If you work with some type of marketing plan for your website, you should already know that to gain prominence and appear in the top positions of Google, an efficient SEO strategy is essential. An optimized page is not a guarantee of success, but it can go a long way for people to find it. With the increase in the use of mobile devices, however, a new challenge arises: preparing your content for voice searches. Do you know why it is essential to worry about this?
According to the consultancy Gartner, by 2020, 30% of web sessions will be done without the use of a screen. Before a trend in the country, this type of search, without typing on the computer or cell phone, is becoming more and more a reality. Proof of this is the arrival of Alexa, Amazon’s virtual assistant.
So, if you want to up your game, optimizing your site for voice search is the way to go. Don’t know how to do it right? No problem! Here is a complete guide to help you rank your website for voice search.
What Is Voice Search?
Voice search is the search made by users using their voice on a search engine or digital assistant. It works using a speech recognition technique to understand the user query and then find the online match.
How to Optimize Your Website for Voice Search?
As per the Google’s Voice Search rater guidelines, they prefer brief and to-the-point search results. To perform better in voice search, the content should be easy to read and comprehend. Here is what you need to do to ensure that your site is optimized.
If you are using the latest best SEO practices, there is a very little that needs to get done differently to make your site friendlier to voice searches.
If you’ve ever used voice search on your mobile, chances are you were looking for something specific like an address or the price of a product etc. As such, you can now bear the user in mind while structuring your site. One of the great ways to do so is by preemptively answering questions.
Here are some best practices to use for optimizing your site for voice search.
Use Conversational Words
The user doesn’t like to use a long sentence or keyword while searching. In fact, short phrases are used to save time and physical effort while finding information. Searches on mobiles are usually a conversation with a virtual assistant and Artificial intelligence leverage the power of voice search engines. That means, with every conversation, it is going to perk up its ability and becomes smarter than before.
For instance, while searching for a restaurant using text, you might type “best restaurants in your area.” This is the language that a computer understands. However, with voice search, you will probably ask “Which restaurant serves lunch now?”
So, never make the mistake of using long-tail keywords for equating voice search optimization. Voice search most probably tends to contain question phrases. However, keyword research tools will not be able to find those conversational phrases that people speak while using mobile assistants.
So, incorporate the keyword that is more conversational into your content. It should imitate how users speak and ask questions verbally.
Go For Structured Data Markup
So do you prefer to write content solely focused on your audience? Well, that’s good, but there are many factors besides content that search engines look for. That means well-written content is not the only thing that will decide a page’s relevance and search results position. You need to leverage additional factors like schema markup to further optimize your content for voice search engines.
Although it might not affect the rankings, it can help you stay ahead of your competitors. The schema is basically a data that provide the information on your site. It moves into the source code and helps search engines to classify your content.
Secure Your Website with SSL Certification
Securing the sites with SSL certification not only essential for secure payment gateway but it also helps you t rank higher in search results. Protect your website with https to make it appear in Voice Search.
Link to Authoritative Websites/ Domains
Call it quality backlinks or authoritative links, a link from or to the authoritative websites/ domains can be a great ranking factor for your site. Get quality backlinks from the relevant websites with good Domain Authority and Page Authority and also follow link juice from form the website to your site to appear in Voice Search result and increase the DA and PA value of your website.
Keep the Important Information Readily Available
The crucial information like the street address and opening hours should be readily available on your site. Being an incredibly sophisticated search engine, Google’s spiders will find it easier to crawl and parse your content if it is easily available.
This ultimately increases your chances of appearing in voice search results. Also, don’t “hide” the information that is imperative for your site. Ensure that it is in plain old HTML. The image content can be parsed by Google to give search results, but don’t force it as it may certainly hamper your visibility.
Focus On SEO Ranking Factors
There are no specific Google Algorithm updates for Google Voice Search. No cheat code is there to have the benefits of traffic from Google Voice Search. Just work on the same SEO ranking practice suggested by SEO professionals to rank on the first page of Google.
Final Words
Voice search is garnering hype as the latest trend, and it is not going to vanish anytime soon. So as soon as you optimize your site for this trend, the better response you will get in the future.
