Do you ever talk into your phone or computer to find information? If so, you certainly aren’t alone. Using voice assistants is more common than ever before. Given this rise in popularity, organizations should be optimizing their websites to help these users find them. This is referred to as voice search optimization or voice search SEO. In this post, we’ll discuss more about the topic, including tips on how to optimize for voice search on your website.
What is voice search SEO?
Voice search SEO is the use of SEO tactics to optimize your content to appear in voice search results. Voice search SEO revolves around optimizing your content to address common verbal queries. It helps voice search technologies display your page in the search results. Siri from Apple and Alexa from Amazon are among the most popular voice search providers today.
Understanding the Impact of Voice Search on SEO
Standard SEO has long been used to help organizations achieve higher rankings in search results. So why does voice SEO need its own set of rules and techniques? The answer lies in the differences between voice and text search queries. When people speak into a device, the questions tend to be more conversational. They’re more like how we talk in day-to-day conversations. On the other hand, standard text search is usually less conversational and more concise.
What are the key updates in SEO related to voice search?
SEO continues to evolve by putting a primary focus on user experience, such as voice search. While keywords have always been essential for SEO, now entire key phrases hold great importance. People tend to use complete sentences when using voice search, so your keywords must reflect this and include the long-tail phrases people use.Just like updates for standard SEO, Google also makes updates for voice search optimization. One major upgrade was seen with Google's Hummingbird algorithm. It made Google more equipped to understand natural language, and it also put emphasis on semantic search.
Benefits of Attracting Voice Search Traffic
The primary advantage of voice SEO is to attract more users to your website. This can lead to more subscriptions, higher profits, and better visibility on the web. While SEO can bring in tons of users, voice search SEO can extend your reach even further.Secondly, bringing in this traffic can create more brand awareness. If you’re able to master how to optimize for voice search, your business can appear on the first page of search results. Furthermore, you may even outrank your competitors.
Optimizing for Voice Search: Effective Strategies
Looking to boost your voice search optimization efforts? Check out these tips and tricks below:
Optimize for Local Search
Local businesses rely on local SEO to bring in customers from nearby areas. Local SEO involves helping these businesses rank higher on search results, which is crucial for their success. Additionally, local SEO tactics are also a great way to optimize for voice search.Voice search strongly emphasizes local information, so it’s important to keep these businesses updated with the correct details. This can be easily accomplished with an up-to-date Google My Business profile. Voice search often pulls information from these listings.
Create Conversational but Concise Content
Content is a strong focal point for mastering voice search engine optimization. As voice search is all about using conversational language, you need that to show in your content. It’s essential to have authenticity and value in your copy. Try developing more content that resembles an everyday, casual conversation with another person.
Use Structured Data
Utilizing structured data, such as schema markup, is also an important step to optimize for voice search. Schema markup is a code added to your website’s HTML to help search engines populate more detailed results. It enables search engines to organize and classify content faster and more efficiently. This can lead to more clicks, increased visibility, and even higher rankings in voice search results.
Claim Your Google My Business Listing
As we mentioned previously, updating information in your Google My Business profile is essential. However, it’s even more crucial to have accurate details. Google typically provides higher voice search rankings to those with the most accurate information. Be sure to provide essential details, such as contact info and opening hours. Keep in mind you must claim your business on Google before editing anything.
Be Mobile-Friendly
Most people use their cell phones when looking for a restaurant, store, or other business. That said, you need your website to be mobile-friendly. Google considers the mobile experience as a crucial element of a good website, so you’ll be rewarded with higher rankings by making your site more mobile-friendly.
Create Content Answering Frequently Asked Questions
Another great approach is to craft content that answers frequently asked questions about your industry or customer needs. You can gain valuable insights by analyzing the ‘people also ask’ queries after searching for a related question. For example, when you type “what is voice seo” into Google, the ‘people also ask’ section shows other related questions, such as “How do I use voice search in SEO?” and “Why is voice search optimization important?”. Incorporating answers to these questions into your content is a valuable trick on how to optimize for voice search.
Voice Search Optimization: Your Voice Matters
Did you know 27% of mobile users utilize voice search on their smartphones? With this kind of traffic, voice search SEO shouldn’t be an afterthought. In addition to following the tips listed above, we encourage you to continuously adapt to changing search behaviors and search engine algorithms.Need help with your voice search SEO? If so, Symphonic Digital is the name you can trust. We deliver proven, performance-driven digital marketing campaigns for small and medium-sized businesses. Contact us today to discuss your voice search optimization needs!
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