How to improve SEO for voice search

Search is no longer keywords in a text field as more consumers turn to voice activated digital assistants to help them search. How can you ensure your SEO is optimised for this mode?

Are we getting lazier? Or are we just time-poor? While Google voice search has been around since 2009, it's only now, with the growing prevalence of digital assistants such as Apple's Siri and Google's Assistant, that voice search has become mainstream. Two in five people have only begun using voice search since 2017, and voice search as a proportion of online searches is on the rise.

Here are six ways to use SEO to enhance your website for voice search.

1. Give context

Voice search changes how results are filtered because of how users ask for information. As a result, context is prioritised over keyword stuffing.

Users conduct queries differently on smartphones versus computers. On computers, they type short phrases such as 'thai food melbourne'. On smartphones, they have a quick conversation with a digital assistant: “Okay Siri, where are the best Thai food restaurants in Melbourne?”

SEO is tuned to the short 'computer speak' phrases, but to rank well on voice search requires understanding, and having the website answer to, a natural speech pattern. We don't have a great deal of data on this area yet, but I do recommend a tool called Answer the Public that provides information on the questions your potential customers have.

As an example, you can extract clues about where a user is on the purchase journey by question type. Any question that starts with 'what' or 'who' means the user is likely to be in the research phase; 'where' or 'when' questions indicate they're closer to purchasing.

2. Show you're local

Local information is valued as part of context and is becoming more important in queries. Voice search queries are more likely to come from smartphone users on the go; 22% of all voice queries are used for finding out local information, according to The Internet Trends Report 2016, and searches with the phrase 'near me' have grown more than 130% year-on-year. It's worth your while to cater to them: half of local mobile searches lead to a store visit by consumers within one day.

To address these:

·     Ensure your website contains local information, like your address and opening hours.

·     Keep your business listing, including your Google My Business listing, up to date. Local search results are grouped together near the top of a results page. By including the relevant information, you have a better chance of securing a spot there.

·     Optimise all landing pages with local keyword data.

3. Make results speedy

Voice searchers want fast results. The majority of the time, users don’t intend to visit your website to access the information they need, whether that's your location or opening hours, or customer reviews. Google knows this, so it shows up the relevant facts about businesses for each local search.

Optimise your search engine snippets to make it quick and easy for customers to find this information. While there’s no guarantee you’ll be featured as a snippet, you can improve your chances if you:

·     Provide a clear answer to common questions. It’s a good idea to precede your answer with the question so Google can understand the focus of your content.

·     Answer questions well and in an interesting way. Use images and graphs, bullet points and easy-to-follow steps designed for a beginner. Answer the question better than your competitors do.

·     Optimise your website. High-ranking pages are more likely to make it as a featured snippet.

4. Use metadata

Part of SEO is telling the search engine you have the answers. The structured data, or metadata, in your source code helps search engines organise your content. Metadata might point to the location of your contact details, which then appear clearly in results. This gives voice searchers access to information they deem important instantly.

When done correctly, this counts towards your site’s relevance and page ranking; beware, however, that if done poorly it might penalise your site.

5. Optimise for mobile

Search trends have favoured mobile-friendly sites for a long time, and the rise in voice search makes mobile doubly important.

Not sure about how well your site fares on mobile? Try Google’s Mobile-Friendly test, which walks you through any issues on your page, like loading problems and speed, and tells you if it’s easy to use on a mobile device. Without passing this test, you can’t rank in mobile search.

Finally, find an optimal layout for your content. Use clear and accurate headings to orient the visitor and reduce chunky paragraphs to help people skim-read content. This helps users find their way around the page quickly and easily.

6. Use long-tail keywords

Because of the conversational style of voice searches, long-tail keywords have started to make a difference to the results delivered. Long-tail keywords are specific and involve proper phrases rather than a short string of words linked together nonsensically, and you have a better chance of ranking for them because there’s less competition.

I recommend Rank Tracker to help you compose long-tail keywords that people could be searching for using voice. 

Consider that Google divides the goal of voice searches into four categories:

·     “I want to know…”: users are in the research stage and want information.

·     “I want to go…”: users are looking for a local business.

·     “I want to do…”: users are searching for instructions, before or after a purchase.

·     “I want to buy…”: users need information to seal the deal on something they’ve decided they want.

If you can assist users in these micro-moments of a purchase, it increases your chances of turning them into a customer.

The bottom line is voice search is growing at an impressive rate. It doesn't matter whether we're becoming lazier or just more efficient – voice search is an additional method SEO practitioners need to consider when optimising a website.

ENDS

If you would like to discuss the contents of this article further or ask questions about your current digital marketing strategy, please contact me on [email protected]

Impress!ve Digital specialises in SEO, SEM and facebook advertising and has worked with over 100 clients including Misha Collection, Schiavello, AndChill, digiDIRECT, Roll'd and The Atlantic Group. We have a team of 22 people ready to help you maximise your digital strategy and return on investment.