Voice search is the future, and it’s only just begun. The increasing popularity of smart speakers like Google Home or Amazon Echo have made voice technology more accessible than ever before in homes across America – so much so that this form of digital communication now accounts for over 50% on some platforms!
Voice technology is a powerful tool for local businesses to grow and succeed on the internet. You’ll want to make sure that your business is optimized for voice search. The right technology can help you rank higher in local searches, like google voice search, which will then bring more customers your way!
What is Voice Search?
Voice search is a new and rapidly growing technology. Google, Apple, and Amazon all have their own versions of this technology – they each offer different benefits and drawbacks. With this speech recognition technology, you can find information without typing or clicking. Voice search provides the convenience of hands-free use with the added benefit of not having to use your data plan to look something up on your phone.
The Benefits of Voice Search
Over the past few years, Voice Assistants have become more and more popular. Like mentioned above, Google’s Voice Search and Amazon Alexa are two of the most heard of voice search platforms.
Voice Search is a great way for potential customers to easily find and reach you. With more than half of homes using voice search daily to find information, it’s important that your business is optimized for this type of search. By adding your business information to voice search engines like Google and Bing, you can improve your ranking and ensure that potential customers can find you easily, even when using their mobile devices.
When people use a voice assistant, they are often in a hurry and looking for quick information. They’re also likely to be more specific with their requests. Voice SEO is important for mobile searches.
Here are some advantages of Voice Search:
1. Increased accuracy – Voice search provides more direct answers than typed search, as it takes into account not just the keywords but also the context of the question. This gives a better user experience and makes voice search a more viable option in verticals such as hospitality, retail or travel.
We took a closer look at voice search by looking at the question ‘How do I get to the nearest airport?’ We found that 53% of these queries were answered by this very specific piece of information, compared with just 29% in typed search. What’s more, there was a much higher chance that a location would be provided in a voice answer.
When we looked at voice answers across all verticals, we found that they contained 1.5 times as much location data (which could be used for getting directions) than typed answers.
2. Convenience – With voice search, users can speak their queries into their devices, making it a more convenient option than typing them in. This is a great way for business’ to show up under local search results, making a quicker and faster connection to mobile users.
3. Growing popularity – With almost 40% of the US population using smart speakers monthly last year, voice technology adoption grew due to its contactless appeal. The more voice technology becomes more widespread and sophisticated, the more voice search will continue to be an increasingly important tool for online marketers and business owners.
5 Ways to Improve Your Ranking on Voice Search
To make sure your business is taking advantage of this growing trend, here are three tips to improve your ranking on voice search:
1. Optimize Your Content for Voice Search
When people use voice search, they are often in a hurry and looking for quick information so they speak in full sentences rather than keywords, meaning these technologies also have to account for users natural languages. Making sure your business SEO reflects people spoken language requests ensures you rank for your keywords with all possible combinations that people may be using when they use voice search devices. It also maximizes the chances that your website pops up when someone asks their virtual assistant to do something.
2. Claim and Optimize Your Local Listings
Google is constantly refining its voice search technology, so don’t assume it’s limited to just your website. As with any Google update, there will be changes you need to make to benefit from the change in ranking algorithm. Along with optimizing your content for voice search, make sure all of your local listings are up-to-date.
It is important for local businesses to claim and optimize their local listings. With the growing popularity of voice search, it’s more important than ever to make sure your business can be found by potential customers. By claiming and optimizing your local listings, you can make sure your business shows up in relevant search results.
If you offer a service or sell a product, add detailed descriptions about what you do and any other valuable information that potential customers may be searching for when using voice search
3. Social Media Matters!
Voice search is still fairly new, so there are certain aspects of SEO that simply haven’t been addressed yet. One example of this is the impact social media has on search rankings. You may not immediately think social plays a role in ranking for voice searches, but with over 70% of Americans owning a smart speaker, that’s a lot of potential customers you’re missing out on!
With this in mind, make sure you have active profiles set up for your business across all major social media platforms. As with any SEO strategy, the more eyes and ears you have to help spread your message the better!
If your business is frequently updating its social media pages on Facebook or Twitter, you’ll be able to respond faster to any customer concerns on local listings.
4. Include Long-tail Keywords
Long-tail keywords are one of the primary ranking factors for voice searches, and not just ones that you see on your website. When people search with their voice, they will typically speak in full sentences rather than just keywords. They types of keywords can be found anywhere and everywhere across your website: headlines, captions, content text and even call to actions!
Best practices for optimizing for voice search with long-tail keywords:
Differentiate between informational queries and navigational queries – Informational queries are typically longer, more complex requests such as “how many tablespoons in a cup” or “what is the definition of dog”. If you search for these types of queries, you will see that this is an informational type query and not a navigational one (navigational = click through to website). Navigational voice searches typically result in shorter, more to-the-point requests.
5. Optimize your Website
Optimizing your website for voice search is key to taking advantage of this growing trend. As more and more people turn to voice search, it’s important that your website is optimized for this type of query. Failure to do so could result in reduced traffic and visibility.
This means that you need to be sure that your website can truly answer any question a user might type into the search bar on a google search or voice search queries.
Great News! Being voice search ready doesn’t have to be complicated. With Alexa Business, we can help you create a voice search optimization strategy to get your business information listed on all the top voice search results and make sure you’re reaching your target audience. This includes Siri and Google Assistant among others! Embrace the future and welcome innovation with Alexa Business.
