VoiceSEO

optimization tips

Top 7 Skills to Upgrade for the Voice Search Revolution

Voice search SEO skills

The Voice Search Revolution

Remember when Siri first came out and no one took her seriously? We’d ask questions like “Hey Siri! Do you love me?” or “Hey Siri, what is the meaning of life?” hoping for a funny answer to come along. Things have changed A LOT since then.

When voice search first arrived, not everyone could truly value its potential. But now, speaking to an inanimate object isn’t so bad after all! With recent developments in technology, the current trends suggest that the evolution of voice search will cause the digital industry to shift in its direction.

By 2020 it is estimated that 50% of online searches will be coming from voice search. The convenience that voice assistants such as Siri and Cortana provide works both ways. Not only does it make life easier for users by providing quick and concise results for their inquiries, but it also makes it easier for marketers to get their brands out there.

As advanced and stable as voice search may seem, it will always be in the development stage. Preparing for these changes are crucial for optimization. With an ever-changing digital marketing landscape, keeping up with the change will allow you to remain ahead of the curve.

How Does Voice Search Change the Way People Gather Information?

When one uses a text-based search, the tendency is that the words inputted in the search engine are often unspecified, vague, and robotic. Let’s say you want to know more about the piano by typing the word “piano info” in the search engine. The results are out, but did you get the information you were looking for? What about pianos are you looking for exactly? Is it just a picture of a piano, a list of piano prices, or a piano tutorial? Typed searches often lack keywords, making it difficult for search engines to provide you with the right information.

Before we dive deeper into voice search, we need to ask the question: Why do people use voice search in the first place? Simple! Everyone needs an assistant to lighten up the load. Voice search changes the way we gather information. Speaking to your mobile device or gadget is a quicker way to help you find your answer, and it also requires less effort.

It is reported that 70% of searches on Google Assistant use natural language. Voice search keywords are significantly longer than text-based searches because it causes us to be more specific. In voice search, the user will ask, “What are the best pianos to buy this year?” Instead of just typing in two to three words, using voice search unconsciously alters our behavior by causing us to use natural language and longer queries.

With voice search, the context and intent of the queries are clearer. Thus, it becomes easier for search engines to understand and provide the most relevant results.

Location and Intent

Let’s say you were walking around the city one afternoon and you suddenly wanted to try a new restaurant near you. You take out your phone and use voice search to help you out. Your assistant (may it be Siri, Cortana, Google Assistant, or Alexa) will automatically use your location and perhaps even the weather to help you navigate. In just a minute, you were able to find restaurants near you, all with the information you need, such as the address, contact number, and operating hours.

Google reports that “near me now” searches have grown by 150% over the last two years. More than just providing your current whereabouts, the phrase “near me” is a crucial bit of information for businesses because it expresses one’s intention. Note that this is not only limited to services such as restaurants, hotels, or gas stations.

Searchers are starting to become more specific with the things they want to buy. Whether someone’s looking for a cute dress or a nice pair of boots, marketers need to take advantage of these micro-moments when the intent to purchase is strong. Make sure that the content you are producing is optimized for queries expressing high purchasing intent, such as “near me” voice search.

Maximizing Results

Compared to before, simple and mediocre content doesn’t come up as easily as it used to. Google’s algorithms are getting smarter and smarter, and at the same time, the competition is getting tighter than ever before. Sadly, the first page of the results section won’t get any bigger despite the growing number of competitors. You wouldn’t want your site to get moved to page 2.

SERP (Search Engine Results Page) features such as Knowledge Graph and Featured Snippets (also known as Position Zero) has affected the number of organic clicks websites, which has dropped by 37%. SERP features remove the need to visit a page to get your answer. By inputting the right keywords, you can find your answer immediately in the search results.

While this dip in click-through rate may seem discouraging, take it as an indication that Google’s answer-focused technology has truly advanced so much in terms of accuracy and relevancy. This builds searchers’ trust in search engine; the same trust will trickle down to your brand’s content if it appears as a Featured Snippet. The more you rank for Position Zero, the more searchers trust and rely on your content for answers.

Optimizing for voice search SEO requires you to create reliable content that is readily available. By providing timely and relevant answers through your content, trust between you and your target audience will get stronger. Regardless of what industry your business is in, acquiring high-quality SEO services will help keep your website on top of the results page.

Skills to Improve for Voice Search

By now you should know that voice search isn’t just a fad. If you haven’t incorporated it into your company’s SEO strategy, DO IT NOW. If you’ve already done so, then good for you. However, you should continuously learn about current trends to prepare for the changes to come. Here are some key areas you can improve on to acquire optimal voice search SEO results.

Voice Keyword Research

Research for high performing keywords. As mentioned previously, compared to text-based searches, voice searches provide better results by providing answers that use natural language. Keywords such as “best” and “beaches” will slowly get replaced with long and natural keywords such as “best beaches in Asia to go to for the month of April.” In a nutshell, natural sounding keywords are going to get a boost in volume as voice search grows.

Let’s not get off the wrong foot here. Bigger doesn’t always mean better. This is not to say that you should only optimize your page around long keywords; you can get creative and find ways to spread them out in the content you are creating. Regardless of where your keyword is placed, once Google finds it, they’ll immediately use it as a voice search result.

Considering how the changes in keywords affect how search engines operate, always take the time to update your keyword research and analysis skill. Additionally, explore tools that can help you perform keyword research!

Local SEO

“Near me” searches are at an all-time high. As such, it’s also high time you reassess and refresh your Local SEO know-how. You don’t want to miss the opportunity to get your business out there.

Don’t ignore the importance of a well-crafted My Business Page. Make sure that your Google My Business Page is up to date with the right address, store hours, and contact number.

Creating your own Google My Business page will make it easier for your customers to reach you. Not only do you provide your rankings, location, and contact details, you immediately make a good first impression.

SEO Audit Specifically on Site Speed

Page speed has always been a crucial factor in SEO, but with voice search, it is even more important now more than ever. Users of voice search are always on the go and don’t have the time to waste. If your site speed isn’t optimized, they won’t hesitate to leave and look for answers elsewhere.

Indeed, the loading speed of a voice search result is 3.8x faster than the average website speed. Learn how to use and analyze your current website speed with PageSpeed Insights and other SEO audit tools. Knowing how to audit your themes, plugins, and other site integrations that may be affecting your site speed is a key skill to develop for voice SEO.

Various tools tell you whether your site’s current loading time and give recommendations on how to make it even faster. However, tools are only as good as the user. Fully understanding what kind of data you’re getting makes all the difference in optimizing your site speed.

Content Optimization

Producing Voice Search FAQ Pages

In a previous study by Backlinko, one of their findings suggested that Google tends to answer queries with 29-word results. An example used in“Near me” searches“Near me” searches their study would be the results for the query “Are figs good for you?” Google responded with: “Figs are high in fiber and a good source of several essential minerals, including magnesium, manganese, calcium, copper, and potassium, as well as vitamins, principally K and B6.” The result ended up with only 28 words.

When addressing questions by consumers, the results of the study implies that we should always try to answer queries in 30 words or less. Google prefers giving short answers; this is probably the reason why voice search results are more likely to come from FAQ pages.

For the record, this doesn’t mean that you should only write 30-word blog posts. Aligned with the skills mentioned above, the voice search revolution should encourage you to re-hone your writing skills to be short and sweet.

Almost half (40.7%) of voice search results come from the featured snippet. Nowadays, consumers don’t necessarily have to dive in the bottom of the article just to get the answers they want. Optimizing for featured snippets provides convenience for voice search users because they immediately have their answers and follow up questions in the first page.

Note that for Google Home and Alexa, search results will only give you one answer, making it more crucial to get in the featured snippet. To get your content in a featured snippet, you must learn how to create “snippable” content. For starters, practice producing content that directly answers your chosen keyword phrase and formatting it into either a paragraph, list, or table.

Writing Content with Natural Language

When searching for information via your phone’s voice assistant, people speak as if they’re talking to a normal human. Just like the Piano example above, voice searches are more natural and organic as compared to keyboard searches. When someone asks a question like, “Is feeding chicken bones to dogs safe?” Google will immediately look for a match in a site’s content. Natural questions require natural answers.

Study the conversationally-phrased queries your target audience is using and exercise writing your content using natural, and casual language.

Embedding Long Tail Keywords Into Long Form Content

Voice searches are significantly longer than keyboard searches. Using long tail keywords & questions is a good practice for both traditional and voice search SEO. Long key phrases have less competition and provide an opportunity for your site to gain higher rankings.

Content that answers explicit questions like who, what, how, where, and why have featured snippets. Thus, choose the right questions you want to address and add them to pages around your site.

Learn how to gauge which long-tail keyword has the most potential and incorporate these in the headers; then provide answers for the main question and other related questions in the body.

Video SEO

Aside from featured snippets, Google has recently developed what they would call “Video Featured Snippets.” It’s a quick video result, but instead of linking a whole YouTube video, Google only shows you the clip that is relevant to your needs. Often, these types of videos tend to pop up more for natural language queries.

Let’s say someone would like to find out how to increase your views on YouTube. The regular desktop searcher would type something like “YouTube SEO” as compared to the voice search user that will say, “How do I rank my YouTube videos?”

Video is one of the ways that Google answers voice search queries. When inquiring about something, most people would rather watch a video than read an article. Assess if your existing videos are optimized and add web video optimization to your list of skills to update. If you have yet to create video content, get to it!

Sites with lots of links appear more often in voice searches. Voice search results are just a single result, so Google wants to make sure that they’re giving you the information you need from a trusted source. This causes them to lean towards domain authority over page authority. When you focus on building up your Domain Authority, Google will want to use different pages of your site as a source.

Like citing references on a research paper, having different links on your site is a way to assure Google that the information your page provides is well researched and valid. Having a lot of high authority sites linking to your page is a signal that you are a trusted source of information.

Aside from assessing the backlinks you’ve earned, evaluate your current link building arsenal. Are your tactics up to date? You’ll know that you need to update it if your outreach emails are no longer getting opened and you’re no longer getting new backlinks; tell-tale signs that you need to explore new link building tactics!

Schema markup

You can control how search engines provide information about your brand. The content on your website will most likely get indexed in the results, but with schema markup, you can decide on what content gets indexed.

Let’s say your site name appears on an article. By optimizing with schema markup, you’re already telling Google what your site is all about making it easier for relevant and related information to be linked to your site. Having structured data give your pages a higher chance to appear in featured snippets and voice search results.

That said, learning how to add structured data to your page will pay off generously. Structuring your data with schema markup will make the process a whole lot easier for users and search engines to understand your site.

Conclusion

The digital industry is taking steps towards the direction voice search is heading. With its development in recent years, we can already expect that more improvements and changes are to be made. With the number of voice search users increasing constantly, marketers need to understand how their audience is using this technology and what they can do to utilize it.

The best way to secure your business’ future is to learn about the trends and methods that will help your site boost its traditional and voice search SEO. The best way to be prepared for the future is to never stop learning. Constantly improving your skill set is the best way to maintain your position at the head of the curve. Hopefully, our tips were able to help you take the next step in developing your site’s voice search SEO.

Voice Search SEO and Featured Snippets: How to Own Position Zero

Featured snippets and voice search

Imagine being a newbie marketer, having to prepare for a presentation. You’re on the hunt for software that can help you create the best presentation, so you decided to whip out your smartphone and asked your voice assistant to do a web search for “free presentation tools.”

As you might expect, the voice assistant quoted the content of a website and listed down the names of the apps you can download, based on the search results. The section of the webpage read aloud by the assistant is in the “position zero” of the SERPs and is also called a featured snippet.

From the name itself, a featured snippet is an easy-to-read, short but authoritative answer to a search query, appearing in a box on top of the SERP, above the organic results and below the paid ones. Due to its location, a featured snippet is also often called position zero (since it’s above the first result) and contains the URL of the page and title.

According to RankRanger, featured snippets appear in 17.71% of searches and may appear as a brief paragraph, list, or table, with the paragraph type being the most popular. It makes getting answers easier, faster, and more convenient, as you won’t have to click on a link to find what you need.

Google generates featured snippets organically, meaning they check the relevancy of the information from organic results when deciding what to put on position zero. According to Ahrefs, 99.58% of featured snippet pages for particular queries are already in the top 10 of the SERPs.

However, it’s not surprising to see sites on page 2 of the SERPs to get position zero, as Getstat claims that 70% of snippets came from websites that aren’t top-ranking organically. Some SEO specialists believe that there’s no exact formula for earning a featured snippet. In addition, a spot in position zero isn’t forever—Google can easily find another page that is better suited for a particular query.

Based on the scenario mentioned above, featured snippets are especially crucial in voice search, mainly because smart assistants (including on mobile) will reply the answer to a user’s query with what’s on position zero. By 2020, it is expected that 50% of searches would be done with voice. As voice search becomes the norm, businesses are also projected to go beyond traditional SEO and a page one result.

Voice search SEO may be essential to your business if you’re in a competitive market, where gaining the first position can have a large effect on your market share. Position zero is perhaps easier to attain because it only looks at the relevancy of your content and not so much on link metrics—this is evident on the fact that lower-ranking pages can make it to position zero.

This gives every company a chance to boost its visibility and organic traffic; even though featured snippets readily provide an answer to a query, there is still a chance for the user to click on the box and be redirected to the page with the featured snippet.

In fact, Hubspot has found that content in featured snippets is more likely to be clicked than the first organic result, getting two times higher click-through rate. Because it gives a website above-the-fold exposure, it is more effective in driving traffic to your site and improving your business’ credibility and conversions.

How can you make your content position zero worthy?

Boost your voice search SEO by attaining the coveted position zero. Here are a few guidelines on how you can do it.

Find opportunities to rank

You have to go out of your way to find opportunities that can take you to position zero, and that means doing ample keyword research. You can start with keywords that you’re already ranking well for since most featured snippets come from high-ranking pages.

You can look to your audience behavior customer-facing teams (sales) to know the kind of questions they are likely trying to find answers for when doing keyword research. There are also a few ways to find these:

  • “People also ask” boxes — These also appear before the first organic result on a SERP. Users may be asking these additional questions related to the current search term. You can also identify competitors and content ideas here.
  • AnswerThePublic.com — This data-mining tool uses the Google Suggest API to get a list of questions that are often asked about a particular topic, including variations. You can export the list of keywords from ATP and upload it to Stat to automate the process of finding the terms that returned featured snippets.
  • Moz Keyword Explorer — You can also get a list of questions from Moz by going to the Keyword Suggestions tab, looking for the pull-down list Display keyword suggestions that and choosing are questions.
  • Rank Ranger’s Keyword Finder — Click Questions under Quick Filters.

In a study by Stat Search Analytics on 92,000 search queries, they found that terms that often return featured snippets include financial, mathematical, time, transitional, status, requirements, health, and DIY processes. Meanwhile, search terms that rarely do include local, info/help, factual, shopping, and images and videos.

Ahrefs also found that search queries with the words “recipe”, “best”, “vs.”, “make”, and “definition” have a better chance of being in position zero. Aside from taking advantage of the terms mentioned, here are more suggestions of what to consider for your keyword research:

  • High-volume search terms get snippets more frequently.
  • Explicit questions like who, what, how, where, and why would obviously have featured snippets, but also consider implied questions containing words like “does”, “cause”, and “costs”; and action words like “doing”, “getting”, “making”, or “cooking”.
  • Snippets for general questions usually show the paragraph type.

Check your competitor’s snippets

Aside from looking into your own analytics and reviewing your users’ behavior, you can also review your competitors’ featured snippets to give you a starting list of keywords you may focus on. The following tools can help you do just that:

  • SEMrush — Find your own and your competitors’ featured snippets with SEMrush by running a regular domain check and going to Organic Research > Positions, then filter the list of keywords under Advanced Filters by doing the following: Include > SERP Features > Featured Snippets. You can also just click Featured Snippet under the SERP Features list on the right side of the page.
  • Stat Search Analytics — Create a keyword list and upload it into your Stat to get the rankings for all keywords. It will also show which are producing featured snippets, or “answer” type results. You can filter those keywords to focus on those ranking in the top 10 results and tag keywords you want to track.
  • SearchMetrics Suite — To find search terms in this tool that are in position zero, use the filter Direct Answers.

With the information in tow, you can start optimizing your content for the same keywords and topics. Keep an eye out for variations of the keywords as well.

Develop high-quality content

Producing informative and relevant content can be made easier if you’ve already done keyword research or have felt the pulse of what people are asking. Of course, it’s also essential to give the correct answer. Here a few SEO tips on how to write good content.

  • If you’re aiming to be a featured snippet, you must have “snippable” content. Include the exact content that you want to be featured, directly answering the chosen keyword phrase and formatting it into either a paragraph, list, or table.
  • According to Ahrefs, once a page earns a position zero spot, it’s more likely to be featured in other related searches as well. In this case, you can come up with an in-depth article that answers multiple, related search queries to get a chance to earn several featured snippets for that content. Explore various facets of the topic and explain thoroughly.
  • Follow the “inverted pyramid” structure: Present the query clearly and prominently on your page, provide a short and direct answer immediately after the question, and then include more information to explain the solution.
  • Pick an evergreen topic that has staying power. This would ensure that your content would still be relevant for its readers after many days, weeks, months, or even years.
  • Since Google has utilized latent semantic indexing, it is now able to understand how words relate to each other. Instead of stuffing the same keywords on your content, use related phrases or synonyms.

Meet the optimal word count

In SEO, the longer the piece of content, the better. Some specialists target at least 2,000 words, but when it comes to sections you want to be considered for the featured snippet, you need to keep it concise for Google. According to an analysis by SEMrush, featured snippets is somewhere between 40 to 50 words.

To make sure that you’re breaking up your lengthy content, use headers and section off lists, paragraphs, and tables. This way, you’re preparing your article for a possible featured snippet. In addition, organize your subheadings by size, like using main heading H3 with subheading H4. Also, format it in chronological order, as Google prefers it that way.

Optimize your page properly

Aside from the headers mentioned above (H1–H5 tags), there are also other ways to make sure that your page is adequately optimized:

  • Make the search query a heading or formatting the question as H1, H2, and so forth.
  • Place the answer in a short paragraph and format it as HTML tag <p>.
  • Have internal links to other helpful content.
  • Make sure that page titles and meta descriptions include keywords.
  • Include helpful alt tags on images.

Apart from the HTML aspect of optimization, you can also take advantage of the “how-to” content, or pages in websites dedicated to explicitly giving answers users may ask about your business like a FAQs or Q&A page. With the right formatting, you can help Google select a short response from your how-to page as a featured snippet for a question.

Work on your off-site SEO

Off-site or off-page SEO refers to optimization tactics done outside of your page. This is to increase your site’s popularity, relevance, trustworthiness, and authority in the eyes of the search engine, and usually involves other equally reputable sites linking to you as a way to promote and vouch for the quality of your company and your page, which refers to the practice of link building.

Moz’ study on search engine ranking factors shows that off-site SEO may carry more than 50% of the ranking factor weight. It’s safe to say that link building is synonymous to off-site optimization, but there are other techniques that you can use to improve your rankings that are not entirely link related, such as social media and influencer marketing.

Common link building methods include guest blogging or publishing a piece of original content on authoritative websites to gain links, broken link building or fixing dead links by providing webmasters better content, and skyscraper or updating content that already has several links. From blogging alone, you can acquire 434% more indexed pages, with inbound links growing up to 97%.

One thing to keep in mind about link building is that it’s a gradual process and that the quality and authority of the pages where you built links heavily influence your ranking in the SERPs. In addition, you have to maintain a good relationship with other sites (as well as keep on producing good content), so they agree to link your page or have you guest blog for them.

Use high-quality videos and images

Visuals in the form of photos and videos are easy ways to get your readers’ attention and help you rank to position zero. There are available tools like Canva that you can use to create your own images, or you can just pick a free stock photo (if you don’t want to pay for it). You can add free shapes, icons, and more to your images depending on your need.

Videos, meanwhile, are huge for engagement, with 65% of people watching at least three-quarters of a video. Some 59% of executives also believe that people may watch a video if it is combined with text. When creating and uploading a video, make sure that it is high quality.

In addition, do not forget to include a voice transcript of your videos, as Google can recognize the text and even choose it as a featured snippet (provided it fulfills the content requirements). Include the transcript in the description box.

In voice search SEO, zero is everything

Like updates to the Google algorithm, voice search is changing the SEO landscape. Instead of page one, sites should be trying to reach the featured snippet box to enjoy better visibility, more traffic, and eventually, higher profits.

Truthfully, traditional SEO isn’t so different from voice search SEO—all you need is good content. When you have that, you can adapt to almost any algorithm change with ease. Design your content to answer a specific question and continue applying most of your traditional SEO strategies to get better chances of holding a featured snippet.

If you want to start building credibility for voice search today, get in touch with Voice SEO and avail of their voice search optimization services.

How to Optimize for Siri Voice Search Queries

How to Optimize for Siri Voice Search Queries

The voice search industry has come a long way since the inception of IBM’s Shoebox, the first digital speech recognition technology. Today, we have Apple’s Siri, the first virtual assistant to be fixed on iPhones and the first voice assistant to reach a broad audience.

Since then, it has transformed how people use their smartphones and utilize the voice search technology. Essentially, Siri kick-started the modern era of voice assistants and the rise of voice search technology.

People use Siri for various reasons, such as to find the nearest Korean restaurant in the neighborhood, to double check if the user has any meetings on a particular day, and to remind the user to call his or her partner after work. Siri can respond to voice commands and answer any voice queries conversationally.

Despite other voice assistants entering the market, Siri still manages to lead the industry with 45.64% of smartphone users using Apple’s voice assistant. Perhaps it’s the advantage of being the early bird in the voice technology market, or it could be because of the familiarity it has developed with the users throughout the years.

With this, the iOS AI-powered personal assistant is growing and continuously shaping the way of life of consumers and even businesses. This is a sign and opportunity for organizations to tap on their target audience through voice search optimization.

Why Is SEO for Siri Important?

Voice commands are gradually getting more integrated with today’s smart devices, making it more relevant to people’s daily lives and to the tech industry. The primary difference between performing a voice query versus searching on the web is the latter delivers hundreds of results, while voice search gives only one—the most relevant answer.

It was found that out of 35.8% of millennials who use voice-enabled devices at once a month, around 22% of the searchers stumble upon local content and information. Additionally, consumers are also shopping online using voice search.

This brings us to your voice search SEO plan. The next best step? Optimize for Siri voice search queries. Statistics show that in 2017, Siri had 375 million monthly active users, and around 19% of users engage with Siri daily. Since Apple’s personal assistant is the most used voice technology as of date, it’s crucial that your website is front and center when consumers use it to perform searches related to your business.

If your brand isn’t the first search result Siri finds, you’ll likely be invisible. So, if you want your business to thrive in the market, you need to start working on your site’s voice search SEO for Siri.

8 Voice Search SEO Strategies for Siri

Optimize for mobile

Smartphones are the primary device people use to perform voice queries, which is why it’s crucial to make your content intuitive for mobile. If your business website is not optimized for mobile, then you’re setting yourself up for failure.

Smartphones are becoming people’s primary tool for reading and searching. In 2018, about 44.6% of smartphone users in the U.S. used an iPhone, this was expected to remain at roughly 45.2% in 2019. Since mobile and Siri go hand-in-hand, it’s a must to refine your website and make it compatible with mobile interfaces.

Here are a few suggestions:

  • You can use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to see how your website fares on mobile devices.
  • Develop a mobile-friendly design that enhances the user experience, such as “chunking” your content, using plenty of white space, keeping the font size and style legible, etc.
  • Continue improving your traditional on-page and off-page SEO like proper formatting and building quality links to your site.

Make sure your local business listing is accurate

In voice search SEO, it’s vital to establish your local search presence. After all, 46% of consumers use voice search to look for a local business daily. One crucial step when you’re listing your business in local directories is to ensure that each detail about your company is accurate and consistent throughout all online listings and search engines.

A lot of consumers use Siri to perform geo-specific queries, such as when looking for nearby restaurants, local business opening hours, and other business information. Verify your listings, especially on Yelp since Siri often pulls reviews and ratings directly from Yelp.

You need to verify your business listings and ensure that they’re optimized for search to increase the likelihood of your business ranking the top spot of Siri’s results.

Here are a few suggestions:

  • Enlist your business with the necessary information: name, address, and phone number (NAP). You can add other details like email, business hours, images, etc.
  • Get listed and claim ownership on Apple Maps, Google My Business, Bing, Yelp, Yahoo, and other directories, to establish your legitimacy and trustworthiness. Respond to queries and reviews to build relationships and prove your credibility.

Use long-tail, conversational keywords

Unlike web queries where people can just type “best barbershop Brooklyn,” long-tail keywords are most relevant in voice search SEO. Consumers performing voice search use conversational language as if they’re talking to a real person, and Siri functions like that. Siri’s algorithm is designed to comprehend and respond to voice queries in human language.

When developing your keyword strategy, focus on long-tail keyphrases that echo how consumers might perform a search to find a business like yours. You can identify your general keyword, then add specific keywords to streamline your target. For example, “laptop repair” is your headword, and your long-tail keywords might cover “top laptop repair shop in Brooklyn,” “laptop repair service near me,” or “best-qualified laptop repair shop in Brooklyn.”

Here are some suggestions:

  • Check out tools like Answer The Public and Google’s Keyword Planner to help you find the most common questions related to your business, services, or products. These tools can also help you choose the best long-tail keywords for your brand.
  • Go against the traditional rules and include fillers and prepositions (e.g., “the,” “for,” “in,” etc.)
  • Put yourself in your consumer’s shoes. What and how do they ask questions related to your product/service? Begin your keyword strategy with adverbs like who, what, where, when, and how.

Produce content that answers definitive questions

Voice search provides just one answer to searchers. With this, you need to curate content that is relevant, valuable, and accurate to searchers.

One way to do this is to break down your content into digestible chunks. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) pages, or content with a similar format, work perfectly for this purpose. This is because the virtual assistant’s responses are mostly pulled from FAQ pages. These pages also allow you to source long-tail keywords.

When it comes to the answers, you want to provide a snippet solution that is direct and easy for Siri to understand and relay to the searcher. However, you should also want to provide as much relevant information if necessary.

Here are some suggestions:

  • Create a FAQ page for your website that answers all your consumers’ most frequent and burning questions.
  • Write the questions as to how people who use voice command might search for it. Phrase the questions in the first person. For example, “How do I use the Online Exchange & Refund/Return Feature?”
  • Explore your emails from customers, go to Reddit, Quora, and even social media platforms to find new questions you can add to your FAQ page, or create a separate blog post altogether.

Have a formal customer review program

Customer reviews are a currency in the digital world, at least for local businesses. Reviews have the power over a brand and its locations since they’re significant indicators if people will visit your store or if you’ll pop up in a search result related to your type of business.

Search engines favor them as well. Businesses earn their authenticity and trust with reviews. Voice searches are influenced by the quality of reviews your business has garnered. Siri ranks answers based on business reviews when processing about what answer to give to the user.

When a user searches for “best Korean restaurant in the neighborhood,” Siri will compare your business reviews against your competitors. This is one of the factors that are considered before an answer is provided.

Here are some suggestions:

  • Encourage your customers, especially the happy ones, to leave a review for your business on Facebook, Yelp, or Google My Business. Whether they’re positive or negative reviews, how you handle them builds your brand’s credibility. Unfavorable reviews show how you apologize and remedy the situation to your customers.
  • Offer a reward program when a customer leaves an honest and quality feedback either on your Yelp listing or on Facebook. For instance, a 5% discount on their next purchase.
  • Make sure that your brand voice is loud, consistent, and has a friendly tone across all your platforms and locations.

Build your site’s authority

Boosting your site’s authority to establish a solid reputation online is an excellent overall SEO strategy. Developers know that people use Siri to get instant answers, and they’ll stop using it if it keeps providing wrong answers. This is why websites with authority and reputable links tend get picked more often.

Domain authority (DA) refers to a website’s search engine ranking score that assesses factors, such as the number and quality of links, to predict how that site will rank on the search engine result pages (SERPs). It is somewhat your reputation rating. One way to get “picked“ by Siri is to continually build your backlinks and presence through social shares and quality content.

Your site’s DA looks at social media signals. Social shares have a positive impact on capturing audience attention, increasing your traffic, and getting higher rankings. Publishing highly-shareable content boosts your chance at performing well in voice search queries. The average voice search result has been shared on Facebook 1,199 times and tweeted 44 times.

What’s more, voice results prefer content that is packed with information, well-written, and trustworthy. Voice results often promote content that tops the SERPs and is pulled from pages that has an average word count of 2,300 words.

Here are some suggestions:

  • Place a call to action to encourage your readers to share the page on their social media accounts. Ensure that your social sharing buttons are visible on the page.
  • Take a look at your technical SEO and assure that it’s up to standards: meta description, keywords, image optimization, heading tags, etc.
  • Build your backlinks and internal links to build a strong foundation that can help Siri to determine how authoritative your site is.

Get Siri’s attention with schema tags

Schema markups are well-organized codes added to your website to give context and assist search engines in understanding and indexing your site content. These tags are helpful for Siri since it runs a thorough analysis of the user’s intent behind their voice queries. It then finds the closest result possible that answers the question.

For example, if the user asks Siri, “find the nearest laptop repair shop in my area” Siri will check Google and deliver results that uses the “Local Business” schema tag for laptop repair shops. Since rich snippets are also being incorporated into the SERPs, it’s best to include your business’ NAP and opening hours schema tags as well.

This quickly signals search engines and thus, Siri, what the website is about, and how it is trusted.

Here are some suggestions:

  • Check out Schema.org, an online database of scheme vocabularies, to help your webmaster construct appropriate schema data on your site.
  • You can use Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool to check if your markup functions properly.

Optimize for Position Zero

When users ask Siri a question, they often speak out one answer. This search result comes from the featured snippet displayed on the first page of the SERPs. Around 40% of voice search results are taken from Featured Snippets—the part above the fold on page one that is called “Position 0”.

When a page secures the featured snippet box, this means they provide the best and direct information that satisfies the user’s query. This implies that you shouldn’t aim and settle for ranking the top spot on the first page, but also aim to land your content for position 0.

Here are some suggestions:

  • Write your content with proper formatting. You can use subheaders and bullet points to organize your content in a way readers can easily read and understand.
  • Identify simple questions that require brief, direct answers your target audience are likely to ask Siri—questions that start with who, what, where, when, and how.
  • Assess your engagement metrics and see if it needs improvement.

Is your business ready for Siri?

In this always-on world, the best thing you can do for your business is to embrace and adapt to this technology to stay flexible and on top of the game. With something as prevalent and as innovative like Siri, it’s essential to align your SEO efforts with this revolutionary advancement and use it to your advantage.

The voice search technology will continue to grow, and you should want your business to grow with it. From a nice-to-have feature, Siri has risen to become a consumer and business essential.

A Definitive Content Writing Guide for Voice Search SEO

Voice Search SEO Content Writing Guide

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
  2. Write the way you speak
  3. Use the same language as your customers
  4. Use interrogative words
  5. Use long-tail keywords
  6. Localize your writing
  7. Optimize for featured snippets
  8. Provide short and simple answers
  9. Break down content with subheadings, lists, and quotations
  10. Provide real value
  11. Don’t overdo it

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.

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.

About Us

At Voice SEO, we make it a point to study industry trends and update our strategies each and every time we notice a change in the ever-evolving digital landscape.

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FAQ’s

How to Optimize Your Voice SEO for the Google Local Three-Pack
If you have a business in a particular community, being part of the Google Local Three-Pack can boost your overall online presence. Also called Map or Snack Pack, the local pack is the section that..

Should You Outsource Voice Search SEO Services or Build an In-house Team?
Without a doubt, the way we interact with technology has shifted over the years. Before, people only use their phone for sending text messages or calling someone. Today, you can now pick up your.. ...phone and ask your voice assistant to call a specific person or send them a message. They can also find you the answer to any question you have.