Website optimization for voice search is a trend in 2020. In this article, we will talk about optimizing your site for voice search.
Voice Search
Voice search is a growing field of online queries that is performed by your voice and virtual assistant. For example, voice assistants — Alice from Yandex, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Voxpow, etc. With voice search, you can buy things online, set reminders for yourself, and perform searches.
Voice search is one of the coolest technologies that appeared in the XXI century. But what does this mean for the promotion of your site, SEO? By 2020, 50% of online queries will be performed using voice search. This is a good reason for any company to think about voice search. Half of all online queries will soon find the result using only voice.
Now ask yourself: is your site optimized for voice search? If this is not the case, you may miss about a billion voice requests per month. In 2017, 13% of users had a voice assistant. By 2019, it has already reached 16% and is projected to soar to 55% by 2022.
Let’s face it. Users like and feel more comfortable interacting with the Internet using just their voice. And this trend — voice search-will only grow.
Website optimization and voice search
1. Favorites for voice search
Voice requests that can be answered directly using the recommended snippet. So, how can you become a favorite snippet for voice search? How can you guarantee that Google will read your site’s content aloud for voice search?
First, favorites are not always extracted from the first search position. Only about 30%. While the remaining 70% usually occupy positions 2–5. What does this tell you? This means that as soon as you get to the first page of the search, relevance is more important than position.
To become a favorite snippet for voice search, your content must be optimized to answer users ‘ frequently asked questions.
Your content is more likely to be presented in a fragment if it is in the form of a paragraph, list, or table. If you choose a paragraph, try not to exceed 50 words and make the sentences short. You should also optimize the paragraph using the target keyword.
Whatever direction you work with your content, make sure that it is easy to understand and free of advanced terminology.
Combine all of these steps — go to the first page, the study of one specific query and a short answer in a readable format — and you’ll be on your way to get into voice search Yandex and Google. Imagine how millions of voice assistants use your content as the best answer to a user’s question.
2. Optimize content for voice search
The user’s search queries are usually brief. For example, “Italian restaurants in Moscow” is a typical query.
However, as virtual assistants get smarter with each voice search, queries become more conversational. Someone might say, “ Show me the cheapest Italian restaurants in Moscow.” In response, the voice assistant can say, “ Here are the best Italian restaurants near this location.” It sounds like two people talking.
For this reason, to optimize the content that will be found by voice search, you will need to use keywords with a long tail. Such as “cheap Italian restaurants in Moscow”, not “Italian restaurants Moscow”.
People use voice search as they speak in everyday life. So keep this in mind when optimizing content for voice queries.
Find out what queries people are asking to find on sites like yours, and what these queries say about people’s plans. A query that starts with “what” shows who is looking for information, while a person with a “where” query is closer to the action in their intent. Use this information to your advantage when creating content for a voice request.
3. Improve your voice search mobility
Most voice queries, especially those related to “near me” options, are performed on mobile devices by people who are on the road, in unfamiliar places, and rely on voice search. Therefore, it is very important that you make your site as mobile and user-friendly as possible.
If you don’t have a mobile site, take action now. Your first task is to make sure that your site has an adaptive design.
Then you need to work on the speed of the website — compressing your files using the cache, optimizing images and minimizing code. Loading your mobile site should take no more than 5 seconds.
4. Focus on local SEO
You should optimize your pages for local SEO, your region. Because 22% of voice searches are related to local queries.
In order for potential customers in your area to find you, you just need to follow all the protocols for local SEO optimization. These include the use of search terms with geo-targeting on your landing pages.
You should also have a separate page for the location of your company in Google. Do all this and when users voice “Show me the bookstores next to me”, they will find themselves face to face with your business.
The frequency of voice requests around the world will only grow in 2020, as well as over the course of a decade. It will affect SEO, but you don’t need to be afraid of it. Follow these 4 steps to stay on top of the upcoming trends. The future is coming and it is in the interests of every company to pay attention to a new trend.
Conclusion
- create frequently asked questions pages and provide readers with valuable information;
- make sure that your site is mobile-friendly and has a good user experience;
- structured data is mandatory!;
- create video content;
- use local information such as your city and nearby attractions;
- make sure that your site loads quickly and uses HTTPS;
How does voice search change SEO?
- short direct answers;
- loading time of the website;
- local information;
- conversational keywords, such as complete questions.