How To Optimize For Voice Search

Learn the secrets of voice search optimization from the top SEO experts of the world

Imagine that you are preparing a delicuous dish in the kitchen, and you get confused with the steps of the recipe. Like everybody else, with your not-so-clean hands, you probably don’t want to use your smartphone.

Without a doubt, you can use your voice search assistant to repeat the entire recipe and merrily continue your cooking. There are hundreds of cases and stories like the one above, where looking for voice search saves the day.

Nobody likes to type their questions in our digital world, where time is money. People tend to choose the easier path when their answer is just a sentence away. If we had to choose between typing and speaking a question such as “which is the world’s highest mountain peak,” we would all choose the latter choice for obvious reasons.

Voice search optimization is a very hot topic an done of the top SEO strategies to focus in 2020. It is due to searching with voice is easier than typing for many people. 50% of all searches will be voice searches by 2020, and you need to customize your website for voice searches in order to stay on top of your industry.

Voice search is about mobile optimization

It has become more important than ever to optimize your mobile website. Most of the mobile searches are voice based. Optimizing your site for voice searches also boosts the SEO by having a mobile-friendly website. Few items you can do immediately to improve the mobile version of your website.

It’s probably the biggest reason why voice search among people so popular and viral. Smartphones created a way to search assistants, and smart speakers because users on mobile leverage voice search the most.

You can have a clear and concise home page. Include a search bar for easy navigation. Keep important site-wide features consistent (menu options, back-to-home screen, search bar, etc.) Keep the font size readable, and large enough. Display only the information and links required to perform the fundamental task of the website.

Because voice search is much more conversational than conventional searches, we must all re-analyze our content and structure. The aim should be to provide brief questions and answers in order to improve the web layout and make it more search-friendly to the user. The best practice here is to avoid technical jargon and to use simple natural language.

Knowing the searcher intent is important if you want to know how people ask voice based questions. You need to learn the question styles while using voice search and predict the search intent.

Use keywords based questions

Keywords based on questions include “when-to,” “why,” “how,” “where,” and so on. Many voice searches start with phrases like who, why, how, etc. Therefore, when searching for your company or products, it is important to figure out how your audience speaks.

Voice searches are more conversational than text-based searches and are longer. You need to use more long-tail keywords to rank at the top of SERPs for voice searches. To find the voice search keywords and optimize your content around them, you can use tools such as AnswerthePublic or Buzzsumo’s Question Analyzer.

As described above, when looking for speech, people use a more natural and conversational language. It means that your content has to suit the search term first to appear at the top of SERPs. Consider optimizing for featured snippets are selected results that appear on the top of a SERP that contains a summary of the content from the page and provides users with a concise and direct answer to their questions.

Create question-based FAQ pages

You can create question-based FAQ pages. As noted above, question-based searches are on the rise and there are only 29 words in the average voice search result. Pages of FAQs satisfy all requirements. That’s why it’s important to create FAQ pages that address as many questions as possible. Furthermore, voice search results (2.68 percent) are 1.7x more likely than desktop results (1.54 percent) to come from a FAQ page.

In addition, when answering questions on your FAQ page, you should integrate high-performance keywords to further improve the chances of getting on top of the SERPs.The value of voice search optimization is also growing with the increase in the number of voice searches. Start by making your website mobile-friendly and include keywords based on questions in your content.

Often, when creating content, try using simple and clear language to rank higher in the results of voice search. Optimizing for the featured snippets will also increase your chances of appearing at the top of the voice search list.

Most large tech companies like Google and Amazon are already on the move and have optimized to have an edge over others for voice search. It is critical to modify our websites for the voice search so that we can have the maximum benefit of it.

About the Author

Altay Gursel is the owner of Metriculum, an SEO website about Search Engine Optimization, search tips, social media hacks and other secrets to boost your visibility on the search engines by more than 400%.

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