With over 50% of the US population using voice search features every day, it’s time to get serious about optimizing for voice search technology.
If you have optimized for traditional searches and want to take a look at voice search SEO next, this article is for you!
In this article, we'll quickly review what voice search is, why you need a voice search strategy, and four simple things you can do to appeal to voice search users.
What is voice search?
Voice searching means using your voice to ask Google or another search engine a question, rather than typing it into the search bar.
For example list of us mobile phone numbers database if you asked Siri to find the nearest coffee shop, you've made a voice search. Or if you asked Alexa to play a song, you've completed a voice search.
Here is a list of common voice-enabled devices and search engines that you may have used when performing voice search queries:
Microsoft Cortana: Bing
Google Home: Google
Amazon Alexa/Echo: Bing
iPhone/Siri: Safari
Google Assistant: Google
Android phones and devices: Google
From a technical perspective, voice-enabled devices can recognize voices through AI. They then pop the query into a search engine, which results in one to three answers, depending on the device you’re using.
Why do I need a voice search strategy for my website?
Isn't optimizing for text search enough?
Unfortunately not.
Think about how often you use your voice to search for information. Whether it’s asking your smart speaker for the weather or using your phone to find the nearest gas station, voice search has become a convenient and popular way to find quick answers to our questions.
Demand Sage - voice search statistics
Source Demandsage
And here’s the kicker: When people do voice searches, they speak differently into their devices than when they type a text query. Voice search users also have different reasons for their queries than when they search by text.
For example, when using their voice, users tend to speak in a conversational tone, like they would in real life.
Just as voice actors skillfully modulate their speech to evoke emotion, the tone and natural flow of voice searches reveal user intent on a deeper level. This means that websites should target conversational and long-tail keywords to account for voice searches. More on this in a moment.
Voice searchers also perform different queries. These may include:
Ask local search questions
Asking trivia based questions
Product shopping
Looking for instant answers to problems like how to fix a window or change a tire
Now that we understand the importance of optimizing for voice search, let's take a look at four simple strategies you can use to appeal to potential customers using voice search.
#1. Optimize your site for mobile devices
Not only does Google take mobile user experience into account when ranking web pages, but 27% of people will use voice search on mobile devices by 2023. That’s why using responsive web design is critical when optimizing your site.
By using a responsive template or following responsive web design principles, you can ensure that your site appeals to all screens, sizes, and device types and increase your chances of ranking for mobile searches.
It's important to run a website performance audit to verify that your site loads quickly, is free of errors and lag issues, and follows Google's EEAT policy.
Take Tailor Brands for example:
Optimize your site for mobile devices - Example Tailor Brands
Source: TailorBrands
As can be seen from the image above, Tailor Brands' homepage is mobile-friendly and offers a seamless mobile experience.
With its intuitive layout, mobile users can quickly and easily navigate the site, and there’s no confusion about what Tailor Brands does, what it specializes in, or who it helps.
The site also uses conversational keywords like “easily start your business online” and “create a professional business email address” to appeal to human-language search terms.
conversational keywords on TailorBrands website
Source: TailorBrands
#2. Ask your web developer to use structured data and schema markup
Another way to optimize your site for voice search is to use structured data and schema markup. Structured data helps search engines understand the context and meaning of your content, and schema markup provides additional information that can be displayed in rich snippets.
For example, if you have a page comparing different authentication protocols like SAML and OAuth , you can use schema markup to indicate the content type, main entities, and key differences between them. This can help your page rank better for voice queries asking for SAML and OAuth comparisons or definitions.
If you're not sure how to do this, ask your website developer for help.
#3. Make your content more accessible with text-to-speech software
Create content for voice searchers by expanding the types of assets you create for your website, such as audio and video content.
For example, if you run a B2B ecommerce business and specialize in selling industrial power tools to manufacturing companies, your target customers are probably curious about how your products work.
In this case, you can use Lovo.ai, one of the best text-to-speech software options available, to create quick explainer videos about how your metalworking fluids, lathes, and measuring tools work .
