Google Assistant. Siri. Alexa. Cortana.
Today you can choose a quality voice assistant. They can all do some pretty amazing things.
One is to help users find answers to their questions. Essentially, voice assistants can find and read resources for whatever someone would normally turn to a search engine for.
Today, voice search presents incredible SEO opportunities for businesses is nothing new.
After all, when these popular voice assistants read out answers to people’s questions, they might read website content as part of those answers!
The numbers also back this up.
- In the US, 40.2% of people use voice search.
- 71% prefer using voice search over physically typing searches online
- According to Google, 27% of the global online population uses voice search on mobile.
- 58% have found information about local businesses using voice search
So voice search is a true institution, and it’s not going anywhere.
But hold on to your horses, because websites won’t show up in voice search answers just because they have content.
There are elements you need to understand about voice search optimization – before using it in your SEO strategy.
What is voice search?
To get you started easily, let’s answer the basic question: what is voice search?
Voice search allows users to retrieve online resources using voice commands on their smart devices.
It works just like a computer or smartphone, except you use your voice to search instead of typing.
Smart devices use artificial intelligence to process language and refer to their respective search engines to return the best results for users.
Voice search is used for all kinds of inquiries, from straight-forward questions and answers to driving directions and jokes.
And voice search is getting better all the time. For Google, this is largely due to the search engine’s use of natural language processing.
Natural Language Processing (or NLP) allows Google, a machine, to not only read search queries, but interpret them like humans do.
Through NLP, Google understands search semantically. meant Not just by being told, but by searching.
We can see the benefits for people using voice search to access Internet resources using voice assistants, but what about the benefits for businesses?
How does voice search help SEO?
If you’re learning what voice search is, chances are the wheels are starting to turn on how voice search can help your business’s SEO strategy.
But just in case things are still a little vague, let’s discuss that reality.
For each voice search, the voice assistant reads out the results.
Now when you’re looking up directions, your voice assistant will tell you just what you need.
But if someone has a question about who they are, how something works, or why, voice assistants look to organic content for answers.
This is your chance to shine, as what your voice assistant reads can be your own!
The answer is usually what will be the featured snippet on your regular search engine results page (SERP).
This means that content at the top gets the additional reward of being read by users as the most authoritative resource for answering that question.
And SEO is all about establishing your business as a trusted authority in a particular market niche, so if you’re looking to grow through SEO, appearing in someone’s voice search is definitely your goal. should be!
After all, it’s voice search optimization.
There are a few things to consider here. There’s more than one thing you need to do to appear in voice search.
Now let’s talk about how to optimize your business’s online presence for voice search.
Two ways to target voice search
There are two general ways I think about optimizing voice search. Getting the content right and getting the local business NAP information right.
If you want your website to appear as an organic result in voice search, or if you want your business’ NAP information to appear in a map pack, you need to know who the personas are searching for things and what they’re looking for.
Let me explain what each of these points actually mean.
Optimizing organic content
That’s why the site responds to spoken questions like “Easiest roast potato recipe,” “How is photogrammetry used in car crashes,” and “Why do Dalmatians have spots?” Content should be visible.
A common way to think about this is to create content that directly addresses what people want: the actual intent of the question.
what do you mean?
Answer Dalmatian’s questions.
If you run a dog blog and want to do research on that keyword-based question and show it as a voice search answer when people search for it, here’s how:
Make your question the title of your blog post.
Google assigns a lot of organic search weight to the H1 (title) of the page.
Write a direct answer in a concise and comprehensive manner in the first paragraph of that post. Another sentence after that to explain further did no harm.
Then write the rest of your post, filling in all the details and adding rich elements like images and infographics.
Presenting an intro as an answer read aloud by the Assistant may now appear as an audio answer.
However, if you want to be considered the most authoritative answer on the internet, and want your voice assistant to present your answer as the best, there is more you can do.
For example, you can add blog post structured data to your post to help Google understand your content.
Structured data is also especially useful for products and recipes. That markup helps Google understand the finer points of the page you want to promote, and your content may appear in voice search.
Always remember the fact that people tend to do voice searches using longer, more natural phrases. Therefore, you should research and use these long-tail keywords in your content.
Based on how specific these keywords can be, you should be able to discover who this content persona is. Who are they and what are they looking for?
Knowing your audience helps you craft content, and that little extra thought can make a difference in getting the coveted voice search answers.
Optimizing local business information
Then there are all the local searchers out there who want to find places like you in their area or want to know who you are and learn more about you.
In that case, you want it to appear in the local map pack when a user voices “pizzerias near me.”
It is also necessary for the voice assistant to provide accurate information when asked about “business hours of company X” or “address of company Y”.
I have a few things to say here.
For one, displaying local map packs via voice or classic search is the most optimized Google Business Profile.
That includes hours, addresses, photos, services, website links, and reviews, reviews, reviews.
Seeking good reviews from satisfied customers is one surefire way to be a successful local business.
It helps people know that they will have a good experience with your company.
Also, voice search works on mobile devices, so make sure you optimize the mobile version of your website to ensure that people who want to learn more have a great experience on your site.
Now is the time to consider voice search
Voice search isn’t a new technology, but it’s becoming more popular because it’s a convenient way to get answers to your questions. If you’re not optimizing, now is the time.
This is not to say that it will easily show up in voice search.
Many of your competitors are probably working towards the same thing.
But if you focus on your keyword choice, its intent, and the perfect user persona, you have the best chance of getting your business featured through the booming organic search technology.
Other resources:
Featured Image: Production Pelig/Shutterstock
