Since the advent smart technologies that recognizes human voice, people have changed their way to search anything online. From Hey Google to Alexa, we have seen a huge number of voice-based searches dominating the way people search something through texts.
Technologies like smart watches, AI-enabled speakers, and several other products enabled people to limit their efforts to manually type something to search. Gartner revealed that 32% of consumers are interested in hands-free technology that would limit touching or contamination.
But how these searches are gaining attention in the world of SEO, and how it is even relatable to ranking your website among top voice searches. This guide elaborates the crucial concepts involved with voice search optimization and how to utilize it for website optimization.
What is Voice Search Optimization?
Voice search optimization is the strategic process of tailoring your website’s content to rank higher in search results delivered through voice assistants and voice-enabled devices. This optimization involves understanding how people conduct searches using spoken language and adapting your content accordingly.
The primary objective of voice search optimization is to ensure your website is recognized and presented as a relevant answer by voice assistants like Google Assistant, Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana, and Amazon’s Alexa. These intelligent digital helpers respond to user queries delivered through voice commands.
It’s important to note that voice search differs from traditional text-based search engines like Google accessed through desktop computers. While both methods aim to deliver relevant information, voice search queries are typically:
- Longer in Length
- Conversational in Tone
According to Google, a staggering 70% of searches conducted on Google Assistant utilize natural language. This statistic highlights the growing prominence of voice search and the importance of adapting your website’s content to this evolving search landscape.
With above fact in mind, voice search optimization is getting important in the world of SEO. Let’s get to know how:
Why Voice Search Optimization is Important?
Optimizing your website for voice search presents a strategic opportunity to expand your online reach beyond traditional text-based searches. While voice assistants are commonly used for routine tasks like setting alarms or playing music, a growing number of users are leveraging them to discover information.
Following is the statistic from Statista, showing the growth of users that use digital voice assistants:
As comfort levels with voice search technology increase, users are becoming more inclined to utilize longer, conversational queries instead of short commands. Tools like Google Search Console (GSC) can provide valuable insights into these long-form voice search questions, allowing you to tailor your website’s content to address them effectively.
Google has highlighted some insights that shows the growth of voice searches in recent times, attracting marketers to adopt better SEO strategies:
- Over 41% of adults and a staggering 55% of teenagers use voice search on a daily basis.
- Voice search is seamlessly integrated with mobile devices, accounting for 20% of all mobile Google searches.
- The demand for location-based information via voice search is on the rise, with searches related to “near me now” experiencing a 150% growth in recent years.
- Voice search results tend to be brief, typically consisting of only 29 words.
- Websites that utilize Schema markup enjoy a slight edge in voice search results, with 36.4% of voice search results coming from Schema-enabled pages.
- The competition for voice search results is intense, with approximately 75% of results ranking among the top 3 for a given query.
- A significant portion (40.7%) of voice search answers are drawn from Featured Snippets.
- The average voice search result page loads in a mere 4.6 seconds, significantly faster than the global average.
Search engines recognize websites that cater to voice search queries as more user-friendly and authoritative. This can lead to improved overall SEO performance and potentially elevate your website’s ranking in traditional text-based search results as well.
How Voice Search Optimization Works?
The rise of voice search technology has significantly altered how users interact with search engines.Unlike traditional text-based queries, voice search prompts users to speak in a natural, conversational manner. This shift in search behavior necessitates adjustments to SEO strategies to ensure optimal visibility in voice search results.
Here’s a closer look at the key considerations for optimizing your SEO strategy for voice search:
- Understanding evolving search behavior
- Prioritizing user intent and context
- Ensuring mobile optimization
- Leveraging structured data markup
- Local SEO and proximity factors
- Understanding the Google SGE and AI results
In essence, voice search optimization necessitates a shift in focus from targeting specific keywords to creating content that aligns with the natural language users employ during voice searches. Fortunately, this doesn’t necessitate a complete overhaul of your existing SEO strategy.
Voice Search vs Text Search
While there is a substantial overlap between conventional on-page SEO and its voice search counterpart, there exist fundamental distinctions in the manner users interact with search engines in these respective contexts.
The defining characteristic of voice search lies in its inherent conversational nature. In contrast to text-based searches where users typically input concise keywords, voice search prompts users to articulate their queries in a natural, spoken language format.
For example, a voice search query might be phrased as, “What are some reputable spas situated in close proximity to my current location?” whereas a text search might utilize a more simplified format such as “spa near me.”
Google’s algorithmic updates, including Humming bird and BERT, exemplify this focus on comprehending searcher intent. These updates prioritize the implicit meaning encapsulated within a search query, rather than exclusively focusing on isolated keywords.
As a consequence, search engines are equipped to deliver more pertinent results tailored to the conversational nature of voice searches.The concern now falls upon content creators to ensure their content resonates with users conducting voice searches. Fortunately, this does not necessitate a complete overhaul of existing SEO strategies.
Important Strategies for Voice Search SEO
In this section, we’ll talk about the effective techniques to voice search optimize your website and content for enhanced reach and visibility:
1. Focus on Question-based and Long-tail Keywords
Voice searches differ significantly from text-based searches. They tend to be lengthier, more specific, and phrased as complete questions rather than isolated keywords. This is because speaking a query is generally faster and less effortful than typing it out.
To optimize for voice search, prioritize incorporating long-tail keywords, particularly those phrased as questions, within your content. These keywords will help to capture traffic from users conducting more specific searches.
Long-tail keywords also attract high-intent traffic and increase the likelihood of your content matching user search queries. This results in better search quality of your content as well as overall website.
2. Analyze SERP Features for Better Targeting
SERP (Search Engine Results Page) features are supplementary elements displayed alongside standard blue links on search engine results pages. These features can significantly enhance the value and informativeness of search results.
Common SERP features include:
- Featured Snippets: Concise summaries extracted from webpages that directly answer user queries.
- People Also Ask: Additional questions frequently asked by users related to the main search query.
- Local Pack: Listings of geographically relevant businesses displayed prominently on search results pages.
- Rich Snippets: Enhanced search results that include additional details like star ratings or product availability.
It’s important to note that different voice assistants may rely on distinct search engines (e.g., Amazon Alexa uses Bing, Apple’s Siri uses Google). Therefore, analyzing SERP features across multiple search engines for your target keywords can be highly beneficial.
These SERP features will help you gain insights into search engine preferences for specific queries. Moreover, you will be able to craft content strategically aligned with SERP features to increase your chances of being featured.
3. Use conversational language in your content
Since voice searches are inherently conversational, mirroring this tone within your content fosters a more natural user experience. A conversational writing style is not only more relatable and easier to read, but it’s also interpreted as more relevant to voice queries by search engines.
Incorporate casual language like “I,” “you,” “we,” and “they” in your blog posts. Also, make sure to avoid overly technical jargon and complex sentence structures.Consider incorporating humor to support your points in a lighthearted manner.
If your brand adheres to a specific voice guideline, strive to maintain that tone while leaning towards a more casual register. Remember, Google values high-quality content that reads (almost) as if spoken aloud.
4. Use schema markup
Schema markup is a valuable technique that benefits your website’s overall on-page SEO, not just for voice search optimization. It essentially involves adding structured data (code) to your website’s HTML that empowers search engines like Google to provide more comprehensive results.
Schema markup includes key information about your business, such as hours of operation, address, contact details, pricing information, reviews, and more. It remains invisible to human visitors but aids search engine bots in understanding your content.
Moreover, adding a schema markup will improves the visibility of your website in search results and potentially generates more clicks.By demonstrating your website’s relevance to search engines through schema markup, you increase your chances of landing in voice search results.
5. Prioritize local SEO
Local SEO is the art of optimizing search engine visibility for local businesses, particularly those with physical storefronts. This is crucial for attracting potential customers within your geographical vicinity who are more likely to convert.
The cornerstone of local SEO is creating and maintaining a comprehensive Google Business Profile. This profile appears when users search for businesses “near me” and provides them with vital information such as your location, contact details, hours of operation, directions, and other valuable details.
Since voice search results often utilize information from Google Business Profiles, a complete and optimized listing significantly increases your chances of ranking well for local voice searches.
6. Optimize for Mobile-based Voice Searches
Mobile devices currently generate more than half of all global internet traffic. Furthermore, a significant portion of mobile users (27%) leverage voice search functionalities on their smartphones.
Google prioritizes mobile user experience as a ranking factor. Employing responsive design and other mobile-friendly website features enhances your chances of appearing in both text and voice search results.
7. Audit for Site’s Technical SEO
Technical SEO focuses on optimizing a website for search engines to make it more accessible, crawlable, and easily indexed. By prioritizing user experience within your technical SEO efforts, you can indirectly improve your search engine ranking and increase the likelihood of your content being featured in SERP features. This, in turn, can make your content more likely to be read aloud by voice assistants.
Here are some important elements of technical SEO that needs to be optimized for enhanced search rankings and visibility:
- Page Speed: Page speed, also known as load speed, measures how quickly content appears on a webpage. Search engines prioritize websites that deliver a positive user experience, and page speed is a critical factor.
- Responsive Design: As discussed earlier, responsive design ensures your website adapts to different screen sizes and devices, guaranteeing a seamless user experience.
- HTTPS Security: Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is an encrypted version of HTTP that enhances security for your website visitors. Google has considered HTTPS a ranking factor since 2014.
- URL and Linking Structure: Evaluate all internal and external links on your website to ensure they function properly. Broken or malfunctioning links can negatively impact your website’s URL structure. Remove or disavow any problematic links to maintain a healthy structure.
Addressing technical SEO issues and optimizing these elements will provide your website with a competitive edge, increasing its chances of appearing in top voice search results after being indexed and crawled by search engine bots.
Leverage RanksPro to Audit Your Website for Voice Search SEO
By implementing these comprehensive voice search optimization strategies, you can effectively position your website to capture the growing volume of voice search traffic. Remember, voice search is a dynamic and evolving landscape.
Optimizing your website for voice search can seem like a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be. RanksPro, a powerful and reliable SEO toolset, can be your one-stop shop for all your voice search optimization needs. Here’s how RanksPro can empower you:
- Keyword Research: Identify high-performing long-tail keywords and question-based keywords that users are actively employing in voice searches.
- Content Optimization: Analyze your existing content and suggest improvements to align it with conversational language patterns and user intent.
- Technical SEO Audit: Conduct a comprehensive technical SEO audit to pinpoint and rectify any website issues that might hinder your voice search ranking.
- Mobile-Friendliness Testing: Evaluate your website’s mobile responsiveness and provide actionable insights to guarantee a seamless user experience on mobile devices.
- SERP Tracking: Monitor your website’s ranking for relevant voice search keywords and track your progress over time.
With RanksPro’s multifaceted functionalities at your disposal, you can streamline your voice search optimization efforts, achieve higher search engine rankings, and ultimately drive more qualified traffic to your website.
