume of such keywords, you’re strategizing and creating substantive content that has a higher ranking and meeting the audience in their right spots.

Also, depending on the type of business you’re pursuing, the type of content you’re creating will vary. 

Nonetheless, if you aren’t sure the kind of content to prepare, consider using Google. It is a free and easy keyword research enabler.

From here (on Google), you can see diverse views from various people and their perceptions and how/why it’s useful to them. By conducting some small audits about what Google considers important on the relevant content, it’s easy to determine what type is ideal for you.

Conclusion

Concluding, as the world of artificial intelligence is becoming more advanced, the capability of voice search in upgrading the marketing arena is as well growing.

Now voice search is here with us and we must use it appropriately to earn the best results, you will need to recall the following as you commence your new journey on Voice search: first, talk like you’re conversing with a friend whereas it’s your device you’re talking to.

Secondly, Google, thirdly, apply keywords around the H1 tags, fourth, use schema, and lastly, know trigger words. Moving in that direction, voice search will drastically impact your SEO experience.

Acodez is a leading digital marketing agency in India. Our services includes SEO, SMM, SMO, PPC, and content marketing services to ensure that your website’s rank among the top results on the search engine. We are also a leading player in the website design company India arena, offering all kinds of web design and web development services at affordable prices. For further information, please contact us today.