WHY VOICE SEARCH OPTIMIZATION
Many website owners don’t even realize that more people are conducting voice searches rather than text searches on Google and other search engines. Voice searches are a convenient way for people to find what they are looking for on the internet because they only need to speak their search times aloud verbally.
THE FUTURE
We live in the age of convenience. More than 50% of internet users are now navigating search engines and websites on their mobile devices. Since mobile devices don’t have keyboards to simplify typing, it is much easier for mobile users to speak their searches into search engines so that they don’t have to type them in.
VIRTUAL VOICE ASSISTANTS
Virtual voice assistance is the wave of the future. If you want to ensure that your website’s content listings appear on voice search results pages, you need to optimize your web pages to be more voice search-friendly.
Voice search optimization will increase your website’s visibility when people speak relevant words or phrases in their voice searches. Your job is to create an SEO strategy that can maximize your visibility in the voice searches of your targeted audience.
HOW TO IMPLEMENT VOICE SEARCH OPTIMIZATION
Here are six helpful tips for implementing voice search optimization into your website to boost its appearance on voice search results pages.
CONVERSATIONAL TONE IN YOUR CONTENT
Voice searches respond to people’s common language and tone. So, if you want voice searches to detect your website’s content better, you need to use more conversational keywords and phrases in the content. The language used should reflect the normal way people talk so that the voice search algorithm can detect those same words and phrases in your content.
EXAMPLE
For example, let’s say you own a local dry-cleaning business, and you want to optimize its commercial website for voice searches online. Instead of optimizing the phrase “best dry-cleaning business,” it would be better to optimize something like this, “What is the best dry-cleaning business near me?”
People are more likely to ask that question in a voice search. So, if your website optimizes that phrase in its content, it will increase the chances of your website’s content showing up whenever someone asks that question.
USE LOCAL SEO KEYWORDS AND PHRASES
Most of the people who use voice searches are researching local businesses, places, and events. Implementing effective local SEO strategies into your website can help it show up on voice search results pages if people are conducting local searches with their voices. The trick here is to optimize local keywords and phrases relevant to your website’s business or topic.
EXAMPLE
For example, if you own a pizzeria in Johannesburg, you should optimize phrases on your website that pinpoint the location of your business. Some of these phrases might include “pizza restaurants in Johannesburg” or “best pizzeria near me.”
Again, these are likely phrases that people would use in a voice search, so you need to optimize them to appear on their voice search results pages.
COMPLETE YOUR GOOGLE BUSINESS PROFILE
It is amazing how many business owners forget to complete their Google Business Profile pages. Google offers business owners an incredible opportunity to list their business information for free on local search results pages, including voice search results pages.
SET UP
All you need to do is visit the Google Business Profile page and begin filling out your business contact information as requested. Once the profile is submitted and activated, it will start appearing on voice search results pages if people are searching for local businesses like yours.
Google Business Profiles will add schema markups containing your business information on Google search engine results. Schema markups allow rich results snippets containing business photos and information to appear at the top of search results pages.
OPTIMIZE THE SITES LOADING SPEEDS
Did you know that your website’s speed is a huge factor in a search engine’s ability to scan its content? If you have a slow-loading website, it won’t rank too well on voice search results pages, even if it has high-quality keywords and phrases.
HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR WEBSITE SPEED
A fast-loading website will help ensure that voice searches can quickly detect your keywords and phrases to rank your website on the voice search results pages. Some of the ways you can optimize your website for speed include:
· Embedding videos rather than hosting them on the website
· Compressing image files to make them smaller sizes
· Minimizing the use of JavaScript or other complex web scripts
· Keeping your web pages short and simple
RECOMMENDED
Check out the Google PageSpeed Insights tool for additional help in identifying the areas on your website that are affecting its speed.
CREATE AN FAQ PAGE ON YOUR SITE
Do you want to know why so many successful websites have FAQ pages? The reason is that those frequently asked questions are the same questions that people are searching for with their voices and keyboards on Google.
FAQ WITH SEO
FAQ pages are highly effective for SEO purposes because they match the same question-based queries that people are making with their voice searches. So, if you can identify the common questions that people are asking in their voice searches and incorporate those questions into your FAQ pages, you can drive up your website’s rank on voice search results pages.
TRACK THE VOICE NOTE QUERIES
You can use the free Google Search Console tool to track all the voice search queries that led people to your website. It will let you see the number of clicks, impressions, click-through rates, and average positions for your voice searches.
QUERY TRACKING
Tracking these queries will help you identify which voice search terms are the most effective in attracting people to your website and which ones are not as effective. Based on the tracking results, you can modify your website’s SEO keywords and phrases to accommodate any trends that you see in people’s typical voice searches.
CONCLUSION
You may notice that voice search optimization has many similarities to standard search engine optimization. So, if you are already familiar with regular SEO strategies, it should not take you long to adapt to these newfound voice search optimization practices into your website’s content.