With the rise of voice control operating systems such as Alexa and Siri, using voice search has become more popular than ever in recent years. This article will discuss how you can optimize your website for voice search and why it’s imperative these days. This is an important thing to learn, as using voice search is becoming more and more fashionable in technology.
Table of Contents
What is Voice Search?
Before we get into the voice search optimization part, we should first discuss what voice search is and why it is important. Voice search is simply the act of speaking into a device, such as a phone, computer, or speaker, and asking that device to run a search on something. Many devices already have built in voice search artificial intelligence, such as Siri on iPhones.
Voice search technology has been massively improved in the past couple of years, making voice search an effective way to conduct a search on the web. This is why optimizing for voice search has become critical for gaining more web traffic to your website. Over four billion voice searches were conducted in 2020, with that figure looking to rise each upcoming year. This shows why optimizing for voice search is incredibly important. This is also true in using search engine optimization for voice controlled searches, as this will gain your website more visitors
What is Search Engine Optimization?
Before we go any further, you should become familiar with search engine optimization, or SEO, if you are not already. Search engine optimization is the method of tailoring a website so that the most amount of searches will lead back to that website. This means using certain keywords and writing styles to make the pages on the website work with search engines algorithms. This is critical to actually your website displayed on the first page of a search, and having people then visit said website.
Search engine optimization also works for voice searches, and this article will explain how. Search engine optimization for voice is something you should be implementing immediately, in order to ensure you do not lose out on web traffic.
Methods of Voice Search SEO
Next, we are going to discuss a variety of methods to optimize your website for voice search SEO.
Choose the Right Keywords
One of the most important parts of voice search SEO is choosing the correct keywords to get results. Most voice searches are conducted in the form of a question, such as, “Siri, what is the capital of Alabama?” So, you need to make sure that question words are highlighted.
Emphasize Question Words
Emphasizing question words as your keywords (such as what or where) will lead more voice search users to your website. Also ensure that more conversational words are used as keywords, as people tend to talk to their voice searches in a more conversational manner. A simple way to do this is to include a frequently asked questions page to your website. This will allow you to enter phrases or questions that would most likely be used in a voice search, making it a simple but effective way of optimizing your website for voice search.
Keep it Conversational
A more difficult style change you may want to employ is trying to make the writing of your website more conversational in nature. This could mean using some common vernacular on your web pages, or writing in a simpler style. As stated before, people tend to talk to their voice assistants in a more conversational style, so implementing these changes is an effective manner of voice search SEO.
Use Long-Tail Keywords
Another method of optimizing your website for voice search is to use long-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords are a more specific search option. For example, instead of searching for apples, a long-tail keyword would be searching for red delicious apples grown in Illinois. This will give you a better return on investment for voice searches, as the most search engines emphasize long-tail keywords. Choosing the right keywords will be up to you, so conduct research to see which keywords you should be focusing on.
Make it Mobile-Friendly
An interesting method of voice search optimization is making sure you have a mobile-friendly version of your website. As many people use voice search on their mobile devices, this means they will be viewing your website in a mobile form. Making your website hard to read or slow to load on mobile will simply result in people choosing another site to use.
All of these tips can result in an improvement in search engine optimization voice searches if implemented correctly, which can result in a large increase of web traffic.
Why Voice Search Optimization is Important
Using search engine optimization should be something every website does, as it results in more people visiting your website. Search engine optimization for voice searches is hugely important. Did you know that almost two of every five people utilize voice search every day? Around half of all searches conducted online will be voice searches by the end of 2020. That is half the market of all online searches, a massive number.
People are also starting to utilize voice search to actually purchase products. This is quickly becoming a big market, and one that every company should be trying to get into. Almost three out of every four people who own voice-assisted speakers use them to conduct searches every day, and almost twenty percent of Americans own some form of smart speaker. This is a massive market for voice searches. That number should continue to increase each year, with it being over fifty percent by the year 2022. By missing out on voice search SEO, you would be left behind in a huge, and relatively untapped market as of now. All of these statistics demonstrate why voice search optimization for your website should be a huge focus for your company.
Tools for Voice Search Optimization
We have been going over optimizing for voice search for your website. Now, we will discuss tools you can make for search engine optimization. These tools will help with both the search engine optimization voice side, and general SEO improvements.
First, are the tools used to find effective keywords for your web pages. As we have discussed, using the right long-tail keywords is very important for SEO voice searches, and gaining web traffic in general. Websites such as answer the public allow users to see what people are searching for, and tailor their keywords to match those results. Google Keyword Planner is another great tool for keywords, as it allows you to combine up to ten words and see how they would fare in a search result. Sites such as Rank Math or downloading a search engine optimization toolbar give you immediate feedback on the search engine optimization of your website. This is critical for optimizing for voice search, as you can tweak and fix your website immediately to make it easier to use voice search for.
As previously stated, making your website mobile friendly is important for voice search SEO. Websites such as Google search console, Cloudflare, and Google’s mobile friendly test, can all make sure your website is running smoothly. They also can list out any search engine optimization problems you may have, allowing you to fix them. This is important, as a poorly ran website will also be ineffective in mobile form.
Why You Should Be Optimizing for Voice Search
Voice search is quickly becoming the next big trend in the online community. More and more people every year are using it, and the technology for voice searches continually improves. If you are not optimizing for voice search, then you are missing out on a massive and growing market. What makes voice search appealing is the ease of which it can be used. You can use a voice assisted speaker when your hands are full. Or, when you may be too busy to type something out. The evidence of voice controls increased popularity is shown by its use in millennials. More than thirty percent of them utilize it consistently. This figure will only increase with the upcoming generations, so it is important to use SEO voice search optimization now. This way, you will not get left behind in the new market.
Voice search SEO will also continue to evolve, with new strategies being created for it on a regular basis. It will be easier to learn and employ those new strategies if you already have been doing voice search optimization for your website. Building upon something is easier than starting from scratch. So now is a great time to start tailoring your website to support voice controlled searches. This is also true when it comes to voice controlled sales. That’s because many people are now buying products by voice control instead of the standard website. To make sure your company does not become left behind by the rise of voice control, contact us at SEO Design Chicago for all of your search engine optimization needs.
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