The main point of search engine optimization (SEO) is to rank websites accurately so that the user can find the best and most relevant information for their search as quickly as possible.
Voice search improves both the user experience and the effectiveness of search engines.
Therefore, giants like Google are now placing more emphasis on websites that are optimized for voice search at the moment. We ask Google for help like never before, and increasingly through Google Assistant, Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri.
The analysis that is on everyone’s lips is that 50% of all searches will be done via voice search in 2020. And it’s not just about people talking into the microphone on the cell phone or computer, 30% of all web browsing will not even be done while scrolling the display device or typing a keyboard.
But keep in mind that search engine optimization for voice search is not quite like traditional SEO. Factors that affect how your website ranks on Google, for example, may not have the same effect on voice search optimization, and vice versa.
Fortunately, there are ways to balance the two SEO strategies so that you can rank your site for traditional search as well as voice search.
Make Sure Your Website Has a Mobile-Friendly Web Hosting
And naturally many of you might be asking yourself, how to choose the best hosting? While there is no definitive answer for everyone’s needs, PageSpeed plays a major factor in Google’s Voice Search Ranking.
A good start might be to find a highly responsive theme like the Shopify’s T90, that also needs to be adapted to everyone’s searches on mobile phones. Remember that voice search is mainly done on mobile devices, so your website must obviously be mobile-friendly.
Google recommends a “responsive web design” and, if You want to test whether your site follows Google’s preferences, you can use their testing tool here.
If your site is working correctly, you will receive a message that says “page is mobile-friendly”.
But, If it’s missing certain features, Google will give you specific steps you need to take to make your website work optimally on mobile.
Write as If You Were to Say It
When users search on a computer or mobile, they tend to use short phrases. For example, when an everyday user wants to find a fitness center, they will typically type: “Best fitness center Phoenix” in the Google search box. If they had used voice search, however, the user might have said: “What is the best fitness center in Phoenix?”.
To make sure sure that your content is correctly optimized for voice search as well, you should include long-tail keywords that seem more natural as opposed to the typical short keywords that work well in traditional SEO.
Additionally, you should keep your sentences short and simple. Voice search results are generally written at a high school level. So while your information may be highly detailed, you should break it down in a way that is easy for anyone to understand.
It’ also highly recommend exploring which questions come up related to your industry, your products, or services. With tools such as SEMrush and Answer the Public, you can quickly enter a keyword, and the tool will give you a bunch of questions related to that word.
These results can give you a lot of inspiration for long-tail keywords, as well as give you an idea of the user’s mindset related to your products or services.
You can also interpret what a user’s intent is based on what they are asking for. ‘What’ and ‘Who’ questions signal that a user is in the research phase, while ‘Where’ questions may indicate that they are getting ready to buy.
In order to figure out which keywords your users are using to find the content of your website, log in to your Google Analytics account. Soon, you’ll also find a separate voice search report in your analysis, according to Google trend analyst John Mueller.
Think Locally – If You Can
According to Google, mobile searches containing “Near me now” have grown by over 150% over the past two years. Furthermore, mobile searches for “Near me” containing a variant of “Buy” has grown over a staggering 500%.
It goes without saying that this is a mobile-driven phenomenon.
Also, did you know that 50% of a consumer’s local mobile search leads to a visit? Given that users are searching locally, it requires that you have the right keywords:
- Use “Near” or “Near me” in titles, meta-text, internal links, and anchor text
- Phrases people use to describe the neighborhood where you live
- Landmarks around your business
So, let’s proceed by answering the question you’ve been thinking about throughout this post.
Will Voice Search Affect Visits to Your Website?
When a user does a traditional Google search, he needs to click on a specific link to find the answer. With voice search, however, Google will learn the answer for the user and present it as the search result in any case.
That being said, Google mentions the website in its response by saying, “according to [example] …”. Of course, this helps to raise awareness of your brand.
Besides, the user can browse through written dictations of search results. These include links to the sites used as resources. Here, the user can easily navigate to the site traditionally, which helps to increase organic traffic.
In Conclusion
With technology becoming increasingly sophisticated through machine learning and artificial intelligence, the next few years are likely to become a bit of a roller coaster.
No one knows precisely what the future voice search optimization will bring. What we do know, however, is that the popularity of voice searches is on the rise.
It might look like a lot of work, but if you optimize your site for voice search now, hopefully, the roller coaster ride will be smoother, with more ups and fewer downs.
