Voice Search Optimization: Strategies for Voice-Activated Devices

The world is evolving with new innovations being produced to make our daily lives easier, from AI technology and speech recognition to voice assistants. People have started using voice search to find solutions online. This is no surprise, considering it's an easier way to search for information online. Unlike the traditional text-based search where you need to manually input text into the search box, all you need to do with voice search is say what you want, and the search AI will automatically type it out and bring up related results.

So what does this mean for your business? If your website isn't optimized for voice search, your content might not be seen when a query is made using voice search technology.

It's estimated that over 4.2 billion people are using voice search worldwide, and this number is expected to increase to 8.2 billion in 2024. Yet most company websites remain unoptimized for voice searches. When customers verbally ask questions, unoptimized pages will fail to rank in voice search engine results.

As the saying goes, “There is no better time than the present”. This is an ideal opportunity to leverage voice search optimization and expand your content's reach. In this blog post, we will cover everything you need to know about optimizing your content for voice search technology.

What is Voice Search Optimization?

Voice search optimization is the process of optimizing/improving your content to have a higher chance of showing up in voice search results. When your content is optimized for voice search, it can be shown on the first page of the search results, which will make it more likely to be read out by voice assistants.

There are various voice assistants which include Apple's Siri, Google Assistant, Amazon’s Alexa, and Microsoft’s Cortana. Similar to traditional text-based search, voice search also uses keywords to rank, depending on the specific voice assistant used. The key difference is that text searches often rely on short keywords, while voice queries use longer, more natural phrases and sentences.

For instance, if you’re looking for a $500 laptop using text search, you would likely type “best $500 laptops” into the search bar. However, when using voice search you may phrase the question like: “Hey Siri, what is the best laptop under $500?”

The additional contextual words in voice queries help interpret intent correctly. As more users become accustomed to asking questions out loud and expecting personalized responses, content must directly answer full-sentence searches.

Brands aiming to rank higher in voice assistant results will need to re-engineer optimization around natural speech patterns - tailoring content to match real human conversations and information needs.

The Importance of Voice Search Optimization for SEO

Voice search optimization is getting popular, and this gives you a better chance to reach more people than optimizing your content for text-based searches alone.

According to eMarketer, about 40% of internet users in the US use voice assistants at least monthly, mostly through smartphones and smart speakers. Research by PWC shows that 71% of users prefer voice search over text-based searching when looking for information online since it feels more natural like a real conversation.

For effective voice search optimization, you need to consider your reader's perspective - understand their search intent and how they would phrase queries when conversing with a voice assistant. This allows you to identify better keywords and language.

When done right, optimizing for natural speech can lend more authority to your site and improve rankings in voice search results. You might even get the opportunity to reach top positions on voice results pages by mirroring real human questions.

Benefits of Voice Search Optimization

Here are some of the key benefits of optimizing for voice search:

1. Cater to growing voice search usage: Voice search is becoming increasingly popular, especially with the rise of virtual assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant. Optimizing for voice queries allows you to reach this growing segment of users.

2. Provide a better user experience: Voice searches are more conversational and closer to natural language. Optimizing content to match how people speak makes for a smoother, more user-friendly experience.

3. Improve local SEO: Many voice searches have local intent, like "Where is the nearest pizza place?" Optimizing for local voice searches can boost visibility for nearby customers.

4. Increase traffic from featured snippets: Voice assistants often pull answers directly from featured snippets at the top of search results. Having your content appear as a featured snippet can drive more traffic.

5. Stay ahead of the curve: As voice technology advances, early adopters of voice search optimization will have a head start over competitors still focused solely on text-based searches.

6. Reach more mobile users: Voice searches are very common on mobile devices when hands-free use is convenient or required. Voice optimization is mobile-friendly.

Overall, voice search optimization future-proofs your content and provides an opportunity to connect with users in a more natural, conversational way across various devices and situations.

Strategies for Optimizing Content for Voice Search

Now that you know the importance of optimizing for voice search, here are some actionable tips to optimize your content to rank for these searches.

1. Target question keywords and other long-tail keywords

Keyword optimization is an important aspect of content ranking. As mentioned earlier, people normally use longer questions when using a voice-based search, unlike text-based where we just type in short keywords. It's no surprise that people often prefer using voice search because it takes less time and effort than typing it out manually.

So, to optimize your content for voice search you have to target those long-tail keywords that people are most likely to use when searching with a voice assistant. These can be keywords that are in the form of questions. This will increase the chances of ranking high for specific phrases users might ask their virtual assistants.

Finding these long-tail keywords might not be an easy task since most keyword research tools favor text-based searches. But there is a way around it.

These are some tools you can use that will make it easier.

1. AnswerThePublic: This is a keyword research tool that listens to autocomplete data from search engines like Google and then quickly brings out every useful question and phrase people are asking around your keyword.

You can use this to get potential long-tail keywords people are searching for and optimize your content around it.

2. Also Asked: This tool provides you with the data on what information is likely to be expected on the page to fulfill searcher intent directly from Google. It provides you with real user searches that Google has grouped with the initial search.

With this, you can easily Understand the pain points, concerns, and questions of searchers, and use it to find the right long-tail keyword for your voice optimization.

3. Google Trends: Google Trends allows you to see the topics people are following in real-time and the ones they are not. You can use this information to explore potential long-tail keyword ideas that people mostly search for, and you can also explore and gauge interest in virtually any topic.

In addition to these tools, you can also gain insights from social media platforms and forums where people discuss topics relevant to your business. One such example is Quora, a question-and-answer platform with high search visibility, where people share and acquire knowledge. You can leverage the platform's questions to obtain potential keyword ideas that people commonly ask.

To get the most out of this approach, try combining it with Google's "People also ask" or "People also search for" sections. These sections show questions and searches related to your target keyword.

Here's what you need to do:

To find natural language variations of your target keyword, look at the related questions on Quora for that keyword. Then cross-reference those questions with the "People also ask" results on Google for the same keyword. The phrasing used in both Quora questions and Google's suggestions will likely reflect how people search by voice using full questions or conversational queries. Since these are long-tail question phrases, they match the natural wording people tend to use with voice assistants.

By using these tools, you can identify common long-tail question phrasings that people use when searching by text or voice. Optimizing your content with these natural language questions and phrases can help with voice search rankings.

2. Use a conversational tone in your content

Using a conversational tone in content has always been a great approach because readers find it more authentic and easier to read. If you haven't been taking this approach before, well…you should. It's a great way to optimize your content for voice search since voice search queries are always conversational.

Be sure to target question-based keywords, as we discussed earlier, and incorporate those keywords into your content naturally. Use complete sentences or questions as keywords, rather than single words or short phrases. For example, instead of focusing on a broad phrase like "best restaurant," try optimizing for the full question that people are most likely to voice search: "Where is the best restaurant near me?" This helps search engines accurately match your content to conversational voice queries.

By incorporating natural language questions and employing a conversational style, your content will better align with how users speak when using voice assistants. This user-centric approach can improve your voice search optimization and provide a more seamless experience for your audience.

3. Optimize for Local SEO

Optimizing for local SEO is crucial for voice search visibility. Most voice searches have a local intent, as people often seek nearby businesses or services. By optimizing for local searches, you increase the chances of your content appearing for location-specific queries – the exact type of queries that are common in voice searches.

Imagine you're on the go and need a quick answer. Wouldn't it be faster and more convenient to simply use your voice assistant instead of typing a query manually? This is why focusing on the local aspect of your SEO is so important, especially for brick-and-mortar businesses.

When people search for something related to your business, search engines can easily surface your content, service, or location, potentially leading them to visit your store or make a purchase. Even if they don't convert immediately, your business will be top-of-mind whenever they need your service.

Here are some effective strategies to optimize for local SEO and, by extension, voice search:

1. Optimize your Google Business Profile: This free tool from Google helps you control how your business appears on Google properties like Maps, Search, and Shopping.

2. Leverage local business directories: These websites list local businesses, their locations, and contact details, making it easier for you to appear in local search results.

3. Create location-specific content: Develop content tailored to your service areas, using local keywords and addressing local topics and events.

By implementing these local SEO strategies, you'll improve your visibility for local searches, which are increasingly conducted via voice assistants. Ultimately, this can drive more foot traffic, sales, and brand awareness within your community.

4. Implement schema markup:

This schema markup, also called structured data, helps search engines understand your business's presence and accurately display your information. It helps boost your site's overall on-page SEO for both text-based and voice searches. It doesn't directly affect the rankings, but it can give you an edge over your competitors, especially when it comes to voice search.

Schema markup typically includes essential information about your business, such as address, contact information, pricing information, reviews, and more. It's designed mainly to help indexing bots/crawlers scan and understand the content of your web pages better, which increases visibility and high ranking for both text-based and voice searches.

Implementing Schema markup gives you a higher chance to rank well in voice searches. Just like the featured snippet we normally get with text-based searches, voice assistants also read out the results from the snippet shown when a query has been made because they need to provide precise and concise information. So, it's likely that the bots look at our site's schema markup data to decide what information should be displayed.

5. Try to Capture Featured Snippets for Your Keywords

Featured snippets are short pieces of content or answers to queries that appear at the top of search engine results pages, normally after sponsored posts. These featured snippets occupy a prominent position on the search results page and feature a concise excerpt or bulleted list that directly addresses the user's search query in a clear and succinct manner.

As mentioned, making it to the featured snippet sections is essential to voice search SEO, because the voice assistant will most likely read that featured snippet as its answer when people make queries. Landing featured snippets isn't an easy task because the featured snippet isn't necessarily pulled from the most-ranked website on the search engine result page.

But, here are some tips to help you land featured snippets:

Use clear, concise language to answer questions directly. Featured snippets aim to provide quick, to-the-point answers.

• Structure your content using headings, paragraphs, lists, etc. This makes it easier for search engines to identify and extract relevant snippet information.
• Research common question phrases around your topic and craft detailed, quote-worthy responses within your content.
• Optimize for question-based keywords that directly match the queries people use for voice search.
• Use schema markup to highlight and organize key information on your pages.
• Build topical authority and expertise through in-depth, high-quality content on your core subjects.
• Accumulate quality backlinks pointing to your pages, as authority is a ranking factor.

While there's no guarantee, following SEO best practices, using a question-answer format, and providing clear, structured information greatly improves your chances of earning coveted featured snippet placement.

6. Optimize your website for mobile

I mentioned that voice searches are mostly made using a mobile device. If this is the case, you should ensure your website is optimized for mobile, this way, you can easily appear in results through mobile devices. This is an essential part of SEO, not just for voice search optimization.

Imagine visiting a site to quickly get a solution to your problem, and the site keeps loading and taking too long to respond, or you discover that the site design is so odd that you have to zoom in to see its full content (it can be frustrating). This is the result of a website not being optimized for mobile, which can cause you to lose a significant portion of your audience.

Apart from your audience leaving your site because it's not mobile-friendly, Google will also deem your site unworthy of ranking well, and it's going to negatively impact you for both voice searches and traditional queries. Remember, modern SEO is all about user experience, and considering most searches are made using mobile, this is an aspect you shouldn't take lightly.

Here are some effective ways to make your website mobile-friendly:

1. Implement responsive web design: This approach automatically adjusts your site's layout and elements to fit different screen sizes and devices seamlessly.

2. Simplify navigation: Streamline your menus and navigation elements for easy touch-based browsing on smaller screens.

3. Optimize page loading speed: Minimize large images, leverage caching, and optimize code to ensure fast loading times on mobile networks.

4. Use legible font sizes and touch-friendly buttons: Make text readable and interactive elements easily tappable on mobile devices.

5. Prioritize important content: Highlight your most valuable information "above the fold" on mobile layouts.

6. Test regularly: Continuously monitor and test your site's mobile performance across various devices and screen sizes.

By prioritizing mobile-friendliness, you'll not only deliver a superior user experience but also maintain your search engine visibility and competitiveness in an increasingly mobile-centric world, where voice searches are rapidly gaining traction.

Conclusion

If you want to expand your reach and remain competitive, you should consider voice search optimization. Voice search has grown significantly over the past decade and shows no signs of slowing down - in fact, it will keep increasing.

The future is uncertain, but what we do know is that voice search will play a bigger role in how people seek information online. By taking steps now to optimize for voice queries, you can future-proof your SEO strategy and ensure continued relevance as this technology becomes more ubiquitous.

Implementing voice search optimization is an ongoing process that requires regular auditing and fine-tuning, not a one-time effort. You'll need to continually enhance your website to adapt to evolving trends and best practices in this space.

The key is recognizing the growing importance of voice search and making it an integral part of your overarching SEO approach. Those who prioritize and invest in voice search optimization today will be well-positioned to capture more traffic and engagement as this technology becomes mainstream in the years ahead.