Voice Search: Ways To Optimize Your Site For Better SEO Ranking

Intro

Starting out as just another exciting tech feature, no one quite anticipated the significance of voice search. It grew from being just another way to search online to becoming a habit and a convenience. Now voice search is continuing to grow and is becoming an important part of the tech world.

Initially, voice searching was used only as a way to search for something on the web without having to type it out. From barely having any websites that provided the feature to now having in-built voice assistants on every device such as smart watches, TVs, and speakers, the scenario has changed drastically.

If you’d like to optimize your website in a way that is compatible with SEO, we have a few tips for you to get your website ready for better SEO ranking with voice search.

How To Make Your Website Voice Search Friendly

If we get to the core of it, any user’s voice search is initiated with a call to a voice assistant. The phrases usually are “OK Google”, “Hey, Siri” or, “Alexa” proceeded with any question. This could be a general knowledge question or any piece of information.

Voice search can sometimes be a little less specific than typing. While voice searching you cannot include punctuation marks or put emphasis on words, therefore, it is important to optimize your website accordingly.

Here are a few strategies to help you achieve the best results.

1. Integrate Conversational Keywords

It is no secret that voice searches are extremely conversational. While searching with voice, people tend to use words that are more personal rather than specific.

For example, if a user is searching for an Italian restaurant nearby, they might simply include a dish - “Hey, Siri. Find pasta places near me.”

It is essential to integrate words and smaller details as keywords in your website as keywords. Using a more technical language can make your website feel less human and reduces the chances of getting featured.

2. Provide Relevance, Increase Conversions

Relevance is the most important tool that you can use to attract your targeted audience. You need more than just a mention of your brand in the research results to actually get your audience to click on your website.

You can post compelling user-generated content on your website with conversational titles or keywords. For example, if you own a fashion boutique, you can add keywords like “little black dress” or “prom dresses” as a title on the attached UGC.

This way you can hit two goals - appear in more searches when people search for related terms, and when they do reach your website, they will actually have a collection of UGC to look at and rely on as social proof.

3. Upload Structured Content

If you compare typed searches with voice searches, you will find out there is a lot of difference between the two. Voice searches are more conversational while typed searches are a bit more formal.

However, it is important to note that search engines are quite robotic themselves. And the results shown are heavily influenced by keywords. It is important to upload structured content that is search-friendly.

You can also use a social wall moderation** **tool to ensure that only the impactful and search-engine optimized content is displayed and any inappropriateness is avoided.

Pointers to note.

• Include a section of Frequently Asked Questions, a.k.a FAQs. You can include basic details, unique selling points, and other useful information in this section.
• It is important to keep the content crisp and clear to increase the possibility of appearing in search results.

4. Understand Your Target Audience

Knowing your target audience can save you a lot of hassle and help you reach your desired ranking. To understand your audience better, you have to analyze the traffic by location, age, and gender.

After you have an idea of who your target audience is you can perform more experiments and also try and understand the nature of your audience’s queries.

It can be a series of questions like -

What is the most-searched keyword?

_If there is any one question that is being asked repeatedly._


_If all the required information is present on the website._

5. Make Your Website Mobile-Friendly

Mobiles or smartphones are now the most accessible device. Be it a 14-year-old teenager or a 65-year-old adult, everyone has access to a mobile phone. It is the present and the future. Making your website mobile-friendly is the most essential way to move forward with optimizing your website for voice search SEO.

Designing a mobile-friendly website means your website should not be any different than the desktop version. If necessary, you can run tests and ensure that the website runs on every mobile operating system - be it iOS or Android.

6. Ensure Your Listing On Google My Business

A very important point to note while talking about voice searches is that there are certain phrases and factors that people especially include in their voice searches. One such popular factor is location.

When using voice search, people often mention the location, for example, “Restaurants near Central Park.” This proves the importance of listings on Google My Business to capture the local audience.

Ensuring your listing on Google My Business is the most effective way to improve your SEO ranking and also increase conversions. You can add your business details like mentioning your working hours, phone number, and accurate address. This increases your business’ credibility and increases the chances of ranking.