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Apr 01 2020

A Definitive Content Writing Guide for Voice Search SEO

Voice search is dramatically changing the way users look for information. By 2020, it is estimated that 30% of online sessions will be conducted without a screen as voice search is expected to dominate the market.

For the uninitiated, voice search allows users to do various tasks, including browsing the web, without having to scroll through desktops or mobile. Users will just have to speak into the device installed with voice recognition software, as opposed to typing keywords into a search query. Speech recognition technology, paired with the device’s voice assistant, determines the request and executes it.

Some devices can be optimized for voice search, but brands, platforms, and websites can take advantage of it too. Therefore, it’s imperative for businesses to boost their voice search efforts to improve their search rankings and be seen by their target audience.

However, according to BrightEdge, around 62% of marketers have not considered voice search optimization yet. Whether you’re one of those in the 62% or have already tapped the help of SEO specialists that offer voice search SEO services, it’s high time you realize that voice search is more than a trend. There’s no better time to ensure that your content is ready for voice search than now.

How Voice Search SEO Influences Your Rankings

As smart assistants become smarter every day, searches done through voice are expected to continue growing in number over the next few years. If you want to prepare your site for the future, you should first learn and understand the elements of voice search SEO that can greatly affect page rankings.

Enhanced semantic context

Google’s Hummingbird was perhaps the signal that voice search would be more prevailing, as it brought semantic context into the picture. Semantic context, in layman’s term, is simply Google getting better at understanding the meaning behind what people are asking. The algorithm, paired with natural language processing, has changed to understand the intent of the search to provide them with more accurate answers.

No longer are keywords the only thing to focus on, but also queries structured in sentences or phrases. Aside from keywords, Google also looks at other factors to show better results, such as a user’s previous searches or patterns of searches. For content marketers, this means going beyond using keywords in your content.

Accessibility

The technology behind voice-activated assistants and search is not only beneficial to regular folks but is also especially useful for people with physical limitations. Those with vision impairment can access information, buy online, and contact others just by speaking to their devices.

People with limited dexterity also find it helpful that they don’t need a keyboard or touchscreen. For those with more critical movement issues, smart speakers allow them to control almost every aspect of their homes. It provides disabled users (and possibly the elderly) with a new avenue to be independent and maintain their daily routine.

Whether it’s a personal preference or necessity, accessing online information in various ways should be possible. For marketers, this means ensuring that your content is optimized for voice technology for the sake of those with disabilities as well as those seeking convenience. This can be achieved by following accessibility guidelines, like making sure that the material is machine readable for the search engines to properly index it, making it easier for users to find.

Improved user experience

SEO isn’t just about keywords and link building. To prove that, Google now considers different factors when ranking a site, and elements of user experience (UX) are the most important. UX, in this context, is Google giving the best results to the user, but the site’s interface is another thing altogether.

This means that aside from the relevant information, the site should also have a fast loading time on any device, have a simple architecture that makes it easy for users to find what they need, and be responsive. If your site loads slowly or looks wonky on any device, people will probably just leave, resulting in a high bounce rate. When this happens, your rankings will tank accordingly.

Increased mobile search presence

GlobalWebIndex found that 27% of mobile users globally use their device to do voice search. In addition, Google has set forth standards as to how companies can make their sites more mobile-friendly, prioritizing mobile-friendly pages when they detect that a user is browsing on mobile. These mean that integrating your mobile SEO strategy with voice search only makes sense.

For instance, it’s better to write short and straight-to-the-point sentences when producing content for mobile because people who are on mobile don’t want long sentences and big paragraphs that force them to scroll too often. Similarly, when your mobile assistant reads a search result, it’d be easier for the user to grasp short sentences.

Optimized local SEO

Voice is especially important in local business search. According to a survey, 58% of people have used voice search to find local businesses; and 46% of them do it daily. Technically, consumers look for the best companies depending on their need. And since search engines can identify location or study past searches, they can find a business located closest to the user.

Local SEO also makes directory and review websites essential for businesses. Some voice assistants even use third-party review sites to supplement the information they give, as smart assistants use other databases to answer queries.

How to Optimize Content for Voice Search SEO

Here are a few ways to ensure that your site ranks well for voice search.

1. Cater to micro-moments

Micro-moments, as defined by Google, are instances wherein users instinctively turn to their device “to act on a need to learn, do, discover, watch, or buy something.” These moments are intent-rich, “when decisions are made, and preferences are shaped.” The most likely device to turn to is a smartphone, and from here, you can see the overlap between mobile and voice search.

There are four kinds of micro-moments to take note of:

I-want-to-know, or the basic research
I-want-to-go, or looking for nearby businesses
I-want-to-do, or learning how to do something
I-want-to-buy, or searching for a particular product from a physical or online store

You can tailor the content to produce for these four micro-moments and address the searchers’ need. These are also good indicators of where the user currently is in the buyer’s journey, so you can determine the potential voice search queries they’ll make. You may include keywords for your local business and geo-location in the question to make the content more contextualized.

2. Write the way you speak

Google reported that 70% of queries done through their smart assistants contain natural language rather than common keywords used in web search. This is important because there is a huge difference between how a person speaks typically and how they communicate in writing, and that disparity is something you should be mindful about.

Naturally, in voice search, people use the more natural-sounding language, which might comprise of longer and more precise search terms. But this does not mean disregarding keywords completely; instead, you should focus on creating content that uses conversational language, directly answering questions through voice, and integrating the keywords you want to rank for.

3. Use the same language as your customers to find the products you offer

Every brand has a target audience that they need to appeal to; and when it comes to getting their attention, basic conversational language may not be enough. For instance, if your company is a speakeasy that caters to mid-to-upper class workers, you have to use the kind of words that they can easily relate to or use in their everyday life.

The gravest mistake is to overload your content with buzzwords that your market may not even understand to begin with. Keep in natural and adapt your content to use conversational language that your customers also use.

4. Use interrogative words

Closely related to writing using natural-sounding language is the use of interrogative words, or the what, who, where, why, and how that is typically used in a question. Question-based content is better for voice search and it can also be optimized by using specific keywords and phrases that are commonly found in related search queries.

Then, it’s a matter of integrating the query into the content and answering it too. You can make the content longer to optimize it better, but somewhere, preferably near the introduction, provide the answer to the question, so that search engines will effortlessly pick it up. Using interrogative words also align with the possible queries for each kind of micro-moment.

5. Use long-tail keywords

As mentioned, the terms used in voice and traditional search are different. To guarantee that your content is optimized for voice search, include long-tail keywords that make the search terms sound more natural. You can simply use Google Analytics to know the long-tail keyword phrases you need to gun for, and these usually include question words. From there, you can develop content to target these phrases.

Businesses can also look into customers’ phone calls to uncover the common questions they ask customer support. Test the long-tail keywords and content themes by using them on titles and FAQs page. Include keywords in the metadata, as well, and use structured markup to help search engines understand the material.

6. Localize your writing

According to reports, 22% of voice search queries are location-based or searches meant to find businesses close to the searcher’s location. These voice searches were likely done while on the move, made possible by smartphones and integrated location services. This means that it is now essential that brands invest in local content to have a higher chance of ranking for voice search.

If your business has a physical address, make sure that you are listed on all major online business directories like Google My Business, Yelp, and others. It’s a one-stop page for prospects and customers who may be interested in visiting your store and would like to know your address, business hours, etc.

You may also create location-specific content by using phrases like “near me” or the exact city/town. Encourage positive reviews from customers and be smart about using keywords in product descriptions. Optimizing for local voice search gives you an edge over the competition with help from geotagging, exact and question-based queries, and updated and consistent directory listing.

7. Optimize for featured snippets

Position zero or featured snippet is a highly valuable ranking because this is where smart assistants usually get their response in a voice search. It is essentially a summary of the search query from a web page. In desktop, featured snippets appear in a box below ads and before the organic results.

To optimize your content and get a chance to be a featured snippet, include a summary of your content in under 29 words. You should already rank above the fold, or on page one or among the top 10 of results since over 99% of featured snippets come from these.

Make sure also to use your long-tail keywords in the snippet or the keywords that usually pull up featured snippets when searched like best, recipe, cost, price, and definition. Sectioning with H-tags and using lists and bullet points can also help because they make the content easily readable for Google.

8. Provide short and simple answers

Just as humans don’t always communicate using very long sentences, lengthy phrases and sentences also becoming more difficult to comprehend. As mentioned, featured snippets should not exceed 29 words, so it’s only logical to assume that creating clear and simple responses on voice search queries can help optimize your content.

Answer the query with as few words as possible, or use one sentence to express one thought, and another one to answer one question. It’s also essential to keep phrases short; voice search results should typically be written at a 9th-grade reading level or lower. Try to break down high-level information to make it easy for anyone to comprehend.

9. Break down content with subheadings, bullet points, numbered lists, and quotations

In both traditional and voice search SEO, long-form content still ranks better, despite the focus on short phrases and snippets. Content should ideally still have between 1850 and 2500 words, but do be wary of large blocks of text. The importance of headings and lists has already been pointed out in creating featured snippets, but it’s good practice in content creation across the board.

In addition, since most people are using mobile assistants to do a voice search, it only makes sense to use subheadings, bullets and numbers, and quotations in your content as it helps optimize your layout when viewed on mobile. Don’t forget to break them down into short paragraphs and use plenty of white space.

10. Provide real value

Optimization should be a byproduct of content that delivers value. Content production may be affected if you’re always concerned about optimization, as opposed to just providing answers to users’ queries. If you don’t, they are going to move on. Depending on that interaction, whether they stick around or go somewhere else, there will definitely be an impact on your current rankings.

In addition, you should be optimizing for voice search because you, yourself, find value in it, whether it’s for delivering utility, simplifying business, or providing a kind of entertainment that other channels cannot. It shouldn’t just be because you want to be in voice. Offer a unique value proposition that only voice search can deliver.

11. Don’t overdo it

Despite the expected dominance of voice search in the future, there are still certain types of queries that you cannot speak out loud, especially if you’re on mobile and in a public location. This means that traditional SEO would still matter in the future and that you don’t have to put all of your efforts into techniques that only affect voice search rankings.

You want your content to be optimized for all kinds of searches. As mentioned, offering what your audience is looking for should be the priority, not optimization.

Conclusion

Voice search may sound like a fleeting trend or a party trick when you want to show off your voice assistant’s capabilities. But, as speech recognition technology becomes more powerful every day, there will come a where that you won’t have to swipe and type just to get something done on a device.

Investing in voice SEO can improve brand awareness and revenue. Optimizing today can help you get ahead of the competition. Voice search SEO isn’t rocket science. You only need to be human and produce content like how a human will because, at the end of the day, you want to resonate with your audience, who are human beings.

Mar 31 2020

How to Write an Optimized FAQ Page to Rank for Voice Search

While robot assistants aren’t in mass circulation yet, voice assistants probably come close to fulfilling that spot today. Uttering commands to a speaker or mobile phone is now considered natural, and these devices have now become multi-functional gadgets that spew out information that you wish: call your co-worker, play your favorite song, or find the best Italian restaurant in your neighborhood.

Even if you’re not an avid user of the tech now, chances are you know someone who is. In a few years, this may become the new norm, with more gadgets like cars, pens, and watches able to answer you in a second. Truly, voice search is creating an impact on the way people live their lives and digest content, and more changes are set to unfold in the future.

For instance, Gartner predicted that around 30% of all web browsing would be voice-activated. We’re almost there, and this couldn’t be far from possible. After all, there was a recorded 2.5 billion voice assistants in use by the end of 2018, and this number will likely triple in just a few years.

Realistically speaking, it’s a bit of a stretch to see all keyboard users vanish and use voice-enabled search every chance they get, as there’s a time, place, and specific use for voice search. However, the growing number of people who do use it is getting hard to ignore, which could make you opt to consider tapping experts for voice search optimization services.

SEO and keyword research has seen changes as people use more long-tail and conversational keywords to find what they’re looking for on the internet. This makes sense, as one would probably say, “Where’s the best Italian restaurant near me?” out loud vs. “best Italian restaurant LA.” This is one of the most compelling reasons why FAQ pages can help attract your voice-searching audience to your business.

What is an FAQ page?

Short for Frequently Asked Questions, FAQ pages usually contain the top queries your customers have had about your business. However, you can also strategically include topics you want them to be familiar with on this page. Being the first point of contact with your customers, FAQs deal with the details and answers to specific questions about your product or service in a straightforward manner.

Here’s why it’s so effective:

■ It can lessen inquiries directed to customer service by providing public information on a particular topic.

■ It’s good for SEO, which can boost rankings and offer better user experience (navigation, content).

■ It demonstrates professionalism and creativity by giving your audience a taste of what it’s like to do business with you.

■ It can provide more information about your company, products, or services that were not initially addressed by the product page copy.

■ It can help your company earn the trust of new visitors as they learn more information about your company.

Keep in mind that the only way to reap the full benefits of this is if your FAQ page is fully optimized.

Tips on Writing and Optimizing an FAQ Page for Voice Search

Here are some actionable and valuable tips on how to improve your existing FAQ page or build one from scratch, with voice search in mind.

1. Know your target audience

Understanding your web visitors is the first step to creating the backbone of your FAQ content. What are they asking? What keywords or phrases are they using that lead them to your site? What questions are they sending your customer service reps or social channels?

There are a few ways to go about this:

■ Anticipate the needs of your customers and include answers to questions that they might not even have thought of yet. Put yourself in the position of your target audience and see what information you would want more of.

■ Engage with your current customers through your business’ most effective touchpoint. Whether it’s through social media, email, or face time with clients in-store, ask them what’s on their mind and how you can serve them better.

■ Perform competitor analysis and see what types of FAQs your industry rivals are answering.

■ Do a keyword research study on the most frequently used terms your visitors have entered to find your website.

Putting yourself in the shoes of your customers makes them more at reach. You’ll be able to relate to them and provide services and information that can better suit their needs. Allow them to be your guidepost.

2. Frame questions using the first-person perspective

There are plenty of ways to structure an FAQ page. While it’s a good idea to be direct, it’s not that enticing to place short, clipped sentences that barely provide details. Adding some character and personalization in your FAQs will keep your audience engaged.

Furthermore, using the first-person perspective in speech is the most effective way to go. It matches the way the question is formed on the user’s mind and therefore relates to them more. Here’s an example:

Example 1: What is your return policy?

Example 2: How can I return my purchase?

While the first example doesn’t sound bad, it doesn’t reflect the thinking pattern of most web guests. Going with the first-person approach is kinder and customer-centric, which visitors often appreciate more. This is also how a person using voice search would ask their question. Using the words “I” and “my” can help fix the structure of any FAQ sentence.

3. Use interrogative sentences

Your FAQs should read like questions instead of statements. This format is what a user typically expects. However, it’s common for other websites not to follow this format and opt for direct sentences and explanations instead, or worse, a combo of statements and questions.

If you’re one of the websites that don’t use the question format, it’s time to make a switch. This makes your FAQs look confusing and stiff. Here’s an example:

Statement: Delivery time frames and serviced areas.

Question: How long will the package get to my address?

FAQs are not blogs, so your points for discussion should look less like headers and more like questions flowing out of the users’ minds. After all, when they do a voice search, there’s always a question mark at the end of their queries.

4. Be direct and transparent with your answers

While concise answers may sound unappealing, no user would want to read huge blocks of text to find the answer to their question. Avoid overcomplicating things with your desire to help your consumers. Keep it at just the right length.

If you need to elaborate a lot on your explanations, it’s a good idea to use bullets, emphasize specific keywords through formatting, and break up your paragraphs every three lines. This will make your content easily digestible rather than overwhelming. Search engines will also be able to comb through properly-formatted texts as well, which is better for SEO.

Remember, your FAQ is present to bring comfort and answers to your user, not confuse them even more. Proofread your answers and check over and over how much you can simplify a word, shorten a sentence, edit unnecessary information out, and so on.

5. Organize and structure your FAQs properly

This step is critical if you have a library of questions that needs answering. Just imagine the frustration of the user when they come across your FAQ, and they can’t seem to find the portion that the search engine showed at the results page.

Here are some ideas on how to structure your FAQ page:

■ Group your questions per category. Your customers will not just have questions about your product or service. They might want to know about payment information, data security, the step-by-step process of managing their account, and so much more. It will be easier to find a question under a specific category when fixed this way.

■ List the items chronologically. Follow the natural journey of the user on your website and order your questions in that manner. For instance, you would prioritize questions about payments before delivery, followed by returns, and so on.

■ Sort them by your audience, if applicable. This is applicable for companies with free and premium services. There may be complex FAQs for premium members that non-paying customers may not necessarily experience. Highlight the segregation and make sure your audience can easily spot them.

6. Add links to your blog posts

Blogs are critical for online presence and content marketing efforts. You can combine the efforts of your blog posts with your FAQ page.

If you want to tackle complex topics to questions such as, “Which [product or service] is right for me?” A blog post is the best place to discuss it. It will serve a larger audience in that platform than an FAQ. You can add links to these pieces of content on your FAQ so that you can give further information to your web visitor. This also clues them in that you have a library of existing articles that could help them out further. It’s also an excellent way to help your users stay in your website longer since they will be navigating within the site rather than exiting and looking for other answers elsewhere.

7. Don’t forget your CTAs

Call-to-action buttons are an essential ingredient for conversions. While your visitors are in the FAQ page, they could come across information that satisfies them or puts them to a much closer position of doing business with you than moments ago. This is the perfect opportunity to gently motivate them to sign up, buy now, or learn more.

You can include a CTA in one of two ways:

■ Have a general CTA button visible on all pages of your FAQ site, preferably in stark contrast to your website’s colors so that it can be seen easily.

■ Include links and CTA lines in some of the answers to your FAQs so your readers can easily take the next step without having to go to another page.

Take advantage of this secret weapon as not all FAQs would typically have this!

8. Use social proof to establish credibility

Last but not least is social proof. Your audience goes to your FAQs for some reassurance, so they know that they’re giving their money to the right business. They’ll be keen to know about your product, but also about the way your company deals with issues and crises like billing, refund policies, and more.

Since your goal is to calm the anxiety and doubts of your web visitors, adding social proof in your FAQs is the cherry on top. You don’t have to insert quotes unnaturally at every answer, but instead, add a section at the bottom of the page where they can visibly see the reviews other people have written publicly about you. You can put logos of social networking sites or blogs where you’ve been featured before.

The goal here is to use the credibility of other sites and reviewers so that they can give you that same trust.

Best FAQ Page Examples

To get a clearer idea of these tips put into action, here are some examples of useful FAQ pages.

Microsoft

The tech mogul’s FAQ page is written in the first-person POV and separates their Windows and Office users’ concerns for straightforward navigation.

Nintendo

Nintendo offers an easy-to-read and direct approach when answering questions but still does so in an engaging manner. They also have a CTA of their login/signup button in red at the top corner of the page, which is hard to miss!

United By Blue

The apparel brand made use of internal linking techniques to discuss an extensive topic in-depth.

Days Out Guide

This site features a keyword cloud at the top of their page which redirects users to their concern. They also use formatting to emphasize certain parts of their answer since it’s a bit long, offering a balance between text, imagery, and interactive features.

Get Started on Writing an Excellent FAQ Page

Writing an FAQ page is theoretically straightforward, however, paying attention to the details is what separates you from optimizing your website both for its content and navigation. You won’t just be serving your voice searching audience, but you would have executed all the right steps to attract them to your page in the first place. In the era of voice search, writing an excellent FAQ page is a weapon you would want to utilize.

Having experts guide and review your efforts is another step in ensuring you’re going down the right path in business. Voice SEO can help show you the ropes in FAQ page optimization, as well as your other voice search needs.

Mar 31 2020

10 Best Practices in Voice Search SEO for Local Businesses

We now live in a world driven by technology. Today’s consumers can easily find their way around by asking questions or giving commands to their smartphones. Through the power of technology, voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant now make it possible to just use voice commands or voice search to navigate your way around your mobile device’s features.

Say, for instance, you want to find the nearest restaurant within a certain area. All you need to do is speak with your smartphone and ask where the nearest restaurant is located (such as Japanese food), and voila! A list of potential restos will pop up on your little screen. Yes, a simple voice search is all it takes to find the best Japanese Ramen place in town.

Beyond being a frivolous party trick, voice search technology can be a godsend for those driving or with poor eyesight. It means no more tedious typing on your keypad. You simply say what you’re looking for and it will respond just as quickly.

From a business owner’s standpoint, this is the perfect way to stand out from the crowd and beat the competition. While everyone is still caught up in the traditional SEO game, your business will be perceived as one that cares for its customers when you optimize for voice search.

It’s a different ballgame

Of course, optimizing your website for voice search tends to differ from the usual SEO standards. Remember that it isn’t a simple keystroke that we’re looking at here. You’re now utilizing the power of voice—just as if one is speaking to another person. So it’s best to keep in mind that:

People use keywords differently. In traditional search queries, one simply types the keywords, for example, “Beauty Salon.” With voice search, one will make their local queries by speaking with their smartphone and asking a question, “Where is the nearest beauty salon?”
Unlike traditional search, there are different major voice assistants involved here. In traditional SEO, the only popular options are Google or Bing. When it comes to voice search, you’ve got Alexa, Siri, or Google Assistant to do the job for you.
People using voice search for local queries have strong intent, which you can leverage to nurture and convert them into customers. There is something about voice search that makes one feel in control, thus empowering one to make a purchase of a product or service.

There’s a goldmine waiting to be explored

If you think that voice search SEO is an added expense, consider that:

Using voice search can help direct more people to your physical store. A study revealed that 72% of buyers who find local businesses through voice search end up visiting the stores within a 5-mile radius. As with the example above, a hungry motorist in search of a Japanese restaurant isn’t simply trying out the tech for kicks. He is actually looking to satisfy his hunger—at a place where he can grab a hearty meal of Tempura and Sushi.
Apart from driving people to your store, your business may soon see an increase in website traffic, which means more brand awareness. In fact, 27% of consumers visit the website of a local business after performing a voice query. By providing solutions or answers to voice queries, it’s likely that users will visit your website to learn more about their concern. You can take this visit as an opportunity to capture their contact details using CTAs and lead magnets.

How to Optimize for Voice Search

As mentioned above, voice search optimization is different from traditional SEO methods. Thus, it is important to know how to get the most out of this. There are voice search optimization strategies that you need to consider for your local business in order to reap its rewards.

1. Know where to cite your business

Voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant are also called smart assistants because they are effective in delivering in-depth information to users. What makes it possible for them to do this is through data aggregation or the system of gathering and summarizing information from across online databases.

Data aggregators like search engines, maps, online directories or reviews—anything that holds datasets—scour the web for citations that refer to your business name, address, and phone number (NAP). They organize all these pieces of information in their database, ready to be pulled up by voice assistants whenever someone searches about a local business.

You should also ensure that your business has accurate and up-to-date citations or listings on the following data aggregators that each voice assistant uses:

Siri — Google search, Apple maps, and Yelp
Alexa — Bing, Yelp, and Yext
Google Assistant — Google search and Google My Business
Cortana — Bing and Yelp

2. Improve your schema markup

Schema markup is any data-rich information that’s added to a website code to help search engines better understand a website’s content and evaluate if the context suits the query of users.

Unlike ad-hoc algorithms, schema markup is data in a more structured form. This structured data makes it easier for Google or Bing to interpret a series of numbers (for example, a phone number) and show it to users who are looking for a way to contact your business.

Aside from NAP, you can also markup the following data on your website to make your business discoverable on voice search.

Main email address
Operating hours
Online reviews
Business description

3. Use natural language keywords

Google prides its smart assistant in becoming more adept at natural conversations to adapt to people who use natural language in 70% of voice searches.

Search engines look for natural sounding language through long-tail keywords that allow users to phrase their search as if they’re talking to another person.

To meet this criteria, you should definitely consider having as many as five or more words in your target search terms, instead of the one-word phrases that no longer make it to the cut of current SEO standards.

Another way of optimizing your keyword strategy is through question phrases. Take your main keyword and convert it into a question form using the 5W (who, what, where and when) and 1H (how) questions.

4. Tailor your content to voice search needs

Tailoring your content to voice search needs is key. Users of voice technologies don’t use the same search terms and may have very specific criteria in their search, unlike their counterparts who type on a keyboard to enter a search query on Google. With this in mind, you need to keep track of what people are using voice search for.

Remember too that different people have different needs and wants. This means you will need to program a wide range of content to suit different needs. But if you’re catering to a specific target audience, things would be much simpler. Whatever the case, always remember to keep in constant touch with your customers to know what they are looking for. This way, you will be able to take all sides into account and satisfy most, if not all of their wishes.

5. Create a comprehensive FAQ page

Mastering voice search SEO can be quite challenging since Google recommends answering voice queries in under 30 words. This is where you could use an FAQ page.

With an FAQ page, you can take the contents of your blog post, pick only the most important information, and use it to answer a highly specific query about your business. This is also a great way to rank for hundreds of voice search queries, as you use various categories in creating your FAQ pages—all of which let you target relevant keywords.

When you write your FAQ page, be sure to breakdown information into digestible pieces and keep the answers short and simple as much as possible. You can also group related questions and answers together using specific stages in the customer journey and themes.

6. Optimize for featured snippets

Featured snippets, also known as answer boxes, are a type of search result that appears right on top of SERPs, which means users don’t need to scroll down and go to a separate page or link to find an answer to their query.

When you optimize your content for snippets, it has a far better chance of ranking above all others. This is called position zero in search marketing. Since voice assistants are designed to read only one result at a time, they will tend to automatically read back to the user is the top content or the featured snippet.

So if you come across search phrases that don’t return featured snippets on the SERP, use it as an opportunity to create better content that will land you on position zero in the voice search results.

7. Optimize for “Near Me” Searches

Local voice searches are synonymous to “Near Me” searches,” which means that someone is likely to use this phrase when they’re mobile and unable to type in a written query on Google or Bing. Meanwhile, they are able to speak to their voice assistant to help them find the nearest business to their current location.

Local businesses in retail, food and beverage, hospitality, and other service-oriented industries can greatly benefit from near me types of queries by making sure that they optimize their site for location- or directional-based keywords.

8. ELI5 (Explain Like I’m 5)

Search engines want its users to have a positive user experience by giving them content that’s easy to understand.

When writing content for voice search, aim for (maximum) a 9th grade reading or comprehension level. Get rid of technical jargon and use words that are familiar for average content consumers when defining or explaining a concept, giving instructions, and the like.

Avoid complex sentence structures too. Instead, aim for simpler ones to make it easy and fast for users to process the information they’re receiving via voice search.

9. Increase your website speed

Another factor that Google uses to rank websites is page speed for both desktop and mobile devices. Based on statistics, 20% of searches on mobile devices are voice-based, but with the rate voice search is expanding, you can expect this number to increase sooner rather than later.

This makes it important that you optimize your website’s loading speed so that you can capture the growing market of voice search users. You should perform regular audits on your site to help you spot technical issues as well as get access to high-speed network from a good web host.

10. Improve your domain authority

Domain authority is an approximate evaluation of your website domain’s potential to rank on search engines. It’s a predictive score given to your site describing how well you’re likely to perform on SERPs based on trustworthiness and authority.

It’s worth noting that with voice search, you don’t necessarily need to acquire a lot of backlinks to have Google rank your site, which is how it works for traditional SEO. Domain authority also considers link quality, which assess the strength of the linking domain as well as the contextual relevance of the link. As long as you follow the best practices in voice search, you can have a good DA and ultimately rank on voice search.

Give Your Brand a Voice

These days, it can be a real challenge to establish your brand image and ranking in the very vast digital space. Not only are you surrounded by competition but there’s also the fact that you need to keep an eye out for what’s hot and new.

So, if you want to stay ahead in the game, it’s best to take advantage of voice search optimization. Voice SEO uses the most innovative tools to provide your local business with quality voice search optimization services. We have SEO experts who understand the core fundamentals of voice search and are well-equipped with the right knowledge to optimize your website and make sure that you attract the right audience.

It’s the wave of the future today, and Voice SEO can help you get to where you want to be.

Mar 30 2020

6 Industries That Should Care About Voice Search (+ Optimization Tips)

Getting to know your customers is one of the most critical components of running a business. Their behavior, preferences, and feedback are what powers the actions of your company, from marketing to developing an entirely new product or service. This is why a lot of study goes into buyer personas, making sure you reach the right audience and perfecting the message you want to get across to them.

With technology ever-present in your customers’ lives, you should be aware and updated with any changes as to how they interact with information and decide on their purchases online—case in point: the voice search revolution.

Voice search is no longer a thing to look out for in the future—the tech is already here and is being widely used. It’s predicted that by 2020, 50% of all online searches will be done by voice. This means somewhere around half of your target market could be looking for you through this channel.

How Voice Search Impacts Businesses

Voice search is one of the many products that promote the lessened use of touch or text input to accomplish a task. There’s the case of face authenticators on smartphones now, as well as payment systems integrated on apps. Technology is finding ways to speed up ordinary tasks, and people around the world are slowly adapting—41% of adults use voice search every day.

A study revealed that voice search is 3.7 times faster than typing. This translates to a person being able to speak 110-150 words a minute versus 38-40 words when typing. When using voice search, the individual is more likely to ask a query in full sentences rather than keywords. This can impact the discovery of businesses and the way online brands serve information, also known as SEO and content production.

Why is SEO crucial here? When using voice search, the digital assistant presents only one result to the user compared to ten blue links on a search engine results page. This means if your content is not well-optimized for voice search, your site won’t see the light. Thus, you have to implement voice search optimization techniques so that you can continue to rank, even for voice-based queries.

The voice search revolution cuts across plenty of industries. Check below if you’re one of the frontrunners to be affected by this shift, and why you should start optimizing today.

Industries That Need to Optimize for Voice Search

E-commerce

E-commerce is a massive industry. Retail e-commerce sales have already reached $3.5 trillion this 2019 and are projected to rise to $4.9 trillion in 2021. It has transformed the industry into a global marketplace, as international shipping options have made companies more accessible to users anywhere in the world. Understandably, this means the competition is cutthroat.

Couple that with the fact that shopping is probably going to be one of the most popular tasks that can be accomplished through voice search. 50% of voice search device owners have made a purchase with their gadget in 2018. Voice search is also being used for the discovery of e-commerce or physical stores. Many companies have probably already noticed that the number of their voice search inquiries have been increasing.

One of your primary goals as an e-commerce site is to make sure that your site shows up when someone does a voice search query for a business of the same nature as yours. For instance, one could ask, “what is the best shoe store in New York?” If you’re operating that kind of business in the area, you want those voice assistants to mention your brand so you can be placed at the top of mind of your target audience.

Restaurants

Imagine this: There’s a group of friends in a car, and they’re trying to decide where to eat for dinner. One of them could easily ask their voice assistant for either the nearest restaurants to them, the best in their city, or give something more specific like a cuisine. The top results that the voice assistant will deliver will most likely be where this group will visit.

Food is another popular search query of users. There are already more than one million restaurant locations in the U.S. alone, and you want your shop to appear in the top results! It’s crucial to optimize your local SEO for this as well so that the assistants can pick up your location and include you in the roster of results.

Automotive

Getting a car is one of the first big purchases that adults or families make. As of 2018, it was projected that international car sales reached 81 million units. With so many options to choose from, you would hope that your business would rank if a user were to ask where the nearest car dealership is in their area. This also includes car repair and maintenance shops in case cars run into issues in the middle of the road.

On a different note, cars also help bring the voice search technology to the public. In the U.S. alone, there are 77 million owners who have cars enabled with voice search assistants, which is currently more than the number of smart speakers owned today.

Healthcare

Voice search has penetrated 68% of healthcare’s online presence, only second to the food and beverage industry. The healthcare industry is not just limited to location and doctor information on hospitals and clinics, but also online publications that offer medical information about drugs, illnesses, and more. Moreover, voice search is a great companion for patients who have mobility impairments or those who have urgent concerns that need to be addressed.

If you are in the healthcare industry, you should prioritize answering questions related to illnesses your product prevents or treats, the location information or availability of your products and services, your operating hours if you have any, as well as your emergency contact numbers. Gathering this information is critical during emergencies, and voice search can be a great assistant to access said queries in a faster manner.

Professional Services

Professional services pretty much cover a broad umbrella of independent businesses, from photography and graphic design to events management and writing services, to name a few. To be a frontrunner in your niche industry, creating an online portfolio and optimizing this web address is crucial. 93% of all online activity begins with a search, so you already know that you shouldn’t skimp on creating brand visibility for your business.

Take steps to ensure that you won’t get left behind in the voice search industry. You never know when a potential customer might be looking for you via voice search. The questions can go, “give me a list of makeup artists in my area,” “who are the best wedding photographers in [country],” etc.

Real Estate

Real estate is an always-growing industry. People will never stop looking for new homes to relocate or settle into anytime in the foreseeable future. The global real estate market is expected to generate a revenue of $4263.7 billion by 2025, according to a report by Grand View Research, Inc.

Much like anything else you shop for, the digital age has allowed consumers looking for new homes to begin their journey online. This means voice searchers could ask “what’s the best subdivision to live in [city]” or “what are available homes for rent in [city]” and expect tangible results from brokers and other online realtors.

Local SEO can work great for your voice search optimization tactics as well since people usually get very specific with their queries. There’s a lot of room to explore here for your real estate business that you can tap into online.

Top Voice Search Optimization Tips

Refine your FAQs

Your FAQ page is a great place to insert exact match keywords that can help your brand visibility! You can start typing and answering questions a typical user would ask about your brand. You may even go so far as answering general questions related to your industry to help with further optimization. Place internal links to blog posts that explore the topics discussed in your FAQs, if applicable. Lastly, make sure that the answers to your questions are substantial or at least two to three sentences long.

Focus on Featured Snippets

Featured snippets, also known as Position Zero, are taking over search engine results. Where previously brands have worked to get the first spot, it seems like there’s a new player in town. Google has a new featured snippet where it reveals the answers to the queries without the user having to click on a link. These featured snippets are likely to be the source of information for voice assistants when reporting the answer of the query of the user. A study already came out that 80% of Google Home results came from these featured snippets. This pushes the need to focus on creating content that ranks for Position Zero.

Use Structured Data Markup

Also known as schema, using structured data markup is essentially adding a vocabulary of tags/microdata to your HTML codes. This language will then help search engines understand what your website is all about. In effect, your rankings will improve since the crawling will be a more enhanced experience for the search engine. It’s worthy to note that 75% of voice search results come from the top three results on SERPS. It doesn’t take answers from just the first spot, further broadening the playing field.

The schema was developed by top businesses Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, and Yandex to create shared technical jargon that SEO experts can use and refer to for better search engine optimization. There’s a list of items that you can markup with the language to provide more information about it. It’s a better way of getting search engines to index your site as well.

Focus on Local SEO

The ecommerce and restaurant industries highly benefit from local SEO, but this is definitely not limited to the two. 86% of people expect to see location information when they are searching online, and when looking for shops or restaurants on the go, they would much rather visit a business that they can hook up quickly to their car navigation app.

Even with traditional regular SEO, Google prioritizes ranking brands who have filled up their Google My Business listings, as this is a sign that your business has a verified address, and in hindsight, you’re focusing on the needs of your consumers.

Choose conversational, long-tail keywords

As mentioned earlier, users can speak out longer search queries versus typing them down. This suggests that those who search using their smart speakers or voice assistants use conversational language when they ask their questions. With regular SEO, keywords to a query may read as “best shoe brands,” whereas voice search SEO would favor the phrase “what are the best shoe brands in the US?”

There’s a long list of trigger keywords for voice search, with the top three being how (8.64%), what (5.01%), and best (2.63%). If you include these in your longtail keywords, there are higher chances that your webpages will be favored by assistants when serving search results to users.

Optimize for top voice assistants

Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant all have unique requirements for successful voice search optimization. It’s worthy of learning about the nature, similarities, and differences of each. For instance, Alexa uses Bing as its search engine when serving results—not Google. This info will make you revisit your strategy and be more inclusive towards other search engines versus just dumping all your budget on Google Ads.

Voice Search is Here

Optimizing for voice search should be a high priority for your business, regardless of whether you have a brick-and-mortar store, or you run entirely online. The changes in consumer behavior are not limited to the six industries above, and you will likely see more types of businesses affected by the voice search shift. After all, people will still be looking for answers online, as the internet is now the go-to source for information.

Voice search SEO borrows some tactics from regular SEO, but there are nuances in place that only experts will know. If you’re ready to implement this new tactic, you can reach out to professionals like Voice SEO to help you hit your goals and KPIs. Voice SEO specializes in voice search optimization and has all the tools and experience you need to execute your vision.

The competition in business will only become more aggressive over time. So, jump at the chance to oust your competitors now while you still have the upper hand!

Mar 29 2020

7 Voice Search SEO Mistakes That Are Hurting Your Bottomline

As long as new digital marketing tools and trends surface, search engine optimization (SEO) practices will continue to evolve. The case is true with all the historical algorithm updates that keep on challenging experts to go for white hat tactics and provide value to their target audience.

Besides these search guidelines that get regularly refined, one of the most significant changes to hit SEO is what you’ve come to know as the voice search revolution. People have entered the era where they no longer have to type in their queries via touch screens or tactile keyboards; there is now an option to talk to your gadgets.

In this day and age, it’s not uncommon to own a device pre-installed with a voice assistant. As of 2018, there were already 2.5 billion assistants in use, and this figure is projected to go up to 8 billion in 2023.

These intelligent robots live inside smartphones and smart speakers, promising to make life easier and more manageable for the users who choose to engage with their features. The most popular ones in the game so far are Siri for iOS users and Alexa or Google Assistant for Android users.

Back in the day, they were mostly used to play music, set reminders, or maybe call someone from your phonebook. Now, they’re being used to search for pertinent information online or navigate the way to the nearest establishment of your choice—features that can help businesses maximize their digital marketing efforts.

That said, if you’re not in on the voice search phenomenon, you could be severely hurting your bottom line! If you’ve already begun to optimize your business for voice search, you’re on the right track, but your work is far from over. It pays to familiarize yourself with the most common VoiceSEO mistakes businesses can make.

The voice search industry is new, and there are many things to consider. Thankfully, this post will help you identify and avoid said mistakes to make sure you can maximize your business growth without worry.

Top Voice Search SEO Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Mistake #1: Not optimizing for local search

Local SEO is a critical ingredient in voice search. BrightLocal conducted a 2018 study that shows that 75% of smart speaker owners perform searches for local businesses weekly, and an astounding 53% say they perform these searches every day. If you’re not giving out your location information online, you could be robbing people of the chance to discover your business.

The frequency for these types of search shows that voice search tech is relevant for businesses with physical stores that customers can visit.

Solution: Invest in Local SEO

One of the easiest ways to invest in local SEO is to claim your Google My Business page. It shows all the info people would want from your sites such as an address, operating hours, contact number, website, and reviews, if any. Other tactics include optimizing your website by adding your location as one of your main keywords. You can incorporate this on your home page, metadata, and even service or product pages.

Mistake #2: Poor internal link structure

You’ve probably heard about backlinks being king, but internal links serve a significant purpose, too. Its most essential function is creating a clear path for users to navigate your pages, makes your site easier to crawl, and defines your website architecture, to name a few. Additionally, proper internal linking helps search engines understand your content better.

Solution: Observe consistency in internal linking

As much as possible, it would be wise to have at least five internal links in one long blog post. This won’t only ensure that you’re referencing a lot of resource material you’ve written in the past, but also aid in the crawling process that bots do. It should go without saying that you should link intelligently, too. Use anchor texts and links that would be natural for the reader to click on, such as citing a topic with a much more in-depth explanation in another post.

Solution: Submit an XML sitemap to search engines

Your XML sitemap is essentially a blueprint of your website. It will contain all pages, posts, links and where they redirect to, as well as how often each page is updated when they were last changed, and the degree of relevance each page has to another. Having a sitemap is vital if you have over thousands of pages of content that are not linked together and you’re falling behind on your backlinks. This will help search engines understand the content of your site better and assess where your ranking should be.

Solution: Go for structured data

Structured data or schema markup is a type of code or tag that you can add to your HTML so search engines can understand and skim your page better. There are many examples of this, such as the site navigation shown below your main homepage URL on search results or the star ratings, price, and availability on your product results. This is another backend process that will help search engines better understand what content you’re putting out online, to better rank your relevance on SERPs.

Mistake #3: Not tailoring content for voice search

Online content production is increasing every year. In 2018, there were over 4 million blog posts published daily. That means it’s getting more and more challenging to be discovered by your audience, much less by voice assistants. Poor body copy will not get you anywhere, and so your articles and landing pages should be one of the first things you should fix when it comes to the voice search revolution. The good news is, there are ways to tailor your content creation to voice search that will enrich your content further.

Solution: Perform strategic voice keyword research

What are your users saying to their digital assistants to find your website? These keywords are essential to include in future or existing content so your chances of getting picked as the top search result increases. Voice search results don’t show ten or so blue links, but rather speak out the top result that the assistant finds. Similar to how you would conduct text keyword research for SEO, voice keyword research is essential for voice search.

Solution: Use natural language

Another critical thing to note is that voice search queries are longer than text since people use natural language when asking voice assistants. It would then make sense to incorporate conversational words in your posts, all the while not delving away from your brand voice. Write for your audience and not for search engines.

Solution: Create long-form content

The average content length for websites that’s great for SEO is around 1,600 words. The longer you discuss a topic, the more search engines will recognize you as an expert or authority on a subject. This won’t only help you for voice search ranking but desktop search ranking as well.

Mistake #4: Not investing in linkable content

As mentioned earlier, backlinks are critical in SEO. If you’re not creating content that’s credible or exciting enough for other websites to link to, it will be difficult for you to raise your domain rating and rank higher on SERPs naturally. Creating linkable content also helps your content promotion tactics. The more people see your name online, the more they are likely to believe you are credible.

Voice search technology relies on the performance of desktop search as well, which is why you would naturally want to increase your desktop SERP ranking to get noticed by Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant.

Solution: Create link-worthy content

One of the most popular ways of creating linkable content is to include relevant images, videos, and even create infographics that will support what you’re trying to say. Visuals are a great way to keep readers interested and hooked on your piece, especially if you want to create something upwards of 1,500 words.

Another tactic is including statistics and survey results in your piece. Data is fascinating to readers, and many other websites love collating research or case studies as abundant resources for others who are learning about a specific topic.

Adding to this, you may also want to include interview snippets or quotes from interviews that other websites won’t necessarily be able to produce anywhere else. You want your content to contain a wealth of resources yet still be organized and engaging, so people also won’t be overwhelmed with the amount of information packed into one space.

Mistake #5: Not having a mobile-friendly website

It’s 2019, and if you haven’t hopped on the mobile-friendly train, then your digital marketing efforts have been suffering for quite some time now. Mobile-friendly websites are not a new concept, but a few years ago, they were more of a novelty than a necessity. Now, things have changed. Beginning July 2019, all new sites will be indexed using Google’s mobile-first indexing by default. There’s also a global rollout for this algorithm update to existing websites, and as of December 2018, half of all Google searches are powered by this new ranking factor.

Majority of voice searches happen on mobile phones since assistants are pre-installed on there. The chances of your website getting picked as a top result reduce if your mobile site won’t load since the assistant will have trouble crawling through the information on your site.

Solution: Mobile Optimization

The first thing you should do is test your current performance using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Tool. Enter your website and wait for the assessment. You’ll know right then and there if your website is optimized for mobile, as well as any issues you should address (error in loading images, small fonts, and more).

One of the most significant factors for having a mobile-friendly website is choosing a reliable web host and responsive website theme before installation. Having a responsive design can already take away much of the work in ensuring your website looks good across any device your content gets viewed or accessed on like smartphones, desktops, and tablets.

Mistake #6: Ignoring site speed or page load times

The digital age has created a culture of instant gratification and consumers wanting everything in a snap. This is no exception for website loading times—and this is a real issue that could affect your bottom line. The slower your page loads, the more your audience loses interest in what you have to offer. They’ll exit and search for something else that can operate on the speed they want.

So, how fast is fast enough?

If your site loads in 2.9 seconds, you’re only faster than half of all websites online. This in itself is a feat, but you also have to remember that there are one billion websites. So, you’re competing with 500,000 million others at this rate. On the other hand, if your page load time drops to 1.7 seconds, it will be faster than 75% of all websites, leaving you with 250,000 million competitors.

If you want to be part of the top, make sure your site loads in 0.8 seconds—you’ll then be faster than 94% of the worldwide web or just 60 million rivals.

Solution: Thorough SEO audit

Investigate the overall framework of your site to know which ones are potentially slowing it down. A thorough SEO audit can help you identify the loose parts. For one, you can implement caching so your website files can be saved on your visitor’s local device versus having it to load whenever accessed.

You can also simplify your CSS or HTML codes so that it can become more efficient and reduce waiting time. Lastly, you can also compress those HD images. Yes, it’s nice to have high-quality photos on your site. However, if it’s going to load after ten years, no one’s going to stick around enough to see it.

Mistake #7: Not having optimized images and videos

As mentioned earlier, high definition visuals matter—but they can hurt your site performance if you don’t know how to optimize them. In the case of voice search, you also need to give voice assistants context on what your visuals are portraying. This creates a much more thorough understanding of what message your webpage is trying to convey.

Solution: Optimize the alt text

When uploading your images and videos, don’t forget to add alternative text. You can use this to position your images to rank in a targeted keyword image search. The alt text is what’s displayed when the site fails to load and display the image. It’s used to tell search engines the content of your photos and describe the visuals to desktops users, as well as voice assistants.

Be Part of the Voice Search Revolution

Just like how it’s imperative to reassess your SEO efforts frequently, it’s equally essential to review if your current practices follow voice search SEO best practices. All the mistakes mentioned above prevent you from reaching your goal: making a sale.

If your readers don’t find value in your content or have a hard time loading your website, they’ll most likely look somewhere else. Since voice assistants don’t automatically read the top spot on desktop SERPs, the playing field is much more exciting.

Navigating through this new industry may feel overwhelming in the beginning, but that’s why there are experts who dedicate their time to study trends and help other companies grow their business. Voice Search can help you find your footing in the voice search revolution by offering intelligent voice search SEO services relevant to your company’s needs. Contact us now!