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Voice search optimization - 6 tips for your website

Most of us still remember the year 2011. Apple voice assistant "Siri" came onto the market. The technology was an absolute novelty. It was fun to test. However, her answers to specific questions were rarely informative.

Hardly anyone anticipated that this technology would become a digital trend of the future. Since then, voice search has undergone a significant development process.

Meanwhile, a variety of voice-activated technologies exist, such as Micrsoft's Cortana, Amazon's Alexa, or Google Assistant. Worldwide, 500 million voice assistants have been sold.

Voice search holds immense potential for the SEO strategy in particular. To prepare your own website for the future, you should take a closer look at the digital trend and its impact on the way search engines work. In this article, six concrete steps for optimizing your own website with regard to voice search are mentioned.

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Tip 1 - Reach position 0

Position 0 is usually at the top of the organic ranking and answers specific questions. Voice assistants fall back on this position in Google to answer specific user questions.

Even though voice search is less common among computer users, reaching position zero provides immense benefits. Once a website has reached this valuable position, it benefits from both mobile and PC search:

  • a higher CTR
  • increased visitor numbers
  • higher brand visibility

In principle, all pages on the first search results page can reach position 0. For this purpose, a FAQ section with the frequently asked questions should be created. In addition, it is recommended to include a headline in the form of "What is + Keyword" at the beginning of a post.

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Tip 2 - Voice Search & Local SEO

People often use voice search while driving and ask questions about company locations or business hours. Consequently, companies should be prepared for voice search queries and optimize their website or GoogleMyBusiness account.

Location-specific information is only part of what users expect from voice assistants. According to a Google survey, users want to receive information about deals and sales, personalized tips, information about upcoming events, customer support and more. By adding this information to Google My Business, voice assistants can more easily access the information.

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Tip 3 - Keyword research for voice search

Semantic differences should be given special consideration in search queries.

For example, if someone wants to search for a home voice assistant using their smartphone's Voice Search, they would phrase their question as, "What is the best home voice assistant?"

On the computer, the request would look different: "Voice assistants for home".

Long tail keywords are of particular relevance for voice search optimization. The SEO difficulty is low here, so that good rankings can be achieved with high domain authority.

Find long tail keywords

Answer the Public is a popular tool to find long-tail keywords. After entering the keyword, frequently searched questions are displayed. Also worth mentioning in this context is the W-question tool from contentbird. You can test it by clicking on the banner.

test contentbird free of charge

Google search has the function of finding similar common questions asked by users. By entering a question, other related questions are automatically suggested. Long tail keywords can also be found here.

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Tip 4 - Voice search requires customized content

Customized content can increase the relevance of an article and thus increase the organic ranking. The different intentions of a user, such as:

  • Awareness: "What's the best voice assistant at home?"
  • Interest: "Can you make a phone call with Google Home?"
  • Rating: "Who is smarter? Siri or Google?"
  • Purchase: "How much does an Amazon Echo cost?"
  • Customer support: "Why does Google Home sometimes not respond?"
  • Compatibility: "Which products work with Google Home?"

As can be seen, users search with different intentions. To serve the different intentions, the following three article types are suitable:

  1. Information articles (instructions, etc.)
  2. Navigation articles (stores, services, press releases, customer service information)
  3. Transactional articles (videos, product information, comparisons, product stories)

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Tip 5 - Voice Search requires a page structure

An essential step in voice search optimization is ensuring that your own pages are easy to find. A sitemap, which can be submitted to Google Search Console, serves this purpose.

In addition, schema markups can be used for structured data to help Google bots better understand the content. Markups can be used to highlight the following content:

  • Products
  • People
  • Organizations
  • Events
  • Recipes
  • Reviews
  • Instructions

In addition, by inserting markups, voice assistants can access additional information within seconds. Schema markups also increase the CTR, since asterisks and additional highlights attract the reader's attention. If you want to test the implementation of markups, the Google Search Console is suitable.

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Tip 6 - Mobile friendly is also voice search friendly

Search algorithm updates have focused search engine marketing on smartphone users in recent years.

Therefore, it should be kept in mind that the vast majority of voice search queries are actually made via mobile devices. Many optimizations that are carried out with voice search in mind also promote the user experience in general. A concrete example is website speed:

Backlinko conducted an analysis of potential voice search ranking factors and found that voice search results loaded 52% faster than average pages.

Website speed is essential, especially in mobile ranking, as users on the go expect not only concrete but also fast results. Consequently, it is worth optimizing website speed with Google's own tool: Pagespeed Insights.

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What are the advantages of voice search?

As voice recognition technology becomes more accurate and complex, more users are discovering the benefits of voice search and voice commands. According to recent study results. 41% of teens use voice assistants more than 1 time per day.

According to Google, Voice Search users benefit from many advantages, including:

  • Easier multitasking
  • Faster completion of tasks
  • Get answers and information immediately
  • General facilitation of everyday life

Voice search and voice commands are a great application that many users now don't want to do without.

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Conclusion - Voice Search is the trend of the future

At present, it is not yet clear whether voice search will dominate search queries one day. Undoubtedly, it will have a strong influence on search engine marketing. Incorporating the aforementioned strategies into general optimization efforts will ensure that traffic can also be gained through voice search in the future, provided the trend continues to grow.

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