From Google Assistant or Siri on mobile phones to Alexa on smart home devices, we see them every day. These digital assistants make over a billion voice searches per month, and that number is predicted to grow.
Given these trends, you need to pay some attention to voice search optimization (VSO) just as you would to optimize for text.
How is voice SEO different from text SEO?
If you’ve been implementing SEO strategies for a while , you’re probably wondering, “What’s the difference between voice search optimization and text SEO?” The answer to that question is “a lot.”
We’ll start by reassuring you that you don’t need to overhaul everything you know about SEO or abandon your current strategy. You will still need to rank for keywords, but the wording here is different.
For example, if you were craving Chinese food australia phone number resource you'd probably type "Chinese restaurants near me" into a search engine. However, if it were a voice assistant, you'd be more likely to say something like, "What's the closest Chinese restaurant to me?"
By default, we talk to voice assistants like real people, and so voice search queries tend to be longer and more conversational. They also contain long-tail keywords that are often overlooked for shorter keywords with higher search volume.
If you think voice search optimization would be easier thanks to the low search volumes of long-tail keywords, think again.
Digital assistants often only list the first search result for their queries. This means your voice SEO and content must be of top-notch quality to rank in these vaunted spots. We’ll show you how to achieve this.
How does voice search work in SEO?
Voice searches deliver results almost instantly. However, there’s a lot going on behind the scenes to turn spoken queries into queries in a search engine. The mechanics involved are complex, but having a basic understanding of how it works will help your voice search optimization.
Voice searches work through Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) software. These systems are designed to separate your spoken commands from all the noise in your environment, convert them into text, and send them as queries to search engines.
The activities that occur when a search is made through the voice assistant are listed below.
- Voice filtering and enhancement: When a voice command is given, ASR software identifies and enhances the voice, removing background noise to improve clarity.
- Converting to digital data: Next, the software converts these sound waves into digital data that can now be processed.
- Audio analysis: The process begins. Data is broken down into smaller pieces for in-depth analysis of audio patterns.
- Translation: ASR software starts recognizing words one by one and organizes them into meaningful sentences that search engines can understand.
- Connection to search engine: ASR then connects to the search engine. It sends the translated voice query to the search engine and waits for a response.
- Output of results: When the results are ready, they are sent back to the user. They can be displayed on the screen or, in the case of smart speakers, read back to the user.
What are the benefits of voice search optimization?
Voice search .jpeg
Source: ThinkWithGoogle
Standard SEO increases visibility and traffic by allowing your business to reach a wider audience. With Voice Search Optimization, you gain an additional user demographic: voice searchers.
This demographic makes up 27% of searches made on the Google app. With 8.5 billion searches made on the engine every day , this is a large portion of the market that you shouldn’t ignore.
Here are a few ways you can benefit by tailoring your SEO a little more to voice search:
Increased visibility. There will be 8.4 billion active voice assistant devices worldwide by 2024. That’s a 2x increase from 2023. With voice search optimization, you position your business to be seen by that many customers.
- Increased traffic: Voice assistants show very few results. These results can drive the searcher to your website, increasing traffic.
- Improved user experience: Many voice search optimization changes involve improving technical SEO, which results in a better user experience for your website.
- Higher conversion rate: Many users perform voice searches to get information about products they want to buy. Searching for “Chinese restaurants near me” is usually done when you are ready to go to a business that meets this need. Ranking high in this voice search means that your business is waiting for customers.
- Increased local traffic: Most voice searchers scour the internet for local listings and have their assistants direct them to the nearest store that offers a particular service. By having your website appear in search results, you will greatly increase your local patronage .
Even if your SEO strategy has been going well for years, these are some of the benefits you’re missing out on without VSO. As you can see, they’re pretty significant.
Voice searches have become so important that neglecting them can be detrimental to your business. However, to leverage these assistants for greater visibility, you will need to make a few changes to your SEO strategy. We’ll get to those in a moment.
Voice SEO best practices: 7 techniques to maximize success.
The benefits of voice search optimization for your business can be exciting, but you can’t get them without making changes. Here are some best practices you can implement in your business to get the best results.
#1. Target questions and long-tail keywords
The first step in voice SEO is to target long-tail and question keywords in your content. These phrases are typically two to three words long and have a lower search volume. However, they drive high-intent traffic because of how specific they are to the user’s needs.
You can add some location modifiers to the keywords to make them more specific to your business. For example, instead of “Chinese restaurant,” you can use “Chinese restaurant in Boston.” This will reduce the competition on the results page and boost your local SEO.
Most voice searches are in the form of questions, so you can anticipate these during your keyword research and answer them in your content. Think of some questions people are interested in, put them in an H2, and then give a short answer.
Make sure it’s less than 29 words, as that’s the average length of voice assistant responses. You can drill down into the details after the response if you need more explanation, and even use AI tools to help you find the right keywords .
#2. Use spoken language
It’s always best to write content in a conversational style. This will not only make your words easier to read, but it will also help your reader understand your message. Finally, voice searches will rate this style of content as more relevant. Here’s how to do it.
- Leave out the technical jargon: As an expert in your field, you may understand these perfectly, but these industry-specific terms are meaningless to the layman. Try to explain your concepts in simple words. Consider using a writing assistant to speed up this process.
- Use second person: Using second person in your posts makes it sound more like a conversation and less like a lecture. It makes it more personal, and voice assistants love it.
- Use short sentences and abbreviations: We use abbreviations in conversations. Instead of "I am an SEO expert", you say "I am an SEO expert". Do this in your writings as well. Try to keep your sentences short, because long sentences reduce your readability.
These are just a few SEO tools we recommend to help you write better.
#3. Add an FAQ page
Trying to fit questions and answers into your content can be difficult at times. However, a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page or section can solve this. You can list some common questions about your business and provide clear solutions to rank at the top.
An FAQ page can help you get into Google’s featured snippets . This is position #0, above the first result on the SERP. Getting to this spot can also help your VSO, as 40.7% of voice searches come from featured snippets.
#4. Use schema markup
Schema markup, or structured data, is a language that search engines use to understand the content published on your website pages. It provides specific information about your business. This includes everything from contact information to pricing.
Your human visitors won’t see your markup, but indexing bots will. They then display this information in your search results, driving more clicks to your website.
This increase in visibility doesn’t just apply to text searches, but also to voice queries. Schema markup makes your site appear more relevant, which is always a good thing.
#5. Optimize for mobile users
Mobile users account for more than half of global website traffic . Not only that, mobile optimization is also a factor that Google takes into account in its rankings.
For these reasons, many sites are embracing trends that improve mobile user experience. Here are a few:
- Responsive design: This design allows your website to adapt to the user’s device. UI elements, text, and images all adjust to display correctly on any screen size.
- Scannable text: Few mobile users read the entire content on your page. Instead, they scan the highlights and avoid websites that aren’t scannable. So, break up your text into subheadings and bullet points to help them.
- Optimize visual content: Images and videos greatly improve the mobile user experience. However, they can also affect your page speed. To optimize them, you can reduce their file size and use alt text. As a tip, you can create a video that meets all the standards of your website for free .
#6. Keep your site fast
Page speed is a major factor affecting SEO for text and voice searches, but it's much more critical for the latter.
Voice search results load blazingly fast. We’re talking about nearly 4x the speed of the average web page. And it’s all about the user experience. No one wants to wait too long for a response from their voice assistant. And the assistant won’t wait for your site.
So, analyze your page speed with your preferred tool and find ways to optimize it. The rule of thumb is that your pages should load in less than two seconds. Anything above that is too slow.
