The way people browse and search the internet has changed a lot with the use of mobile phones and voice assistants. The search engine technology has undergone quite a revolution with help of companies like Google and their constant updates. Voice search is now very popular. Thanks to the latest implementation of Artificial intelligence technology and personal assistants like Amazon’s Alexa, Google assistant, and Apple’s Siri.
These devices are providing the users with an option to search the internet with voice. Voice searches are very simple to use if your speech and pronunciation are effective. Voice search SEO is the next important aspect a business should focus on to get maximum traffic.
Ease of use
Voice assistants are smart. They rely on the natural language of the user and process them to find best results. Over time, they get used to the user’s voice and identify the patterns in their queries. They help in providing the customized results based on user’s preference in food, travel, entertainment, news, and shopping. Since most of the voice searches come from smartphones, technology providers are giving priority to mobile-based indexing. Most of the users are following the pattern and shifting to voice search as it is reliable, fast and convenient.
Voice search SEO
Since we have established that mobiles are playing a huge role in voice searches, websites should primarily be responsive. Check out with tools to see how much is your web page mobile friendly and think of ways to improve it to rank higher in SERP’s. Find out if all the content on your website is crawlable. Your mobile-friendly website should not block images, videos or CSS, and it is best to avoid the use of Flash since it is not supported by all browsers.
Optimizing the load time is very important as users have less patience when it comes to waiting for their keyword searches. Loading time can be enhanced by compressing the images which usually take time to load. Securing your webpage with HTTPS has been proven to bring higher rankings in search results. Having Domain authority is known to add advantage to being visible in voice search results.
The keyword search
Keywords for normal search and voice search are quite different. When users indulge in voice search they are more likely to engage in questions or prefer conversation phrases. Voice search results are more likely to be effective if your webpage contains long-tail keywords or common phrases used by users.
Incorporate general questions used by people in reference to your business and you are likely to rank higher and have a better chance of visibility. Optimize your content around questions asked by your clients and customers. It is better to create a Q&A page which is helpful in engaging the audience and also to boost your visibility in search queries.
Featured snippets
You must have observed how one search result comes in position zero in a box above the search results even though it ranks somewhere between 4 and 8 search results. That featured snippet is not necessarily the first search engine result, but it gains greater visibility than the rest. You need to optimize some elements to get into featured snippets.
Make your website stand apart in the eyes of internet providers like Google. Make use of Google analytics to make your page better. Incorporate quality backlinks, and invest in your content to increase the dwell time and reduce the bounce rate. Google takes into account some of the factors like click-through rate, duration of the visit, the number of pages visited and the number of visitors to check if the website is outstanding in the eyes of users.
Local SEO
Optimize your voice search for local SEO especially if you a business relying on local customers. Add words like nearby, near me in your content along with the address of your business and timings to get scored high in a local search. In addition to this microdata, add the telephone number, user ratings, and customer reviews to push your business to a higher level on SERP’s.
Structured data
If you have seen the featured snippet results of various keywords you are likely to observe that all of them used some smart HTML formatting. Organize data in shorter paragraphs which are bite-sized for people to read. Place the important and key content above the line to get user’s attention. Use tabular forms when needed as search engines like Google can understand that format better than natural language. Make lists or number your content and add titles for Google to read your content better.
If you are still wondering about the voice search optimization, buy and use voice assistants and see how people interact with them to understand their functionality better. The year 2018 holds great scope for voice searches and trend is not likely to decline any sooner.
Author’s Bio : I’m currently working as Content Manager with SEO Experts India. I have a great passion for digital marketing and I help small and medium-sized businesses improve their online presence and grow their revenue by formulating effective digital marketing strategies for them. Apart from Digital Marketing, I have a keen interest in Entrepreneurship, Online Reputation Management, Quality Link Building, Tech Consultancy, etc.
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