Voice search is growing rapidly and is here to stay. With artificial intelligence (AI) becoming a household name thanks to Alexa or Siri, it is important that SEOs know how to optimize for it. People interact with voice searches daily, using a variety of devices like cell phones, cars, appliances and more. And, it is estimated that in the coming years, more people will be using voice search than ever.
Voice Search Schema Markup
Schema markup and structured data are very important signals to Google about your website. They provide instructions not just on what your page is about, but also about the intent of your site.
We often get asked about how to optimize for voice search. Clients wonder: is there a specific schema markup we should be using to leverage this trend?
The bottom line is this – implementing structured data will greatly affect your SEO rankings overall. And will help for voice search. We recommend a solid and structured data strategy to all website owners, as it can provide valuable information to Google about your page. Take a look at our voice search overview blog for more info.
User Intent
With Google becoming more intuitive and constantly learning through algorithms and updates, they are trying to show search results based on user intent. Gone are the days of typing a single keyword into the search bar and seeing results for that keyword only.
For Google to get a full picture of your website, you need to provide the right instructions.
This is where structured data comes in. It helps explain what your page is about, and how people might want to use it. The more Google understands the bigger picture of your page and its content, the better it will be at presenting your page in search results.
Speakable Schema
Google has recently released support of a new markup aimed at news publishers trying to get their content into Google Assistant (Google’s smart speaker or AI). This schema.org property is in beta testing and could eventually change.
According to Google, “The speakable schema.org property identifies sections within an article or webpage that are best suited for audio playback using text-to-speech (TTS).” This markup allows search engines to view sections of a web page that are ‘speakable’ – meaning they are appropriate for text-to-speech conversion. So for example if someone asks Google Assistant, “when did the US land on the moon?” The speakable markup will allow Google Assistant to answer the question using audio playback or TTS.
Currently, this markup is eligible for news sites only and must follow certain requirements.
While this schema property is aimed only at news publishers, it is a good thing for SEOs and webmasters to keep an eye on as it may expand and change its eligibility requirements down the road.
Need help optimizing for voice search? Contact us today!