Voice search, once a science fiction idea is a reality now. In fact, nowadays it is commonplace with the fast-growing user base. The tech giants like Google have invested heavily in digital assistance, indicating its potential. With evolving technology, Google has minimized the error rate on voice search results, which further positively impacted the user experiences.
As a digital marketer, it is high time to appreciate the prominence of adopting voice search SEO trends to prevent falling behind in the race. By implementing an SEO strategy that incorporates voice search will capitalize on the increasing number of people using voice search to look for products or services. But before that let us know more about voice search Google.
What is Voice Search On Google?
It is a Google technology that allows you to search by voice on a mobile phone or desktop instead of typing anything. To use the technology, you simply have to click on the mic icon beside the Google search box then speak out the keywords or query and you will get the result.
Related: Top Voice Search Stats
The voice search result pages display the same result over both mobile, desktop, or smart speakers. Moreover, the result is the same as that for a typed search.
Voice search Google is now available in many Google products and others, like YouTube, Google Chrome, Google Maps, Google Home, iOS devices, and Android devices.
Initially, voice search Google was available for American English only. But now it can process commands in 60 different languages, as well as their local varieties.
Why is Voice Search On Google So Popular?
As per Forbes, 58% of consumers use voice search to look for a local business online. So, what makes voice search Google so popular? Here are a few listed below:
- Hands-free: When you are occupied with a task, you can look for your result on a search engine by simply speaking. For example, if you are driving, you can use voice search to get directions on your way.
- Faster results: Voice searching is almost 3.7x faster than usual typing on your keyboard. The average voice search SERP takes 4.6 seconds to load.
- Best for mobile devices: Voice searches are one of the best options for mobile phones as typing is not easy everywhere.
- Extremely convenient: The ultimate purpose of voice search is to make searching convenient and easy for users in every condition. Top of all, it allows you to multitask.
How Does Voice Search On Google Work?
Keeping aside the consumer experience, which we all know, let us dive into the technicalities of the Google search process.
A couple of years ago, Google announced Google’s Hummingbird update, which massively changed the trajectory of search we were aware of and immensely affected the way the search engine handled queries. The new update enhanced the understanding of the Google search engine for the given search in terms of semantics or intent behind it. Instead of processing the query word by word, Hummingbird enabled the algorithm of Google to process the whole phrase and extract the meaning behind the query.
Related: Google MUM Update
Another update that greatly impacted the Google search result was the BERT update by Google. BERT or Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers is a technique that is based on a neural network used for natural language processing. The purpose of the update is to help Google understand the way you speak, think, and search, including the colloquialisms used in the search.
How is Voice Search Different From Text Search?
People use voice search quite differently compared to text search.
Firstly, people search for longer keywords than text search. Secondly, searches are a more interactive and conversational tone. They ask anything that comes to their mind. This means, consumers, avoid typical computer language and go for a more human way of raising a query, which is natural language.
This new pattern of raising queries has changed the way of site optimization. Now every keyword selected for the site has to sound more human. Needless to say, natural language deeply impacts keyword research in SEO for voice search.
Why Should Businesses Optimize For Voice Search On Google?
Probably you would need no bigger reason to optimize your site for voice search Google than the fact that 65% of consumers between the age group of 25 to 49 years talk to their voice-enabled devices daily.
As already said, more than half of the consumers are looking for a local business using voice search and the number is growing every year. Besides, voice search gives users quicker answers, which reduces negative signals like high bounce rates.
Also, Google is expanding the reach of voice search to as many devices as possible, providing ease of use to its users. Considering such huge expansion, voice search is surely turning out to be the future.
On the other hand, it also means there are great opportunities for businesses to reach broader audiences. If you want to take advantage and boost traffic on your website, it’s time to leverage voice search. While it will improve your ranking on search engine result pages (SERPs), it will also improve user experience.
Related: How To Check Google Rankings
How To Optimize Your Site For Voice Search?
When it comes to voice search, you need to focus on every aspect of your website. You must ensure that everything is well-placed and optimized to appear in the voice search result. Here are a few ideas of what you can optimize on your site:
1- Optimize Over All Site Performance
Apart from improving your site speed, there are many other ways to improve your ranking in the voice search result.
- User Intent: Firstly, optimize your content for voice searches keeping user intentions in mind. The query in the voice search is quite specific and therefore the answers are expected to be precise. With the availability of several advanced apps, it is not difficult to find the questions that your consumers may ask for your business.
Also, focus on the answers you provide. Not only it has to be precise but informative enough. From contact number to address and working hours, provide every detail on your site. Plus, do not ignore the product or service details and descriptions on product pages.
- Mobile Supportive: Your site should be mobile-ready for voice search because you would definitely not want to miss that 50% of the smartphone users who also use voice technology every day. WordPress provides premium themes like GeneratePress to create a responsive web design for your WordPress site.
- Schema Markup: By using schema markup in your site, you provide searchers additional information to determine whether your website is the one they are looking for. When you use schema markup for your business, you tell search engines what your business is all about, what you sell, and how to contact you.
However, it doesn’t guarantee your site to rank higher, but since search engines look for more relevant links, you will increase your search visibility that can result in higher click-through rates.
- Domain Authority: Increase the domain authority of your site. It is equally important as any other factor to rank higher in the search result. You can do it by getting relevant and quality backlinks, maintaining consistency in posting blogs and content, creating a responsive and user-friendly site, and posting quality content.
- FAQ Pages: It is a simple but logical and effective way of optimizing a site for voice search. Since consumers mostly ask their queries in long-form of questions, creating FAQ pages will be highly useful. Try to create a page containing all the generic questions users may ask for your business.
Related: List Of Top Bulk DA Checkers
Also, include the most relevant part of your answers in 30 words or less, exactly as Google loves. This way Google will pick up those 30 most important words from your site and you will see your site ranking higher.
- Business Profile: Google My Business (GMB), an online directory is one of the very important aspects to focus upon, especially when you are targeting a local audience. By updating your profile on the free-to-use Google My Business platform, you will incredibly increase your visibility.
This is because your business will show up in Google map searches, appear in Google’s local 3-pack, earn reviews and hence have consumer trust, and rank higher if Google likes it.
Related: Google My Business Listing Optimization Guide
2- Perform Keyword Research For SEO
Keyword research is one of the foundations of successful SEO. The point to be noted here is that it is absolutely different compared to text search. Let us find out what to look into:
- Long-Tail Keywords: Voice search Google highly supports long keyword phrases. So, do not hesitate to use as many different long-form keywords as possible. It is not necessary to stuff your site or posts with such keywords, but use them wisely and spread them evenly throughout your posts or site.
- Natural-Language Keywords: You already know how BERT works in processing natural language in voice search. Hence, your keywords must fall more into the natural category zone.
- Question Form Keywords: Even if you have already created an FAQ page, include the question form keyword in other pages as well. Start using how, where, which, and what in your keywords to match the queries of your consumers.
- Include “Near me” in Keywords: Creating keywords using “near me” is a great way to target local consumers. Not just in text but it equally works in voice search, as people are used to looking for services using “near me” in both forms of searches.
Related: SEO Keyword Research Guide
3- Optimize Your Content For Voice Search
Using the right keywords is one idea to optimize the content, but it is not a comprehensive technique to create optimized content for voice. Here are some strategies to check out:
- Target the Pain-Points of Readers: The content must be able to answer the audience’s questions. They should leave your site satisfied and happy. It is only possible when you write for the audience and not just for search engines. So, blend more natural language with information in your copy.
- Develop Long-Form Content: A form of post comprising more than 1,500 words, is likely to receive 68.1% more tweets and 22.6% more Facebook likes. So, the content length matters along with the quality to rank in voice search. Moreover, including actionable tips and strategies is also essential to help Google notice your posts.
- Boost Readability: To help the reader consume all the information, you must make your copy easy to read. The best way is to create small paragraphs and multiple subheadings so that the reader can jump right into the topic they are looking for. Also, reduce the readability of your copy to the 9th grade or less to improve the user experience. Using bullet points is another way to boost the readability of the content.
Related: Best Content Writing Tools
4- Optimize Site For Featured Snippet
If you consider the recent stat, over 40% of voice search return results from featured snippets. Indeed, the featured snippet is not a factor to ignore.
A featured snippet, also known as position zero, answer box, and quick answers, is a web page summary that appears just below the paid ads to quickly answer a searcher’s query. The piece of information that is visible inside of a Featured Snippet is automatically pulled out from web pages in Google’s index. Usually, Featured Snippets display definitions, tables, steps, and lists.
Related: Featured Snippet Optimization: Complete Guide
Take a look at the image below. It has a definition in the featured snippet.
So, if you can get your content in the Featured Snippet, you will earn a lot of benefits. For example:
- The area occupied is considerably greater than the organic results.
- It may include multimedia results instead of just text.
- It will offer highly relevant information to the user instead of metadata of the page.
- And provide double space on the first page of the results.
Consequently, you will increase your visibility and boost your organic click-through rate.
Moreover, it is not necessary to have the #1 position to have a featured snippet. So, even if your site has less authority, you will have several opportunities. It is just that you have to position your site on the first page of the results.
Rest, you need to work on the traditional question-answer structure, include search terms with subtitles, and organize your content in lists and charts. By following these tips smartly and wisely, you will surely obtain zero position or featured snippets.
Summary
Once a rare act, voice search Google is something people do every day. The role of smart speaker devices like Amazon Alexa and built-in voice assistants in smartphones like Siri has been quite significant in the sudden popularity of Google voice search.
For a digital marketer, it is essential to understand how this widely admired technology can impact their sites in search results and how they can optimize their site for it. As a complete guide, hopefully, this article has successfully answered all your basic queries.
