Let’s view a scenario: There was a boy who wanted to make a special dinner for his family. He has gone through all the instructions that will help him make the perfect dinner that he desires. But in the middle of the cooking, with his hands messed up, he forgets some of the important steps of the instruction. Well, this might have happened to anyone trying to cook a new dish. Going back to the story, In the heat of the moment, he didn’t want to mess up his phone and wanted a piece of quick information, so what he did was he took the help of the voice assistant. Using a voice assistant, he was able to gain the quick information he was looking for.
This scenario that depicts the quick dispersal of information is making people use voice search. This is the story of many people today wanting to get quick information from a recipe to some public listings. You might be surprised to know that 27% of the global online population is using voice search on mobile. Amazing right? So it becomes imperative for SEO to optimize websites for voice search also.
What exactly is a voice search?
A voice search is simply a voice command that you give to a virtual assistant to gain quick information about any topic. Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant, and a few more are the tools people use.
The reason for the rapid rise in using voice commands to search is that it is fast and convenient. In a time where users expect everything to fall together, a snap voice search has helped them achieve a search result in a quick and smart way.
You can test the speed of the result fetched by a simple Google search or a voice command to a voice assistant. With no surprise, you will get a faster result with a voice assistant as compared to a simple Google search. Typing, as you know, takes relatively more time as compared to speech.
The other reason, among many, can be the wonderful fusion of mobile and Voice search. These days mobile devices come with a smart voice assistant. For Example, mobile devices with Android are powered with Google Assistant to enable them for voice search. With the introduction of voice search to mobile devices, it has become even easier for users to give a voice command and get a quick answer.
Did you know?
Google tends to pull quick answers from the Zero search results that appear at the top of the SERP. So? It is a cue for websites to optimize for voice search.
5 Ways to Optimize Websites for Voice Search
With the increase in the usage of voice search by users, it becomes crucial for websites to cover this aspect as well. Below are some of the key factors that will help you to optimize your website Content that ranks.
GBP: GBP stands for Google Business Profiles. It helps Businesses to create a profile that will be presented by Google when someone searches for your Business online. It is a 100% free tool provided by Google. It aims to make the Business listed appear at the top of the Google search.
People usually prefer to go for a voice search while looking for a Business online. For Example, Try searching with a voice command for What are the best Chinese restaurants near me? You will be presented with Business listings near you by Google. So it becomes crucial for websites to have a GBP profile to target not just for voice search but also for simple Google search. Other benefits that come with creating a GBP are:
- Makes your Business more visible to your target audience.
- Provides a space to post your product or services.
- Build credibility with positive reviews on your GBP profile.
- Gives you a chance to engage with potential customers.
Note: A GBP contains the Name, Address, and Contact information of the Business. In addition to this, they contain the exact services provided by the Business.
Keyword Research: You will not be able to optimize your website for voice search if you don’t have an idea as to what keywords or phrases your users use in a voice search. You might agree, right? For your knowledge, let me tell you there are no such tools that help to figure this out.
But the solution here can be using keyword explorer tools that can give you an idea of what people are searching for. And then filter for keywords that contain Why, What, How etc. Why? Because this expression, such as Why or What, comes under natural speech that users use while giving a voice command.
You can also try to optimize for keywords that you do not rank for with the help of keyword explorer tools. Find the keywords and try to inculcate the same in your existing blogs or articles to target the voice search.
Note: Make sure that the Content of your website is short and free of grammatical errors. As you know, it will be hard for the user to comprehend, which can lead to a bounce from your hard-earned place.
Page Loading Speed: To tell you, the loading speed of the page indirectly influences the chance of getting Content featured for a voice search query. Let’s get back to the basic principle of SEO ranking factors. If a website loads faster with a click of a user, its chances of getting featured on the first page of SERP increase. This is exactly what governs voice search optimization also. You need to have a website that loads fast, as it will be more likely to be presented as a result of the said voice search queries.
Backlinks: Backlinks are the links that you acquire from a third-party website that links back to your own. Google sees backlinks as a signal of trust from other websites. Websites with high-quality backlinks will be preferred by Google to show up on the first page of the SERP. Just as we discussed above, the ranking of a website on search engines plays a huge role in getting voice recognition. For your knowledge, backlinks not only help to get your Content featured for a voice search but also:
- Brings credibility and authority to your website.
- Helps Users and Google discover new web pages on your website.
- Directs referral traffic from the third-party website to your own.
- Increases the Brand awareness of your product among the users.
Schema Markup: Schema markup is a code that helps Google understand the Content of your website. By writing your Content with schema markup, you increase your chance of featuring at the top of Google Search. Like featured snippets, a schema is also used in a similar way to provide a quick answer to a voice search query. But to tell you the truth, a schema is not used as much as a featured snippet is used. It is used for a specific situation only. For Example, let’s say you are looking for a recipe for Chicken tikka masala; here, the information gets drawn from the structured data that is Schema markup.
At last, it becomes crucial for the websites to focus on the factors that Google looks for to rank websites. It can be like HTTPS, great Content, links and so on.
Is it Really Worth Optimizing for Voice Search?
One of the shortcomings of Voice search optimization is that it doesn’t bring any traffic to your website. But again, not all websites are there on Search engines for commercial purposes, right? Voice search optimization helps websites in the following ways:
- You might have used a voice search and noticed that the voice assistants name the source from where it has pulled the Content. This way, it helps to increase the brand awareness of your products or service to the masses.
- For simply achieving the goal of imparting knowledge to the users. For Example, websites of government organizations.
- Voice search helps people get aware of your brand in the local area. When you voice search for a place, you get places near your proximity. This way, it can help encourage foot traffic to your physical stores.
Final Words!!
Learning about the ways how voice search optimization can further your digital marketing strategy push can inspire you to implement it. It truly provides an opportunity for your product to be heard among the people. Voice search technology at present is at a primitive stage which should not give you an excuse to ignore it.
With the above discussed strategies, websites can optimize their Content in a way that allows them to be matched up by Voice Search queries.
