Voice search is available on almost every device we use, whether it’s your phone, speaker, or TV. More consumers are using voice search to discover local businesses, make purchases, and make search engine queries. Some of the most popular voice search devices and search engines are:
- iPhone/Siri: Safari
- Amazon Echo/Alexa: Bing
- Google Home/Google Assistant: Google
With the increasing popularity of voice search, what are SEO strategies to help you drive traffic to your business?
Use Concise and Conversational Language
When people use voice search, they usually talk in a more conversational tone compared to when typing a question in a search engine. When people type into a search engine, they usually use 3-4 words. An example of a question someone might type is, “Best Coffee Shop,” but when using voice search, someone is more likely to ask a question like, “What is the best coffee shop near me that’s open late?” To improve your ranking, use long tail keywords with a conversational tone. By allowing people to get their questions answered in a concise way while still using conversational language, you’ll be able to improve your SEO for voice search.
Understand Your Customers and the Types of Devices They Use
Understanding how your customers use voice search and on what type of device can inform your SEO strategy. Knowing the type of device can inform your SEO strategy because if most of your customers use voice search on their phones, they’re more likely to be on-the-go compared to customers who mainly use a speaker, which means they’re more likely to be using voice search when they’re at home.
Be Mobile Friendly
A majority of voice searches are made on people’s phones, so having a mobile-friendly website is important if you want to rank high in results for mobile devices. If people find you through voice search and click on your website, they should find a user-friendly website for their mobile device.
Think Local
Voice searches are three times more likely to be for local information. If you’re on-the-go, it’s easy to pull out your phone and ask Siri a question, which means focusing on local keywords is important.
The key to local SEO is letting people know you’re a local business through your keywords and your content. You can do this by incorporating names of local institutions that relate to your business, the phrase “near me” in your title tags, landmarks near your business location, and phrases people use to describe the neighborhood surrounding your business.
Optimize Your Google My Business Listing
Keep your Google My Business Listing updated with information about your business such as opening hours, contact number, and address. Voice searches are frequently used to find out information about your business. Google uses this information as a fast way to answer people’s questions about your business.
Answer FAQs
People usually use voice search to ask questions. You can use this to your advantage by going on Google, typing a question related to your website, and looking at what pops up. You’ll be able to see what types of questions your target audience is asking. You can use these questions to help you create valuable content for your audience and also improve your ranking. One way of doing this is creating a webpage with a headline that asks a FAQ. After the headline, give a concise answer to optimize for voice search. Then, utilize the rest of the page to provide a more detailed response.
That brings us to our recommendation in this month’s toolbox: Answer the Public. Answer the Public is a tool that allows you to get fast, raw search insights. It takes autocomplete data from search engines like Google and generates every useful phrase and question people are asking related to your keyword. You’d also be able to see not just the questions people are asking, but also the language people are using. You can use this information to create content that surrounds what your customers need.
If you’re interested in strengthening your SEO strategy so you can reach your target customer, reach out to Deal Digital today.
