You Should Be Listening: How to Optimize for Voice Search

In today’s multi-tasking world, more people are turning to voice search than ever before, according to Street Fight Mag’s Michael Bertini. With voice search, people don’t have to stop what they’re doing to type their questions into a search box. A simple “Hey, Siri!” or “Alexa” will do.

With 70 million Americans with smart speakers and even more with smartphone voice assistants, businesses who don’t optimize for voice search will soon be off the radar. That includes quite a few. Only 3.8% of businesses have the right information to optimize voice searches, says Bertini.

One of the best ways to optimize your website for voice is to anticipate the questions people will ask—and provide correct answers to those questions. Here’s how:

Leverage the Value of Position Zero

Position zero is the featured snippet that shows at the top of Google’s search results. Land there, and you’re likely to be the first business people searching for information will contact.

The snippet in position zero summarizes the answer to the searcher’s question. It contains a quote from the webpage that has the answer, a link to the page, the URL, and the page title. In other words, SEO gold.

Not only that, it’s the first answer a voice search will yield. Double gold.

Google uses the content’s relevance to the query as well as the normal SEO ranking factors of the site’s main domain to choose which webpage earns position zero. Authoritative content ticks off both those boxes.

Why Is Authority Important?

In SEO, authority depends on two criteria:

• Topical authority: How relevant is your site’s content for people searching about a particular topic?
• Off-page authority: How many links does your site receive from other trusted sites in its own or related industries?

If your site provides comprehensive, well-written coverage of a topic, together with keywords that are relevant to that topic, search algorithms will assess its content as having great value—topical authority.

Furthermore, that comprehensive coverage will make your site a trusted source of information that others will cite in their articles, white papers, and social posts—off-page authority.

Authority makes your site valuable to consumers, which is why search engines, including voice search, rate it so highly. Provide more useful content than others in your field, and you’ll land on position zero.

Is Structured Data Relevant to Voice Search?

Structured data, as Search Engine Journal’s Manish Dudharejia points out, is a behind-the-scenes way to up the ante in voice search. Structured data is a specific type of code that helps search engines better understand the content.

Not only does it help search engines consume your content, but it also makes it easier for users to understand. When you add structured data, users will get rich snippets and rich cards (mobile) for their queries, which can include the most relevant information to their search—such as images, star ratings, company information, ingredients and calorie content for recipes, and much more.

Adding structured data on your site’s backend can help you rise to the top of voice search as well as mobile and desktop search. Although Google doesn’t guarantee that structured data will result in a rich snippet for users, structured data certainly will help search engines “read” your site better—an important ingredient in voice optimization.

Does Mobile-Friendly Content Drive Search Results?

When people search for nearby products and services, there’s a good chance they’re out and about in their cars. With voice search, drivers don’t need to pull over to search for a gas station, restaurant, or grocery store.

It’s no wonder, then, that consumers use voice search for “X near me” three times as often as manual search, as Collin Holmes points out. Optimizing for mobile is crucial, then, for the success of voice searches, as is optimizing for local searches.

To do so, structured data helps. But you also need to raise your local brand visibility score (LBV) by boosting your reputation, local SEO, and social media activity. Respond to comments, make sure that your listings are all up to date, and take care of the kinds of issues that give rise to negative reviews.

Respond to all your reviews—not just all the negative ones. Reward consumers who take the time to say nice things with a thoughtful response.

Update your listings with your website URL, the categories of what you offer, a description of your business, and your hours of operations. Make sure you post on local social media pages to build your local reputation.

For instance, if you’re a guitar studio, post thoughtful comments on the pages of the local high school band or the voice studio down the street. If you’re a restaurant, post on local suppliers’ social pages. All that activity will strengthen your voice search presence.

In addition, optimize for more than just Google, particularly on local searches. Both Cortana and Alexa use Bing as their search engine of choice, as Business 2 Community’s Dana Kachan shows. Again, anticipate the kinds of questions someone searching for what you offer would ask and provide easy-to-understand answers to those questions.

Continue reading how to create answer-driven content for voice search.