“Hey Google, what is the temperature today?”
If you’ve ever asked your smartphone a question that required an internet search, you’ve done a voice search. Digital Assistants like Siri, Alexa, Cortana or Google Assistant all rely on a user’s voice to perform a task instead of typing directly into Google. With the emergence of smartphones, smart speakers and even smart houses, voice search is a huge trend that is here to stay. By the year 2020, it is estimated that 50% of all searches will be voice searches. It is also predicted that 30% of all searches will be done without a screen, and 55% of households in the United States will own a smart speaker or digital assistant.
Optimizing for Voice Search
We often get questions asking about how to optimize content for voice search. There are many ways that you can optimize for voice search, but ultimately, optimizing your site for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) in general will help greatly with voice search.
Here are a few top tactics to help with voice search (and your overall SEO).
Optimize for Conversational Keywords and Search Informed Content
Threading in conversational keywords is not only helpful for voice search, but it helps your overall user experience. Write a FAQ page, blog, or content that answers your user’s questions. Make sure you are using search-informed content – meaning content and keywords that people actually search for. Find out what your audience is looking for, and try to answer that question for them.
Domain Authority
Unlike the traditional Google search results on a desktop with multiple link options, there is only one answer in a voice search. This means that Google must be very confident that they are serving up the right information the first time. Studies have shown that Google is more likely to provide a result that has a high domain authority because it is a “trusted” site. Making sure you have a cohesive brand strategy, social media plan, local search, and quality links can help your overall domain authority.
Local Search
This one is important because you want to optimize for local search queries like, “best Mexican food near me.” Make sure you claim your business on Google’s my Business, add “near me” keywords to your content, and check if your business’s local knowledge panel is up to date.
Optimize for Mobile
This involves making sure your content is mobile-friendly. Things that can help with this include improving your site speed for mobile and using the mobile Google search tool.
Use Structured Data
Structured data are little bits of markup on your website’s code that help tell search engines what the page is about. Making sure you have structured data on your website is not only helpful for voice search, but it is also helpful for organic search in the traditional search landscape as well.
Optimizing for voice search may seem like a new and overwhelming task, but the bottom line is that if you optimize well for organic search (SEO), then voice search will follow suit. We hope that this article helps you understand the basics of voice search. We are here for you and can walk you through every step of the process, just give us a shout.