Voice search is the act of using your voice to search for content on the internet. While there are many benefits to this technology, it also presents unique challenges that you need to be aware of if you want your website to rank well in Google’s results.
In this post we will discuss:
- What is voice search?
- Why should you care about it?
- How can you optimize your site for voice queries?
The Growing Popularity of Voice Search
As of May 2019, Google has reported that voice search queries are up by 300% since 2016. That’s a huge jump in popularity!
This is a trend that’s not going away anytime soon. In fact, it’s only going to get bigger as time goes on. So what does this mean for your SEO strategy?
The answer is simple: You need to start optimizing your content for voice search now if you want to stay competitive in the future.
Voice Search and SEO
The rise of voice search is a big deal for SEO. It may seem like an obvious point, but it’s important to remember that Google has been working on integrating voice search into their algorithm since 2011. That means that they’ve had plenty of time to study how people use their products and adapt accordingly–and if you want your site to rank well in the SERPs (search engine results pages), then you need to keep up with Google’s latest developments as well.
If you’re wondering how exactly this affects your SEO strategy, here are some things that you should keep in mind:
- Voice Search Is Growing Fast – According to recent studies by comScore and eMarketer, about 20% of all searches made on smartphones were done using voice commands during Q2 2018 alone–and this number is expected to grow exponentially over the next few years as more people adopt smart speakers such as Amazon Echo or Google Home devices into their homes. As such, optimizing for these devices now will give any business a leg up over competitors who haven’t yet adapted their strategies accordingly.* Optimizing Your Site For Voice Search Is Easier Than You Think – While optimizing content specifically written around keywords isn’t necessary anymore (since these queries can be answered by either text or audio), there are still ways that websites can improve rankings through optimization techniques such as adding schema markup tags within HTML code which tells Google what type of content each page contains so it can better understand what users want when searching via voice command.”
Optimizing Content for Voice Search
Optimizing content for voice search is more than just adding the right keywords. You’ll need to think about how people talk, not just what they search for. Voice assistants have a limited understanding of language and will often interpret your query in unexpected ways.
For example, if you ask Alexa “how old is Barack Obama?” she’ll respond with his age (57). However if you ask “who’s the president?” she will tell you that he was born in Hawaii on August 4th 1961 before giving his age as 57 years old. This happens because Alexa doesn’t understand “who” as being part of the question; instead it assumes that we want information about Barack Obama specifically rather than any president or politician who may share this name!
In order to optimize your site for voice search effectively there are three key areas where SEOs need to focus their efforts:
Local SEO for Voice Search
Local SEO is important for voice search because it allows you to be found by people looking for your business in their area.
To optimize for local SEO, you need to make sure that:
- Your website has a physical address on it (not just a PO Box)
- You have verified your business with Google My Business and other relevant listings (such as Yelp)
Optimizing for Featured Snippets
Featured Snippets are the best way to get your content in front of users, and they’re growing in popularity. According to Moz, Featured Snippets were responsible for over 40% of all search results in 2018–and that number could be even higher now.
To optimize for Featured Snippets, you need to understand what they are and how they work:
Tracking and Measuring Results
The rise of voice search means that you need to be able to track and measure the performance of your content. Here are some tools that can help:
- Google Analytics (GA): GA is a free tool that lets you track how people interact with your site, including how much traffic comes from each channel and which keywords they used to find it. You can also set up goals for certain pages on your website so that GA will notify you when someone has completed an action like filling out a form or making a purchase.
- Google Search Console: This tool allows you to see how many clicks were made by users who clicked on links from search results pages (SERPs). It also lets you see where those clicks came from–for example, whether they came from mobile devices versus desktop computers–and what queries led someone toward one of your pages in particular
Conclusion
Voice search is here and it’s only going to get more popular. If you don’t want to be left behind, it’s time to start optimizing your site for voice search.
Here are some tips on how you can optimize your content:
- Create a conversational tone that appeals directly to the user’s needs and interests.
- Use natural language when writing descriptions, headlines, and meta descriptions–don’t try too hard!
