The increasing use of mobile phones and the growing popularity of voice search are likely to dominate the world of SEO in future. A recent survey predicts that customers are more comfortable with the voice search rather than the traditional method of typing. But have you ever given a thought why is it so? It looks like the birth of IOT (Internet of Things) devices, and virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa have enabled the searchers to conveniently and quickly access the information. Voice search is likely to capture an essential place in our everyday lives.
This technology was invented back in 2008 but recently gained popularity. A report from 2016 states voice search feature was used 35 times more in 2016 than in 2008. An expert claims that 13% of households make use of these smart speakers and by 2020 the percentage is expected to rise by 55%. Also, 30% of these searches are estimated to come from screenless assistants. A survey says voice search covers 20% of all searches on google apps and Android devices. Currently, there are around 33 million voice search devices around the globe, and the adults use 40%.
Do these statistics state voice search becomes an essential asset for Search Engine Optimisation? If the organisations wish to remain relevant to their consumers, they need to focus more on voice search. It is the responsibility of the marketers to manage their SEO strategy towards these smart speech patterns and long tail keywords.
Here are a few hacks to optimise for voice search in 2019
1. Natural Speech
When we use type search, we shorten the sentences to reduce the efforts of typing. But, it is not the same with voice search. The sentences we speak to the digital assistants are more extended as if we are taking to some other individual. The voice recognition devices are designed to process natural language. A survey predicts that the majority of the queries that these virtual assistants like Siri, google assistant receive consist of natural speech.
These voice assistants become smarter with every conversation. To optimise your website for voice search expand the search intend depending on the type of queries that could be asked via voice search. You need to think from the conversational point of view. Mainly voice search involves question phrases. So, think about the questions that the customers may ask you about the product.
2. Long Tail Keywords
Long tail keywords will help you in generating organic traffic for your website. These keywords are more specific than the standard keywords.
They are usually four to six words long. Long tail keywords drive an opportunity to the start-up businesses to improve their ranking on Google for particular searches. Since the voice recognition systems prefer natural language, long tail keywords surely will raise its importance in future.
3. Optimise for Mobile and Local
An expert claims that the majority of the voice search recognition systems are used on mobile devices. In other words, the voice search system users and mobile users overlap. So, it is highly essential that we optimise our website for both voice search and mobile devices. This consist of using mobile-optimised content and layouts.
Voice search optimisation for local business is an opportunity to gain visibility in the top results. Last year statistics confirm that 58% of voice assistant users searched for local business information. Also, on a daily basis this information search accounts to 46%. Calculations predict 27% of users tend to visit the site after voice search. So, to improve your business visibility make sure you complete the business profile with all the accurate information including its location.
4. Use Semantics to Structure Content
Creating content that answers user queries as soon as possible can help to optimise a website for voice search. Writing valuable content is an essential aspect of organic SEO. Understanding and integrating structured data markup into your website helps to ensure that your content reaches your target audience.
Also, long tail topics that the user can search using voice recognition system needs to be a part of your content. This will surely help the search engine to understand and crawl your data more efficiently even if the query is an audio input.
5. Short and Concise Answers
Voice searchers mainly start with questions like “Who,” “What,” “Where,” “When,” “Why,” and “How,” and they are in search of solutions that immediately satisfy their needs. So, it is highly essential that you include a FAQs page on your website. Make sure your content should address the questions formed by the above mentioned interrogative pronouns.
The virtual assistants on your mobile devices have an ability to engage in two-way conversations without any need for trigger phrase all the time. It enables your voice to control the device, access calendar and other personal data, search for online information etc. thus reducing your physical efforts. It essential that the answers are designed based on voice search queries. Also, a report says the average length of a voice search answer should be 29 words.
Conclusion
The growing popularity of voice recognition systems predicts the importance of optimising websites for voice search. Since voice search reduces the human efforts of typing a query it has become a trend that will stay in the long run. So, it is beneficial for the small and big business to optimise for voice search if they wish to remain relevant to the customers.