Voice search is a technology that has been around for a while, but it’s only in recent years that it’s started to become mainstream. With the rise of smart speakers, voice assistants, and voice-enabled devices, it’s becoming increasingly important for website owners to optimize their sites for voice search. In this blog post, we’ll discuss the basics of voice search and how you can optimize your website to rank higher in voice search results.
What is Voice Search?
Voice search is a technology that allows users to perform searches on the internet by speaking to a device, such as a smartphone, smart speaker, or voice assistant. Instead of typing in a search query, users can simply speak their query out loud, and the device will use natural language processing and artificial intelligence to provide the most relevant results.
Voice search is becoming increasingly popular, with around 55% of households in the US expected to have a smart speaker by 2022. As a result, optimizing your website for voice search is essential if you want to stay ahead of the competition and reach a wider audience.
Why Optimize Your Website for Voice Search?
There are several reasons why you should optimize your website for voice search:
Voice search is becoming more popular: As we mentioned earlier, more and more people are using voice search to perform searches on the internet. By optimizing your website for voice search, you’ll be able to reach a wider audience and attract more traffic to your site.
Voice search is changing search behavior: Voice search is changing the way people search for information online. Instead of typing in short, keyword-focused search queries, users are now using more natural, conversational language. By optimizing your site for voice search, you’ll be able to cater to this new search behavior and provide users with the information they’re looking for.
Voice search is growing across all devices: Voice search is no longer just limited to smartphones. It’s now available on a range of devices, including smart speakers, smart TVs, and even cars. By optimizing your site for voice search, you’ll be able to reach users no matter what device they’re using.
Voice search can increase traffic and conversions: Studies have shown that voice search users are more likely to take action after performing a search. By optimizing your site for voice search, you’ll be able to attract more traffic to your site and increase your chances of conversions.
Now that we’ve covered the basics of voice search and why you should optimize your site for it, let’s take a look at some tips for optimizing your website for voice search.
Tip #1: Use Conversational Language
One of the key differences between voice search and traditional search is the way users phrase their queries. When typing a search query, users tend to use short, keyword-focused phrases. But when using voice search, users tend to use more conversational language.To optimize your site for voice search, you need to use conversational language in your content. This means using natural language that mimics how people speak in everyday life. Instead of focusing on short, keyword-focused phrases, try to use longer, more natural-sounding sentences.
For example, instead of optimizing for the keyword “best restaurants New York,” you could optimize for a conversational query like “what are the best restaurants in New York City?”
Tip #2: Use Structured Data
Structured data is a way of marking up your website’s content to make it easier for search engines to understand. By using structured data, you can provide search engines with additional information about your content, such as the type of content, the author, the date it was published, and more.
Using structured data can help your site appear in featured snippets, which are the short snippets of content that appear at the top of search engine results pages (SERP). Featured snippets are often read out loud by voice assistants, making them a valuable source of traffic for voice search users.
To implement structured data on your website, you can use schema.org, a vocabulary of tags that you can add to your HTML code. By adding schema markup to your content, you’ll make it easier for search engines to understand and display your content in search results.
Tip #3: Optimize for Local Search
Voice search is often used for local searches, such as “where is the nearest coffee shop?” or “what time does the movie theater close?” To optimize your site for local search, you need to ensure that your site includes relevant local information, such as your business address, phone number, and opening hours.
You should also claim and optimize your Google My Business listing, which is a free tool that allows you to manage your business’s presence on Google, including in search results and on Google Maps. By optimizing your Google My Business listing, you’ll increase your chances of appearing in local search results and attracting local customers.
Tip #4: Focus on Page Speed
Page speed is a crucial factor in both traditional and voice search. Users expect fast-loading websites, and search engines take page speed into account when ranking search results.
To optimize your site for voice search, you need to ensure that your pages load quickly. You can do this by optimizing your images, minifying your code, and using a content delivery network (CDN) to serve your content from multiple locations around the world.
Tip #5: Create Q&A Content
As we mentioned earlier, voice search queries tend to be more conversational than traditional search queries. To cater to this new search behavior, you should create Q&A content on your website.
Q&A content is content that answers specific questions that users might ask, such as “what is the best way to clean a leather couch?” By creating Q&A content on your site, you’ll increase your chances of appearing in voice search results when users ask similar questions.
You should also optimize your content for long-tail keywords, which are longer and more specific search queries. Long-tail keywords are often used in voice search, and by optimizing your content for them, you’ll increase your chances of appearing in voice search results.
Tip #6: Use Natural Language Processing (NLP)
Natural language processing (NLP) is a type of artificial intelligence that allows computers to understand human language. By using NLP on your website, you can ensure that your content is optimized for voice search.
One way to use NLP on your website is to include natural language keywords in your content. These are keywords that reflect the way people speak in everyday life, rather than short, keyword-focused phrases.You can also use NLP to analyze your website’s content and identify areas where you can improve your optimization for voice search.
Conclusion:
Optimizing your website for voice search is no longer an optional strategy, it’s a necessity. With the growing use of voice assistants and smart speakers, businesses need to adapt their websites to meet the needs of voice search users.By following these six tips for optimizing your website for voice search, you’ll increase your chances of appearing in voice search results and attracting more traffic to your site.Remember to focus on creating conversational content, implementing structured data, optimizing for local search, focusing on page speed, creating Q&A content, and using natural language processing.
As with any SEO strategy, it’s important to monitor your results and make adjustments as needed. Keep an eye on your analytics and search rankings to see how your optimizations are impacting your traffic and engagement.
