More users are using devices such as Google Home and Amazon Alexa to conduct internet searches. Naturally, Voice Search has been growing exponentially, and many experts believe that it will become a significant digital marketing trends in 2021. Keeping that in mind, you may be wondering if your business’s Wordpress website is optimized for voice searches. There are a few fairly simple tactics that can be done to optimize your site, but as always it is best to partner with an experienced digital marketing company, such as TechArk Solutions in Norfolk VA, to ensure your website has a solid foundation as this marketing strategy is widely adapted. Let’s explore what voice search actually is and ways you can optimize your business’s website.
Voice Search
Voice search is exactly as it sounds. User’s use their voice to speak their search inquiries instead of typing them into the traditional search engine box. In layman's terms, Google processes what the user says into text and then uses machine learning to detect the semantics of the search to determine if it is a question or a statement. Once it understands what the user is looking for, it connects to the search engine and pulls up relevant websites. When your business’s website is properly optimized, it will receive a lot of quality traffic from voice searches.
You might be asking yourself, if you really need to optimize for voice search. While traditional searches are not going anywhere, search engines have made it clear that they plan to shift gears to voice searches over typed-in ones. Not to mention, it has been found that the top results shown in voice search usually appear near the top of the search engine results page (SERP) on desktops as well. Therefore, optimizing your site for voice searches will also benefit your search engine optimization (SEO) ranking for traditional searches. Talk about killing two birds with one stone.
Ways to Optimize For Voice Search
Now that you know what voice search is, how it works and why it is important, we will describe some common ways to optimize your business’s website.
Update Your Business’s Google My Business Listing
The vast majority of voice searches occur when a user is looking for something near them. Having an updated Google My Business Listing allows users to find your location when they are nearby and are more likely to visit and make a purchase. Google My Business listings also allow users to easily get directions to your location, see your business hours and view your website or call with just one click. Google My Business listings often appear first when a user includes “near me” or any search that includes a location-specific keyword. If your business has not claimed your Google My Business listing, you could be missing out a large amount of webs traffic.
Relevant, Easy to Read Content
With the average Google voice search being 30 words or less, it can be assumed that Google prefers concise answers as it allows the users to get the information they need as quickly as possible. Keep in mind that your website can still have longform content, but each paragraph should have a few key sentences that can stand on their own. These sentences should also contain relevant keywords that help answer the user’s questions. In addition to length, the tone of your content is also important. Google prefers content that is more conversational with all the information within the text, not hidden in the code or in the images. What it all boils down to is that whatever keywords you hope to rank for are included within your content in a meaningful way. Don’t forget that Google can tell when you are trying to outsmart their algorithm and your site will be penalized.
Include Long Tail Keywords in Your Content
Google has updated their strategy and no longer relies solely on keywords to choose search results for a user’s query. Now, like voice searches, Google has shifted its focus to a more conversational approach. Of course including shorter, simpler keywords is still a good practice, but including longtail keyword phrases in your content is necessary to rank in search results. Long Tail keywords are longer, fuller phrases and sentences and resemble questions that a person would actually ask. They help Google understand the context of your content and therefore determine its relevance to the user’s questions. ”What”, “How” and “Best” are some of the most common keywords for voice searches as they help create context. So when optimizing for voice searches, the longer the keyword phrase and the more context the better.
Mobile-Friendly Designed Website
Google made having a mobile-friendly website a factor in ranking for traditional SEO some time ago. A mobile-friendly web design is a factor in ranking for voice searches as well. With most voice searches taking place on mobile devices, having a business website that is mobile-optimized is only logical to reach this segment of your target audience.
Conclusion
With voice searches becoming increasingly popular, now is the time to optimize your business’s website. While there are a few simple ways this can be done, working with an experienced web design and digital marketing agency such as TechArk Solutions, is one way to ensure your business’s website is properly optimized for all types of user searches. If your business is ready to include voice search in their digital marketing strategy, contact TechArk today.
