What are the Advantages of Voice Search for SEO?

Google Assistant is a virtual assistant. Siri, Alexa, and Cortana are all voice assistants.

Today, you have a wide range of high-quality voice assistants at your disposal, and they can all do some pretty amazing things.

Voice assistants can find resources and read them aloud to users, which is one of them.

It is no longer news that voice search provides phenomenal SEO opportunities for businesses.

After all, if popular voice assistants are reading people's questions, there's a chance they're reading your website's content as some of those answers!

And the numbers back this up:

• 71% of people prefer voice search to type out an online search.
• According to Google, voice search on mobile is used by 27% of the global online population.
• Voice search has been used by 58% of people to find information about local businesses.

So, voice search is a real institution that isn't going away anytime soon.

However, don't expect your website to appear in voice search results simply because it contains content.

There are some things you should know about optimizing for voice search before incorporating it into your SEO strategy.

What Exactly Is Voice Search?

To begin, let us answer the fundamental question of what voice search is.

Voice search allows people to retrieve online resources by using voice commands on their smart devices.

It works similarly to a computer or smartphone, except you use your voice to search instead of typing.

The smart device processes the language consults the appropriate search engine and returns the best result to the user.

Voice search is used for a wide range of queries, from simple questions and answers to driving directions and jokes.

And voice search is improving all the time. In the case of Google, this is due in large part to the search engine's use of natural language processing.

Natural language processing (or NLP) is what enables Google, a machine, to not only read but also interpret search queries in the same way that a human would.

Google understands searches semantically through NLP, which means it increasingly understands what was meant by a search rather than just what was said.

The benefits to people who use voice search to access internet resources via their voice assistant are obvious, but what about the benefits to businesses?

What Are the Advantages of Voice Search for SEO?

If you're just learning about voice search, you might be wondering how it can help your company's SEO strategy.

But, just in case, let's talk about the reality of the situation.

The voice assistant will read the result of each voice search aloud.

When looking up directions, the voice assistant will now simply give you what you need.

When you have a genuine question, such as who someone is, how something works, or why something is the way it is, your voice assistant will look to organic content for an answer.

This is your opportunity to shine because the content read by the voice assistant could be your own!

Typically, the answer is what would be the featured snippet on a standard search engine results page (SERP).

That means that whatever content is at the top will be read by users as the most authoritative resource to answer that question.

And, because SEO is all about establishing your company as a reliable authority in your specific market niche, appearing in someone's voice search should definitely be a goal of yours if you want to grow through SEO!

All of this boils down to optimizing for voice search.

There are a few things to keep in mind here; there isn't just one thing you need to do to appear in voice searches.

After that, let's look at how to optimize your company's online presence for voice search.

You Can Target Voice Search in Two Ways

I think about optimizing for voice search in two ways: getting your content right and getting your local business's NAP information right.

If you want your website to appear as an organic result in voice search, or if you want your business's NAP information to appear in the map pack, you must understand the personas who are searching for things, as well as what they want.

Let's go over each of those points in detail.

Enhancing Organic Content

So you want your website content to appear when people ask questions like "easiest roasted potatoes recipe," "how is photogrammetry used in car crashes," or "why do Dalmatians have spots?"

The general approach is to have your content directly address what people want - the question's actual intent.

What does this imply?

Consider the Dalmatian question.

Here's what you do if you run a dog blog, conduct research on that keyword-based question, and want to appear as a voice search answer when people search for it.

Create a blog post with the question as the title.

Google gives the H1, or title, of a page a lot of organic search weight.

Write the direct answer in the first paragraph of that post in a concise yet comprehensive manner. It wouldn't hurt to add another sentence after that to explain further.

Then, write the rest of the post, filling in all the details and including rich elements like images and infographics.

Presenting the intro as the answer the assistant will read can help it appear as a voice response.

There are other things you can do if you want to be seen as the most authoritative answer on the internet and want the voice assistant to present your answer as the best one.

For example, you might want to include structured data in your blog post to help Google understand your content.

Structured data is also useful when it comes to products and recipes. That markup will assist Google in understanding the specifics of the page you want to promote, and your content may appear in a voice search.

Remember that people tend to use longer, more natural phrases when they voice search. As a result, you should research and incorporate longer-tail keywords into your content.

You should be able to figure out who the persona for this content is based on how specific those keywords become. Who are they and what do they want?

Knowing your audience will assist you in crafting the content, and that extra thought could mean the difference between obtaining that coveted voice search answer.

Local Business Information Optimization

Then there are the local searchers who want to find a place like yours in their area or who already know who you are and want to learn more about you.

When people voice search "pizza places near me," you want to appear in the local map pack.

You also want the voice assistant to provide accurate information when asked about "X company's business hours" or "Y company's address."

There are several things to say about this.

One is that appearing in local map packs, whether via voice or traditional search, is all about fully optimizing your Google Business Profile.

This includes hours, addresses, photos, services, a website link, and reviews, reviews, reviews!

Soliciting positive feedback from satisfied customers is one surefire way to succeed as a local business.

It gives people confidence that they will have a positive experience with your company. It also shows Google that this is a useful business, so it will continue to show it to searchers.

Also, because mobile devices are where voice searches occur, make sure to optimize your website's mobile version so that anyone wanting to learn more has a positive experience on your site.

Now Is the Time to Think About Voice Search

Voice search isn't a new technology, but because it's such an easy way to get answers, its popularity is growing - and if you haven't been optimizing for it, now is the time. None of this is to say that appearing in voice searches is easy. Many of your competitors are most likely pursuing the same goal.

However, if you are laser-focused on your keyword selection, their intent, and your ideal user persona, you will give your business the best chance to showcase itself through thriving organic search technology.

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