Want to know how people are going to find your business in the future? Ask yourself a question. Any question. This is how people are going to find you.
It really shouldn’t be a shock, as voice is replacing the traditional text search. The name Siri is basically a verb at this point, and every girl named Alexa is unable to escape “Ask Alexa” jokes. Your voice has become the easiest way to get an answer, but it also has some implications for your digital presence.
Voice search means we can ask questions to our devices without even looking at screen. That convenience comes as at a cost; specifically that we’re not looking at the screen. This means having a strong search engine presence may not be enough. You need to be the best.
Luckily, there are ways to overcome the changes involved with the voice search. Plus, we’re still early in the game. Being ahead of the competition can only give you a leg up and put you in the position to succeed.
Who Needs Voice Search?
Not all information is going to found through a voice search, and the voice search does have its limitations. When people have quick questions or need recommendations, the voice search is a great option. When people need to do research or want to read content at length, they’ll likely stick to a traditional text search. This means there will be some websites that benefit the voice search more than others.
E-commerce is also benefiting from voice searches. While under a quarter of voice searchers have stated they’ve made a purchase through voice search, 22% is still a sizable number. This number will likely increase as users become more comfortable with making purchases through voice. Alexa is doing a good job of making people comfortable with this, but right now most people are doing their shopping with their hands on a keyboard and their eyes on a screen.
Local businesses have a lot to gain from the voice search. Location services are integrated into almost every device at this point. Businesses more likely to deal with local competition than global competition. Think of it like this: if you as how to change your oil, voice searches will browse all results. If you ask where to get an oil change, you’re going to get nearby recommendations.
Digital Assistants
To understand how to effectively use the voice search, you need to understand how digital assistants are pulling information. For starters, there are four main contenders when it comes to the virtual assistant:
- Google Assistant
- Alexa
- Siri
- Cortana
While Google resigns supreme for traditional text searches, this may not be the same with voice searches. Each of these virtual assistants pulls information from different sources, so this may require businesses to shift focus. You’ll also need to consider that most users are stuck with their default search engines.
Alexa, Siri, and Cortana all pull information from Bing. For this reason, ranking high on Bing is increasingly important. You’ll get search engine traffic when people search on their iPhone, Echo, or Surface Pro. If you’ve ever seen one of these devices in public, you’re looking at a Bing user.
This isn’t an excuse to forget Google. Google Assistant feeds into the Google echo system, and it will perform searches on Google. This means you need to have a presence on all the appropriate Google systems to ensure you’re going to be found.
If you’re a business, understand that local searches require you have to a digital presence. Alexa, Siri, and Cortana all pull information from Yelp. Google Assistant will pull information from Google Business. You’ll also want your location accurately represented across platforms. Yelp is one source, but Apple is going to pull business information from Apple Maps. Siri may also pull information from sites like TripAdvisor when relevant, so it’s important to have knowledge of your digital presence and enhance this presence when possible.
You’ll also need to understand that each digital assistant can pull information or perform commands from apps, but this requires the assistant to have some knowledge. Google Actions Console, Alexa Skills, and SiriKit are the three templates used to design commands. Cortana feeds into Alexa Skills, so that may be a little less work for you.
This is really just the tip of the iceberg, but voice assistants all have their own chain of commands when completing tasks. Identify the ways you’d like to have people find your business through a voice search. Then, ensure there is a digital presence so your business can be found.
With a quick understanding of who will be using the voice search and how you can get recognized in the voice search, it’s important to have a firm understanding of SEO on your site. This understanding will allow you to gain exposure through voice searches, in addition to improving rankings with traditional text searches.
Know Your Keywords
When it comes to SEO, you need to know the keywords for your site and compliment those with some secondary keywords. Think of the product, service, or information your site offers. Then, think of what people say to seek out information surrounding these keyword.
For example, if your site is centered around running, you may choose a primary keyword like “running techniques.” Then, secondary keywords could be terms such as “endurance running,” “running posture,” and “running for fat loss.” The primary keyword should be included in your site description and visible on the homepage/landing page. Secondary keywords should also be visible on the homepage, but not as prominent as the primary keyword. They should also be visible throughout the site in their own sections.
When it comes to voice SEO, it’s important to use keywords people will actually say. Avoid online slang and acronyms that seldom occur in natural conversations. For example: on a running site “HIIT Routines” is a valid topic. but voice search will translate that search to “hit routines.” Though “high intensity interval training” isn’t always used in normal discussion, it’s going to work well for voice search.
It can also help to understand which adjectives and descriptors people say to find products. “Best running sneakers” or “lightweight running shoes” could be specific keywords people would say. Talking is faster than typing; use this to your advantage! You can try to rank for a less common but more specific keyword, and boost appearances in voice searches.
Ultimately, your keywords need to be natural to your audience. Use analytics and statistics to understand how people find your site. Then, make keywords surrounding those terms. This is one of the most important aspects of SEO, and it can be tweaked to focus on voice searches.
BONUS: If you need help finding keywords, try using a keyword research tool to find out which keywords could work for you.
Answer Questions
How are people going to use voice searches? To ask questions. What do you need to do? Answer questions.
At it’s core, that’s how search engines are supposed to work. And if your site has quality content, it should be providing answers and solutions to readers. The voice search will may force you to take a more conversational approach and identify keywords as they’d appear in organic conversation.
For example, if someone wanted to know where to find new bathroom tiles, they might ask “where can I find new bathroom tiles?” If you want to be found, it might we wise to include “new bathroom tiles” as a keyword. In a traditional text search people would be less likely to use the word new, but in conversation they’re comparing those tiles to their old tiles, so the word “new” becomes important.
You may not want to title your page “new bathroom tiles,” but including that string of words in your text is going to place that longtail keyword on your site. Just make sure it appears natural and the site isn’t oversaturated with the keyword.
A FAQ page could be helpful, but that mostly benefits customers already on the site. It seems like a natural way to have the question-answer format, but these pages are so saturated with keywords that they don’t rank as well as landing pages. Don’t be afraid to have a FAQ page if it could benefit the user. Just don’t depend on it for ranking in SEO.
Use Local SEO
If your site or business is location based, you have a lot to gain with voice search. In fact, voice searches are three times a likely to be location-based than text searches.
This means you need to allow yourself to be found locally if you want to appear in search results. So locate yourself any place that allows you to identify your location. Put your location in Google My Business and add your location on Bing Places. Get a page on Yelp and try to get engagement. It’s even helpful to get your location on social media, Facebook allows businesses to create their own pages.
Most devices have location services turned on, so you can take a competitive market and compartmentalize it based on location. Having a strong presence in your location will help you rank higher and having engagement will give you more authority. It’s not a coincidence that restaurants boast about their Google Reviews or Yelp score. Strong engagement online can translate into offline sales. Voice searches just give a new way to capture your next customers.
Get Technical
By this point you should know your site’s identity and have your keywords. Now, it’s time to make sure this information is on the site.
The technical side of SEO can seem hard. There’s a lot to know and this isn’t the fun stuff. If you’ve never audited your site’s technical SEO, I’d recommend using one of the many resources online to give you some guidance.
When it comes to voice searches, some thing are less important than others. For example, having a good 404 redirect may not have the same weight as it would in a text search. While a voice search likely won’t convince people to dive deeper into your site, every element of technical SEO has its benefit. The more organized your site, the higher it will rank.
Where technical SEO becomes really important for the voice search is found in site organization and HTML. Search engines don’t read a site like a human would, they’ll read the file structure. Having a descriptive site title, a meta description with keywords, and using headers and subheaders appropriately will make a big difference. This allows search engines to know which terms are present on your site, and this will boost your ranking for your keywords.
Think Mobile First
Site speed is another factor that impacts SEO, and one way to keep your site as lean as possible is to take a mobile first approach. Typically, this entails a responsive design that adjusts according to screen size. It starts with a mobile phone (hence the name) and can be adjusted up to a large desktop monitor. This ensures content is readable on all devices.
Voice searches are often performed on mobile devices. This means a site will need to be readable on an iPhone or Android and it will need to be found quickly. With a mobile first approach, this ensures the site is formatted to be readable on all mobile devices but will still look presentable on a desktop. No information is lost, but screen real estate is used to its maximum potential on each device.
Taking a mobile first approach is also great for site speed. It formats content and optimizes it for all screen sizes. Sadly, if your site is not currently using a mobile-first approach it’s not easy to convert. It may require a layout overhaul, so that is important to consider before trying to make the adjustment. If you’re hoping get more traffic from voice searches or mobile devices, you may want to consider a redesign with a mobile- first approach.
Try It Yourself
Obviously, you want to see how this works. As I said at the beginning, just ask a question.
Now that you have your keywords, try asking a virtual assistant for information surrounding these topics. Listen to the results and see if you can identify how keywords are woven into these results. Check out the high ranking sites and try to identify what they do to get such good rankings.
When you understand the sites that rank well, you’ll also understand what virtual assistants seek out. If it’s a local business, identify the ways these sites locate themselves. See where they include information like their name, address, and phone number. If it’s information-based, identify the ways keywords are listed on the site and how they’re presented. This can serve as a template for your site and give you some guidance to as to how make adjustments to rank well.
Remember, your rankings won’t change over night. Small changes may only yield small results, but this will snowball into continued success. It will build site authority and help you will see your SEO ranking improve.
Voice searches are happening now, and they’re not going anywhere. As they continue to gain momentum they also present opportunities for companies to grow and for websites to be found.
Who Will Benefit From the Voice Search
Every site has the potential to benefit from the voice search, so not optimizing your sites means you can lose a significant amount of traffic.
This said, some sites have more to gain than others. Specifically, local businesses have the possibility of getting a lot of recognition because we know people are more likely to make a location-based search when they voice search. Sites who focus around information can benefit from ranking for specific or niche keywords. If people are searching for a topic, know how they ask a question and form longtail keywords around natural spoken language.
The highest ranking sites in search results have the most to gain. If you reach the coveted position zero, virtual assistants will likely read information from your site to users and this will allow traffic to increase as a result.
Fortunately, optimizing for the voice search means you’re implementing best practices in SEO. Not only will you see results from voice search but your overall site rankings will improve. Voice search represents a shift in the ways people search for information. While we never know how people will search for information in the future, auditing your site for SEO can only benefit you and prepare you for any change that may come your way.
