Voice search is no more just a fad. It has comfortably crossed the early hurdles and gained a massive following in the past couple of years. One of the biggest reasons behind its popularity is that it is quite convenient for a user to get relevant details directly by just asking the question verbally. Hence, no more waste of time in pressing multiple keys on your keyboard to type your query as you can get desired results by simply speaking to your mobile device. You can use Voice search on the search engine or simply ask the question to your mobile’s virtual assistant.
There is a lot of potential for businesses to reach their potential customers if they optimise their content for Voice Search. If you do not know how to leverage the benefits of voice search, keep on reading this post as we are going to tell you everything you need to know to optimise your content for voice search.
Let us start by shedding some light on how this advancement is linked to Google, the search giant.
Voice Search and Hummingbird Update
In 2013, Google’s Hummingbird algorithm update came as a shock to a lot of webmasters when they lost their traffic overnight. This was the algorithm that gave importance to searcher intent and contextual meaning to the search query. The era of stuffing keywords was over and it was time to target the actual pain points of the audience and address the customer’s actual needs.
This update also introduced voice search technology to improve the users’ experience with semantics. It mainly counts on Natural Language Processing (sometimes also referred to as NLP) to recognise the voice, interest and behaviour of the user.It is changing the way people search for information and businesses promote their services and products digitally.
Tips to Optimise Marketing Content for Voice Search
To optimise your marketing content for voice search, you have to focus on the following Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) strategies:
Tip 1: Improve Data Structure
Writing content for the targeted audience is a great way to start. Search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing consider a number of factors in addition to content to determine the rank and relevance of the search results. One such factor is – structured data, which is also known as Schema Mark-up. Even though it does not affect the search engine ranking directly, it can give your website an edge over others. Basically, it is metadata or microdata which is all about your website and not visible to your visitors. This microdata is quite relevant to voice search. But, the question is how?
Let us explain this in detail.
When a user searches for a local business like a salon or restaurant, they often check the contact details, operational hours, address, etc. You can use your microdata so that search engines can easily classify that information. Listing these details promptly on your Contact Us page and Google My Business listing is key. Also, submit a detailed sitemap to the search engine to make sure that your content is indexed properly. Make sure that the pages are not blocked in the robots.txt file.
Tip 2: Google ‘My Business’ Listing is Key
Voice searches usually see a higher number of local queries. You can share your business details in the footer of your website and Contact Us page because people are accustomed to seeing this information there. There are generally two ways to find local businesses. Understand this with the following instances:
- Restaurants in Sydney: In this type of case, if your website has optimised for local keywords, the chances are higher that your website appear on the top of the results.
- Restaurants ‘Near Me’:For such queries, Google and other search engines only rely on the current location of the user. If you have listed your business in Google My Business Listing for that location, you may appear in the search results.
These are the reasons why you should not ignore the Google Business listing. However, it is important to ensure that the contact details, name and address of your business are correct. The contact details must contain the area code so that search engines can fetch the data for local queries.
Apart from this, it is extremely important for you to list your business in the right category. Putting your business in an inappropriate category can make your business appear and disappear from the voice search results.
Tip 3: Make Your Website Mobile-friendly
Maximum voice searches are conducted through mobile devices and this makes it quite obvious why it is essential for you to have a mobile-friendly website. Your website must load properly and fast on different kinds of mobile devices. Your marketing content can only be optimised for voice search if it is in small paragraphs, short sentences and easy-to-understand words along with engaging and interesting sub-headings.
Tip 4: Create Content to Answer the Queries of Your Customers
We usually use different words than the ones we all type to find any service, product or business. For instance, you may type ‘restaurants near me’, but for voice search, you may say ‘which is the best restaurant near me’. To know which words people often use while talking, you need to observe them carefully. Once you are aware of those questions, you will be able to create engaging content for them by using the words and sentences that your customers use on voice search. Such content will significantly increase your chances of landing on the top of search results.
Final words
Even though we are yet to see where voice search is heading, you can still gain considerable growth and success for your business by optimising your marketing content for it. This advancement has both positive and negative sides. It is good for those who understand it and optimise their content accordingly. It will not bring any results for those who ignore the updates and create the content they were creating previously.
Today is the perfect time to start optimising content for voice search to get an edge over others. What is your thought about voice search and its future? Share your views or contact us to avail voice search SEO and other digital marketing services.
This post originally appeared on our earlier website: ihusresearch.com