How to Optimize for Voice Search to Help Build Visibility?
What is voice search?
Voice search is an action for using speech to ask questions or queries to get answers rather than in the conventional method. It is also called voice-enabled, where users can voice command to search for any questions on the internet, website, or app using devices like smartphones, laptops, tablets, etc.
Voice search made its space back in 2011 with the launch of Apple’s Siri on their iPhone series. Apple was not the only one to introduce voice-enabled search in devices like a smartphone, Amazon also came up with Amazon Echo as a mainstream voice search device. After which all other brands stepped onto the bandwagon. Among them is Amazon’s Alexa, OK Google, etc.
So how does voice search work?
We are going to explain you in much simpler terms than getting into the technical aspects of it. It works like
- Processing and decoding the human speech to text
- Analyzing the text to get the relevant answers
- Connecting or crawling through different search engines and pages to find the correct information.
- Translating the information and indexing it into search results pages to fulfill the user’s intent.
Till today, we can say that the world is witnessing a voice search revolution and in coming years it is going to take a more advanced and digitalized shape ruling out the conventional method. Voice search has made everything easy and convenient. Imagine yourself trying out a new flavored dessert in your kitchen and want to have a quick go through the recipe, so you can’t go on to search for it with your not-so-good hands.
Instead, you’ll quickly command your voice assistant to do that work for you. Isn’t that simple and easy? Voice search also helps us command questions in our own personalized language rather than figuring out the jargon. One can search in their own language and this has been enabled by google recently in India for people who can not find answers using English. What is more convenient, typing or speaking?. Answer for yourself.
Voice search has become a necessity for all businesses to incorporate it in their SEO strategies. Not only in smartphones but few companies are enabling voice search in their websites and applications. It is one of the important aspects of digital marketing in today’s world. Optimizing your websites and apps for voice search is necessary to give your customers ease to search for anything and create a better user experience for them to visit your website more often hence driving more and more traffic. Here are few tips on how to optimize for voice search.
Tips on how to optimize for voice search
Make use of conversational language
When we generally ask questions, we use a natural-sounding language and more in a conversational tone. Users prefer asking questions in a conversational manner instead of using few keywords to get answers. For example, people would ask like “what is the name of the flower that blooms at night” than using specific keywords like ” flower that blooms at night”. So make use of 5Ws of questions- what, why, how, when, which, to understand the queries better.
Focus on long-tail keywords
The use of long-tail keywords is good for traditional SEO and is a good practice for voice search. Keywords containing more than 2 words help your websites rank at the top. As mentioned in the previous point, a user would use long phrases rather than short to get a piece of clear and relevant information they need.
Update Google My Business
Google My Business determines whether our business ranks for its searches and helps google locate our business. According to a survey, people use voice search mainly for “near me” queries, and for these kinds of searches, Google My Business helps to pop out your business at the top. Name, address, and phone number must be regularly updated and listed properly. If you don’t have Google My Business, then it’s high time to have one.
Understand consumer’s device behaviour
Voice search algorithms use location data to understand consumers search queries. Data collection is important for future endeavours. These data can help marketers to understand consumer behaviour and the use of voice search in different devices.
Use schema SEO
Schema markup is a type of microdata added to your webpage to create a clear description of the content on your website. Most commonly known as snippets which appear on the search result pages. It is a special markup on your HTML tag to help google display content that supports voice-enabled questions. It will pick the most relevant information, highlight them and give it to the intended user. Therefore, embed schema markup for better visibility of your websites.
Improve site loading time
Page speed plays a big role in ranking your websites, reducing bounce rate. Page speed is also beneficial for voice search. Normal voice assistant devices take 0.5 seconds as soon as you command a request whereas the same command on a webpage takes more than 2 seconds to load. Optimizing the website’s speed can help search engines crawl and list your website faster for voice search results.
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