This year is going to be a game-changer when it comes to digital marketing. This is because more and more people are using their digital assistants to search for information online making it essential to make changes to the way digital marketing is done. The way content is consumed is also evolving which is making it essential for businesses to pay attention to Voice SEO when creating content.
Whether you are planning to give a refreshing look to your existing business website or building a custom app, one of the biggest considerations that you must keep on the top of your to-do list is – voice search optimization. In this post, we are going to discuss a few general as well as specific things you should know about Voice Search and Voice SEO. Let’s begin!
Voice Search: An Introduction
There is no doubt that the way people search for information is changing. More and more people are shifting from traditional text search to voice search. This advancement has become the primary mode to find information, services and products online. In fact, many recent studies have shown that more than 50% of the searches are performed on mobile devices and this is one of the biggest reasons why the popularity of voice search is growing. Voice searches are quite simple and easy to perform using mobile phones thanks to digital assistants like Alexa, Bixby, Siri, etc.
Rather than typing a subject or question, you can simply ask to get desired results. You just need to ask your device for the information you want, for example: what are the best Italian restaurants near me?
Voice searches are more like having a conversation with a person, the only difference is that you are having this conversation with your device. Create engaging and interesting content for voice search using conversational language instead of sticking to keywords.
Traditional Search VsVoices Search
There are people who are quite comfortable with typing efficiently to get the information they are looking for. They use words (which webmasters consider as keywords) that are then used to create content to make it rank higher in search results. However, voice search is more conversational in tone with frequently used words and phrases by the user. This means that the website content must also be written in a conversational tone. No keyword stuffing as the search result, which will be “spoken” by the digital assistant must sound natural.
Here’s an example:
If someone wants to find out the best Chinese food restaurants to eat at, they might type ‘Chinese restaurants in <location name>’. But, with voice search, they might say something like ‘Which are the best Chinese restaurants near me open now’. With this example, you can now see the difference between voice search and traditional search.
Localised Voice Search
There are so many things to know about voice search and content optimisation for voice search. However, one point that we usually see when it comes to voice search is that it is usually used for local search. For instance, a user might be travelling and using voice search technology on their smartphone to locate a hotel close to them that offers affordable accommodation along with food.
What you can do as a business is to focus on voice search, optimising for your location and claiming your Google My Business listing if your business has a physical presence. Here are some useful tips to include in your strategy for local voice search:
- While creating SEO strategies for your business, think about the keywords and phrases that are generally used to describe your business, location and area around it
- Use the location feature in all your key SEO components including meta titles, descriptions, etc. For instance, you can use the city name or locality in your content
- You can also include the landmarks near your location to help the search engines find your business easily
Page Load Speed
This is more of a technical consideration for you but when it is about optimising your website and content for voice search, it is essential to load fast. As per a recent study, a website that is fast-loading tends to perform considerably better in search results.
There is a simple explanation for this – users want to get answers to their online search quickly. This is why having a good page loading speed is the key to top ranking in search results. In addition to this, other elements that help your website and content rank better include the quality and uniqueness of the content. Such content pieces tend to be shared more, and they tend to rank and perform better.
Final Words
Voice search technology is here to stay and it is expected to grow more in the future. Even though it is too soon to start a countdown for traditional SEO, there are certain things every business needs to be prepared for. And content optimisation for voice search is one of them.
If you have any comments, tips or query about voice search or want to avail our services, connect with us.
This post originally appeared on our earlier website: ihusresearch.com
