Technology is ever-changing. Today, we can conduct online searches simply by speaking into Alexa or Siri. Some call it futuristic, others call it convenient. No matter how you look at it, voice search is something you must consider in your marketing campaign. Voice search is what the future holds. It is becoming more popular and websites could be doing more to optimize for queries from voice users. 

With voice search increasing in popularity, voice SEO is a must if you want to rank at the top of search results and bring high-quality traffic and leads to your website. Without an SEO campaign, it’s unlikely that your site will appear in voice searches, so you could lose out on potential customers. content that ranks at the top of search results is likely to also appear as a voice search answer. In fact, nearly 75% of the results you receive from a voice searches ranks in the top three results for that specific query. Though most SEO campaigns employ the same strategies, you have to consider the below-mentioned points to optimise your website for voice search.

1. Think Conversationally

When people conduct voice searches, they phrase questions differently. For example, if someone is searching for a place to shop for kids’ clothing, they might type a query like “kids clothing Harrisburg,” whereas if they’re using a voice search, they may state the same question like “where can I find kids clothing in Harrisburg?”

When you look at the two questions, you can see that the voice search version is longer, posed as a question, and is more conversational than the version that’s typed into Google. That means when you’re optimizing your content for search, you have to think about how your audience would pose a question about your products and services, rather than targeting short, general keywords.

2. Think Local

Mobile phones are a staple in our everyday routine, especially when we’re on the go — we constantly use our phones to look for locations around us at any given time. That being said, it’s not hard to believe that about 50% of local mobile searches lead to a store visit within one day’s time.

That means that when you’re optimizing your website for voice search, you should pay special attention to localized long-tail keywords. Include keywords that are more like phrases and be sure to include your location. This allows your website to rank for specific location queries while voice searchers are close to your location. Not only does it boost traffic to your website, but it also increases the likelihood that customers will visit your physical store location.

3. Use Long-Tail Keywords For Voice Search

Brands must have actionable keywords and put them in the website’s schema markup, also known as code. This will allow the website to provide search engines with more information, which will be important for specific searches people make. when users voice a query, the answer they receive is often not the first result on Google. Long-tail keywords can help websites be the answer that users hear when making a search. Long-tail keywords are longer, more specific and more targeted.

4. Optimize Voice Search For Featured Snippets

Featured snippets, or position zero results, have risen to popularity as more and more search results feature them. A featured snippet is a result that appears in an answer box at the top of search results and displays an immediate answer to a question. In terms of voice search and featured snippets, nearly 41% of all voice search answers come from a featured snippet result.

Though position zero is a great place to rank for any kind of query, this fact makes it even more important to go after that position zero ranking in search. Not only will you see a boost in traffic from your organic result, but it’s more likely that your result will serve as a voice search result as well.

5. Optimize Your Content For Voice Search

Content needs to be relational and usable for voice searchers. The key is not to write overstuffed content; overstuffed content is trying to fit too many keywords into the content. Everyone loves content that is easy to read. If you use overstuffed, complicated, over-the-top jargon, chances are you won’t be featured in voice search results.

When you write at an understandable level, you probably also use shorter sentences and relay information in a more concise manner — ensuring that you only include what is absolutely necessary. Not only should you write at an easy reading level, but to break up your content, use multimedia like images, videos, and infographics.

6. Update Your Google My Business Listing

If you don’t yet have an account on Google My Business (GMB), be sure to get one right away. Having visibility on GMB is a huge benefit, and it’s even more beneficial if you fill it out as comprehensively as you can.

You want to provide as much information as possible, like your location, hours of operation, and services. This information provides even more value to those making local searches, and as we learned, there are a large number of local searches made with this search.

7. Improve The Loading Time Of Web Pages

Lastly, the loading speed of your web page plays a crucial role in the search results ranking. This is true for both text search and voice search. Since there is a large amount of information on the web, the quicker your website loads, the greater chance it has of ranking higher in search results. To ensure that you maintain a high ranking in search results, you need to regularly monitor the loading time of each of your web pages.
Voice searches have become a major trend in today’s fast-paced world –  the quicker you add it to your website, the better. However, to reap the full benefits of voice search, you must make sure that you have a voice search-optimized website. Talk to our experts to know more.

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