In recent years, voice search has become one of the most used methods of finding information on the internet. With the entry of Google Home and Amazon Echo into many homes, people found new ways to communicate by Voice.
Currently, there is still much doubt around SEO and voice search. This guide will assist you with voice search, the benefits and challenges it brings, how to use it for your business, and much more.
What is Voice Search Optimization?
Voice search optimization is the process of improving your site’s performance and rankings in voice search results. Voice search optimization is similar to traditional SEO but has some notable differences.
Voice search queries are usually longer than text-based searches and include natural language. That means that voice search queries tend to be very specific and include more details about the topic. For example, a user might type “best restaurants near me” into Google, but if they use their Voice to search for the same phrase, they might say, “what is the best Indian restaurant in San Francisco?”
To optimize for voice search, you will be required to make sure your website contains detailed information about your business, products and services in a way that’s easy for users to find.
Why is it so important?
The widespread use of voice search makes it necessary for any business owner to optimize their content and website to adapt to this new trend. Take a look at the importance of using voice search:
1. The keyword phrase lengths will be longer and more conversational.
2. Most websites are currently not optimized for voice search queries. It will give you a competitive advantage over others.
3. It increases the brand awareness among consumers when they see your website listed on Google voice search results.
4. The cost of optimizing your website for voice search is low at this point. So, it won’t take much effort and time to rank on Google voice search results.
How to optimize your content for voice search?
Focus on Long-Tail Keywords
The first part of optimizing your content for voice search is making sure you’re using the right keywords. Voice searches are normally longer and more conversational than typical searches because they’re designed to mimic real speech. When creating your keyword list, focus on long-tail keywords — phrases at least four words long. These will sound more natural when spoken aloud than shorter options would.
Focus on snippets:
A typical voice search result is a short snippet from a web page (usually 40-60 words). This means your content should answer simple questions and provide detailed answers. You can optimize for this by using structured data markup.
Structure your content better
Use schema markup to highlight the most important elements of an article for voice search. It will help Google understand the most important information on a page to pull that data and display it in search results. Consider how people speak; they’re more likely to ask questions than enter a keyword phrase.
Optimize for questions
If you want your content to rank well in voice search, you need to optimize it for questions. You can do this by analyzing your target audience’s various question types and then creating relevant, informative content around these questions. It will improve the chances of your business appearing in the results when users ask a related question using a virtual assistant like Siri, Cortana or Google Assistant.
Experiment with voice assistants
You should experiment with different virtual assistants to understand how they work and what information they provide users. It will guide you in making informed decisions about the type of content you create to rank well in voice search results.
Hear how your content is read
Google Search Console allows you to see exactly how Google interprets your site’s structured data or search snippets. In many cases, Google might not understand what your structured data means or could be confused about which content is most important on a page. So you must regularly test how Google reads your site’s pages and posts.
Address local intent
A common use case for voice search is looking for information about nearby businesses, so make sure your business shows up when people ask for it. For example, if you’re a restaurant, you’ll want to create a Google My Business listing, which will show up in the results if someone asks about restaurants nearby.
Use schema
If you’re unfamiliar with the term “schema,” think of it as metadata that tells search engines what kind of data is present on your site and how to categorize them. Schema can help your website rank better in search results overall, and it’s especially useful when people search by Voice.
Create Frequently asked questions pages
A FAQ section can be used for real-time discussions about your site. When you are creating FAQs, think of them as summaries of the main topics covered in your site’s content. Think about things people have been asking about, and write detailed answers with more than one sentence of explanation.
Claim Your Google ‘My Business’ Listing
Google uses its ‘My Business’ listings as its primary source of information when people ask questions about businesses and locations via voice search. To optimize your content for voice searches that ask about your business or its location, you need to claim your listing and ensure all information is correct and up-to-date.
Conclusion
These are some simple steps you can take to improve the chances that your content appears when someone searches for it verbally with their phone. Voice search is shaping the future of the digital landscape. Companies with the foresight to integrate Voice into their current digital marketing strategy will enjoy plenty of rewards, both seen and unseen.
This article guides you through the detail of optimizing your content for voice search to help you make the most from this exciting new form of search.
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