What Is Voice Search Optimization?

Voice search is a technology that, ten years ago, seemed like it would only be seen in science fiction movies, and we, at International Marketing Agency would  100% agree with that.

Nowadays, it is already a reality and is becoming increasingly popular among users who use Google’s search engine, Alexa, or Siri. 

It refers to the searches a user conducts by talking to a computer, smartphone, or smart speaker to find a particular service, product, or piece of information about a certain subject matter. These searches can be performed via a computer, smartphone, or smart speaker.

The most usual scenario is one in which a person is driving and wishes to locate a grocery shop or petrol station in the immediate vicinity. They are unable to remove their hands from the wheel in order to enter search terms into the Google search engine; therefore, the only alternative available to them is to ask the Google Assistant, “where is the next coffee shop or gas station?”

When you use voice search, you are more likely to use a conversational tone, primarily brief questions, as if you were asking a friend anything; in contrast, when you do a standard search, you input short phrases or keywords.

What is voice search optimization? A question that pops up in the heads of many people, so let’s see more about and why companies should use it.

Why should companies optimize voice search?

It is estimated that there are approximately 33 million voice recognition devices in circulation, not including smartphones. This has resulted in the fact that approximately 20% of searches performed on Google are done through voice at the present time, a percentage that is increasing. 

Because of these factors, incorporating voice search optimization services into your local search marketing and SEO plan is something you should do if you want to attract nearby and on-the-go clients who are searching for your product or service on their mobile devices.

Advantages of voice search

Continuous interaction with your customers

Because chatbots will be ready to provide instant answers to your customers’ concerns, optimizing your website for voice search has a number of significant advantages, one of which is the ability to maintain a direct and ongoing line of connection with your consumers.

Because of this, the user experience that your consumers have will be more satisfying, as all of the demands that they have will be met automatically, and they will want to return for more and with more confidence in the future.

It is imperative that you get a head start on your competitors and begin incorporating voice searches as soon as possible since they are not only increasing but expanding at such a steady rate that they have the potential to be the future of search engines.

The more you are able to communicate openly and honestly with your clients, the more satisfying your clients’ interactions will be.

Increase in data volume

The volume of data produced by users is going to significantly increase as a direct result of voice searches conducted on the internet.

This information may be utilized by your brand, and more specifically by advertising agencies, to create and distribute much more targeted communications with content that is specifically tailored to the interests of specific audience segments.

This will result in an increase in the quality of conversions as well as an increase in the number of sales made by your organization over the internet.

More profitability for brands

Because of these speech bots, you will have the ability to determine whether or not the leads that come to your website are truly beneficial to your brand.

Because of this, it will be more profitable to nurture them until they become loyal because you will have sufficient information about them and you will be able to determine if they are really a part of the niche you are targeting with your strategy, which will increase your profitability on the Internet.

Who are the big voice providers?

Apple’s Siri

The very first one to appear on the market. Siri is Apple’s voice assistant, and when it was first introduced to the public, it elicited a mixture of astonishment and laughter due to the many misunderstandings it produced.

By introducing this functionality in 2011, Apple, as is so frequently the case, was the first company to establish the trend. Siri has made remarkable strides since then despite the initial challenges and (often amusing) misunderstandings that she encountered.

It is accessible on almost all of Apple’s more recent products, including iPhones, iPads, MacBooks, and so on.

Google Assistant

Even though it has a less appealing nickname than Apple’s Assistant, Google’s version of the virtual assistant is extremely popular.

It is accessible on all Android smartphones, and with the help of Google Home, a smart speaker, smooth control of home automation systems is also possible.

Amazon’s Alexa

Alexa was developed by Amazon as a competitor to Apple’s Siri and Google’s Assistant.

Despite the fact that Amazon does not build its own smartphones, the company has been able to rapidly position itself as a leader in the voice market with the help of smart gadgets.

It sold more than 2 million smart speakers in the first nine months of 2016, an all-time high for the company.

Due to the widespread adoption of Amazon’s products, the company held more than half of the market share for smart speakers in 2017.

SEO strategies to optimize voice search

Increase your page loading speed

Voice searches appear to place a significant emphasis on page load times. During a voice search, the average time it takes for a results page to load is 4.6 seconds.

That is a 52% reduction from the typical amount of time needed to load a web page. It has been common knowledge for some time now that the rate at which a website loads is one of the most critical factors.

This is especially true in the realm of online commerce, where the speed at which a website loads is a genuine consideration in making a purchase choice. Therefore, you should ensure that your online shop loads rapidly.

Perform voice search optimization for better responses

According to the findings of a study conducted by SEMrush on voice search, 70% of the answers returned from voice search occupied a SERP function (with 60% of those delivering a featured snippet result).

There is a good chance that the majority of smart devices that are capable of voice search will return the same response to specific inquiries, and the response will mostly consist of a detailed response to the question.

To get a better understanding of how voice search optimization works, we need to familiarize ourselves with some terminologies connected to SEO:

• Knowledge Graph: In this context, the Google knowledge base is the one that holds the various facts and actions carried out by individuals, locations, and things.
• The Knowledge Panel: it is the information that appears in the search results whenever we conduct a search on Google for a company.
• Knowledge Box: This is real information from the Knowledge Graph that appears much like other ordinary search results. It is analogous to the Knowledge Panel in that it appears in the same style.
• Featured snippet: Google presents this information on organic results and advertising with attribution to the original source. This information originates from third-party sources and is displayed as a featured snippet.
• Rich: a response is considered to be rich whenever it has any of the criteria listed above, as this makes the response more comprehensive.

Google shows rich responses to queries as much as possible to deliver the greatest possible user experience. Over the years, there has been significant growth in the number of rich answers.

It is recommended that the material be ranked at position zero, which immediately makes it the first choice to appear in the results of voice searches.

Restructure your page content to make it more voice search-friendly

Because voice search is so much more conversational than standard search, you should reevaluate the entirety of the material on each of your pages and reorganize it such that it is optimized for voice search.

The objective should be to incorporate questions and brief responses as a means of enhancing the design of the information and rendering it more accessible via voice search.

According to the findings of a study conducted by Backlinko, Google favors providing users with responses that are brief and to the point with a 29-word result.

On the other hand, you should incorporate frequently asked questions into both your product page and your blogs because these inquiries typically contain relevant keywords and are also relatively brief.

Both aspects are required in order to achieve a high position in voice searches.

Use conversational language for voice search

It is important for a voice search query to have a conversational tone, and this is something that should be capitalized on. The more robotic language you use in your material, the less likely it is that your website will appear in the search results when people use voice search.

Benefit from the usage of natural language for all of the material that is published on the web. When using natural language, there is a better probability of a match occurring as a consequence of vocal searches being performed, so you should take advantage of this benefit.

If you want to know how individuals make vocal queries, one of the most important things you can do is understand the searcher’s intent. It is important to research and try to predict the types of queries individuals use when conducting voice searches.

• Which kinds of search keywords do people typically use?
• How would you describe their manner of conversation?
• Which categories of inquiries are asked the most frequently?
• Which categories of responses are going to be the most applicable to these questions?
• Which responses are most successful and appear in the results of voice searches?

Take advantage of Google My Business listing by enabling voice search

It is well known that people utilize their voice to conduct searches using the phrase “near me.” The Google My Business listing is the component that plays a role in determining where we stand in relation to these queries.

You can inform Google that your company operates in a certain location by creating a listing for it on the Google My Business platform.

It’s possible that your company will rank highly for a query in which someone asks Google to show them other businesses like theirs in the region. Therefore, hurry up and activate voice search.

To ensure that your company is noticed, you should keep in mind how important it is to select the appropriate business categories, supply area codes, and add postings that include posts about special offers, news, or updates.

Be credible

It is already abundantly evident that material that is straightforward, concise, and straightforward to read has an advantage in voice search engine optimization.

The language proficiency level of the top Google voice search results is, on average, equivalent to that of a classroom in the third grade.

Publishing material that is straightforward and easy to comprehend is a factor that contributes to improved ranks in voice searches. If you are having trouble simplifying your information, you might find it helpful to imagine that you are explaining it to a child.

When it comes to responding to the voice inquiries of your clients, simplicity, and especially spoken language, should take precedence.

Consider including a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section on your online store to present content in the form of questions and answers.

If you answer questions directly, Google will be able to find you more readily, and you will see an increase in the number of visitors you receive. Extinguishers for fires: do you sell those? Add the following to your frequently asked questions section: How do you put out a fire with an extinguisher? Even if you ask Google what is voice search optimization? Be sure that you will receive the answer immediately. How amazing that is, right?

The Bottom Line

You are now aware of the reasons why you ought to think about optimizing your website for voice searches, and you know how voice search works.

Bear in mind that the use of voice inquiries will expand over the next few years and that Google will always be trying to optimize its algorithm in an effort to produce content that is clear, concise, and of high quality.

If you have a physical business, you might want to think about expanding your voice targeting efforts so that consumers can locate you more easily.

Finally, you should put some effort into enhancing the SEO of your website. You will find that this makes it react to easy voice search. Did we answer your question on what is voice search optimization?