Whether it is Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Echo (or, Alexa if you prefer) or just starting your search queries with “OK Google”, voice based search is fast outpacing typing. Even with chat apps like Whatsapp, voice input is becoming the norm.
Why? Quite simply because it’s easier, quicker and it just feels natural, doesn’t it? The other major reason for the rise in voice search: accuracy. Voice input is now able to achieve high levels of accuracy, over 92%, in many cases.
This is all great news, because it opens up a whole new world of opportunities to work with an evolving technology. However, it does comes with it’s set of challenges as well, one of which we’re trying to get ahead of, namely: SEO.
Most voice input interface, including the ones mentioned above are on mobile devices. In fact, most voice search is, at least at this stage, more prevalent on mobile devices as opposed to desktops. That’s another important point to keep in mind when optimizing your content.
Pay attention to your own experience the next time you’re typing in a search query on Google. Most likely, you are typing in phrases or words as opposed to fully formed sentences. That’s because we are all familiar with how search engines work and are aware that we are not talking to a person. So we shorten our query, sometimes to just one or two words keywords that we know are all Google needs to spit out the results we want.
We all try to make it just that little bit easier for the search engine. Yet when it comes to voice input, we speak as if we are talking to a person. So how can you account and optimize for this on your website?
SEO has been centred around making sense to crawlers and bots up until now. That’s starting to change. While search engine themselves have gotten very good at giving us the answers that we are looking for, they are still adapting to the rise of voice based search.
Here are a few pointers that can help adapt your content for voice input. As it happens, these tips also make your website more user friendly and readable. So here we go:
Conversational Language
When using voice based search we tend to use a more natural and conversational tone. We speak in full sentences, or questions, as if talking to a person. So let your content talk back, let is respond in kind.
Long Tail Keywords
Single words keywords have been on their way out for some time now. Short phrases (“Long Tail Keywords” for those who prefer the technical term) that address most likely queries on your website are going to go a long way in improving your ranking.
Mobile First Approach
As stated earlier, most voice search occurs on mobile devices. This means that when someone searches for you on their mobile, and finds you, they’re going to be looking at your website on the mobile. So your website needs to work perfectly on the mobile because drop offs will hurt your SEO performance.
Increased Focus on Local SEO
With location playing a role in 80% of searches, setting up you website for local search is crucial. This is doubly important if you’re a local business. Ensuring that your Schema markup is up to scratch will enable your website perform better from an SEO perspective.
Optimizing Content for User Questions
When most of us are searching for information, and we voice our query, we do so in the form of a question. So when you start writing content for your website, answer the “Who,” “What,” “Where,” “When,” “Why,” and “How,” questions as much as you can. This will not only help cater to voice based search, but also makes your website generally more user friendly, readable and meaningful to your users.
All these tips will help you build a more robust, user-friendly website while also optimizing for search engine queries. That being said, perhaps the most important thing is the willingness to embrace change. At OODI, we’re all for it! Despite the challenges it comes with voice based search is an exciting change bringing with it interesting possibilities.
How are you going about preparing for the inevitable rise of voice input? What strategies are you using?
