HOW TO OPTIMIZE FOR VOICE SEARCH

Voice search is a relatively new development within the digital marketing spectrum, but many industry experts believe it could well be the next big thing in SEO, and a vital element of getting completely ready for full mobile optimisation.

If voice search is new to you, it’s worth taking the time to explore this emerging technology a little more as it could have important ramifications for revenue generation and offer a new channel for generating bookings among an increasingly mobile and convenience focused demographic.

Read on to find out more about voice search and some of the top ways to optimise your website for this new and exciting aspect of consumer search activity…

• What is Voice Search?

Methods of searching for information are changing, presenting new challenges for businesses eager to ensure they’re completely SEO optimised.  Voice search – the process of ‘asking’ a device to locate an item/service – is the latest of these new developments. It calls for increasingly inventive and conscientious search marketing and web design efforts and, while it’s still a new discipline, is quickly gathering pace.

• Keep a Local Focus

Consider the thought process behind a voice search. Potential customers are likely looking for services ‘near to them’ or referencing a specific location such as a desired vacation destination, so you will really want to double down on your endeavours with a local emphasis. Encourage reviews and cultivate content which makes a noise about your location. This includes building online destination pages and directories, social media pages and soliciting feedback for review sites with correct and up-to-date address information. Consistently forge relationships with local businesses and publicise local events to solicit reciprocal link building. All of this will help you keep ahead of the pack with vocal searches.

• Do Your Research

Voice searches are dependent upon the way people speak, not how they type so the syntax and language may be different. Keep this in mind when researching everything from keyword choices to listing details.  A particularly effective way of finding out what works is by using a voice search for yourself and trying a few different variants, helping you to obtain a better insight around what type of content appears in response to different phrases and questions.

• Add some Q&As

Question and answer-style content is seeing a resurgence with the growth of voice search, as it allows for the quick and easy access of FAQ information which can help voice searchers find exactly what they’re looking for as quickly as possible. This approach can be applied to optimise webpages containing all kinds of content.

• Focus (and Re-Focus) Your Mobile Efforts

Voice search is an almost exclusively mobile activity, so it goes without saying that to get the best from it, your website should be fully optimised for mobile users. There are no quick fixes for improving mobile search results, but having a mobile optimised design and content which takes into account the needs of mobile users is the first critical step towards optimising your site for a world in which the influence of voice search looks set only to grow.