Optimizing website for search engine is important for every online business. It is what allows businesses to reach their target market. However, in order to effectively do so in the current market scenario, it is important to do more than just SEO. For one, voice search is growing bigger every day. Hence, it is crucial to optimize for it as well. That being said, in this article, we will talk about how you can optimize your website for voice search.
Search engine optimization allows businesses to reach their target market in the online space. Hence, for an online business to grow and survive, SEO is crucial. So, as such a business, we do multiple things to ensure that our website rank for its target keywords. However, if you really want to reach maximum of your target audience on the internet, then it is crucial to do more than just what is conventional SEO.
For most part, searching on the internet has been like this—type your query into the search bar and click the search button. And businesses have optimized their websites accordingly. However, with the introduction of voice search a few years back, the scenario has changed. Before getting to how to do that, let’s first understand why you should optimize for it.
Why optimize for voice search?
Voice search optimization is a new important addition to what we have understood as SEO yet. Voice search allows the users to search the internet without having to type their query. All you have to do is command your Google Assistant or any such app using your voice. Hence, due to being ridiculously easy and convenient, it is getting more prevalent day by day. There is a good chance the considerable percentage of your target market is searching your business with voice command. Therefore, in order to reach that audience, it is crucial to optimize for search engine.
Ways to optimize your website for voice search
>>Mobile Optimization
Since voice search is done mainly through mobile phones, mobile optimization of your website is crucial. To do that, there are a number of things you’ll have to do:
- Use a responsive web design
- Optimize media on your website (images, videos, etc.)
- Improve your website loading and page speed
- Integrate lazy loading in your website
…and so on. Find out in elaborate how to optimize for mobile phones to help your website rank good in voice search. Mobile optimization is anyway an important web development practice in SEO.
>>Use long-tail keywords
People tend to use longer phrases when speaking than when typing. Hence, if you want to optimize for voice search, you should focus more on long-tail keywords. If you do a proper research on your keywords, find the right long-tail keywords and optimize for them accordingly, you can greatly improve your website’s click-through rate and effectively rank better.
>>Understand how voice queries are formed
The ways queries are formed when typing them versus when speaking them out is different. When we have to type, we try to be brief whereas while speaking, we aren’t as worried about brevity. For one, a person may type “digital agencies dallas” but while speaking he may for his query as “what are some best digital agencies in dallas”, “show me the best digital agencies near me” or something like that even when the search intent for the two is 100% same. This difference is important to note. This is also explains how long-tail keywords are used.
>>Use a conversational tone in your content
People tend to converse with their voice assistant apps. So, the (long-tail) keywords used have a more conversational tone. Hence, it is advisable to use conversational language in your content. It will likely increase the chances of your content getting ranked higher for voice search as there’d be a greater chance for your keywords to match.
>>Form questions and answer them
Another important thing to note is that when using voice search, people tend to use the question form. For example, when querying about the temperature, the searcher may form his query like “how is the weather today”, “what is the temperature”, etc. A little research will help you find out the commonly asked question around your business. Incorporating those questions and answering them can help your website improve its rank on the voice search. It’d also be a great idea to have a QnA page.
>>Optimize for local search
Optimizing for local reach can also help improve your visibility in voice SERPs. Finding nearby businesses is one of the most popular search intent of voice searchers. For one, the term “near me” is heavily used in voice search queries. And certain Google search stats totally back up the fact that the use of this term has grown greatly with succeeding years. Therefore, your local search visibility can greatly improve your chances of getting a good ranking in voice search.
>>Make your results prompt and to the point
Voice searchers are looking for quick and easily consumable information. In fact, Google uses prompt feature snippets to answer the voice search queries. Hence, appearing in the zero result can be helpful. And for that, you need to have prompt and to the point answers to popular questions surrounding your business.
Final Word
Voice search is only getting bigger each passing day. Hence, for the growth of your business in the online market, only SEO can’t suffice. It is as important to optimize for voice search. With the help of the tips given above, you will be able to effectively optimize you website for the voice search and enjoy better rankings.
For more such tips, stay tuned with us!
