How Do I Write My Content To Optimise My Website For Voice Search?
It goes without saying that the number of voice searches is on the rise. In what is becoming a fast-paced world, more people are using voice search to find everything from the nearest restaurant to converting currencies.
As a business, it is essential to start focusing on voice search and write your content accordingly. This will not only position you to pull in more targeted traffic but also help your overall rankings across many industry-related keywords.
So, the question is, how do you optimise your content for voice search? Well, there are five things you can do to optimise for voice search.
Create Content Around User Intent
When was the last time you used voice search to find something? We bet you asked something simply because you were looking for an answer to your question. You may have asked for the price of a product or the time in another time zone, amongst other things.
This shows the types of content that will rank well for voice search. In other words, you need to write content around answering questions people would ask related to your business.
The best way to find a list of questions is to speak with customer support and get a list of frequently asked questions. Then sort these for questions requiring only a single line answer or two at best. For instance, this will include questions like “what time is XYZ open?” and “what are XYZ’s operating hours?”
When writing content for voice search, it is important not to hide critical information. Even more, when it comes to Google voice search, the information should be in HTML, which is easy for the search engine to understand, and the spiders to crawl, after which Google can serve up the content when someone asks a similar question.
Use Schema To Structure Your Content
You will want to use structured data, or “schema” as it is called, to help improve your odds of ranking in voice search. A markup is a form of microdata, making the data or information easier for search engines to understand.
Think of it this way, around 40% of your organic traffic will come from the featured snippet. Schema ensures that you make it to that section of SERPs as the answer to the question asked.
Use Longtail Keywords
When writing, read your content aloud. Think of it this way; your written content should sound like a real person communicating. After all, the voice assistant uses NLP or natural language processing. Google states that 70% of searches come from natural language.
Let’s look at this with an example. Let’s say you’re looking up the definition of digital marketing. You’ll type something like “digital marketing” to get the desired results. However, that’s not how Google Assistant works. When you voice search, you’ll say something like, “what is digital marketing?”.
Unlike in the past long-tail keywords are now a significant ranking factor for natural language. A good practice would be to use questions in your headings. That way, they are hard to miss by search engines.
Focus On the Site’s Speed
A quick and responsive site is one of the most crucial factors, and even though it isn’t related to content per se, it is down to user experience. Search engines like Google care about the user experience, so it prefers to rank user-friendly sites that load quickly. This is true regardless of if the query is a voice or text search.
Page speed will impact your voice search rankings. To ensure that a website loads quickly, go to Google’s PageSpeed Insights and enter your URL to run a quick test. The results should tell you if your site has speed issues.
Here are four of the easiest ways to improve your site’s speed:
- Reduce redirects
- Optimise your images so that they are smaller and hence load faster
- Use minify CSS, HTML and JavaScript
- Choose your plugin wisely
It is always possible to hire a web designer to speed up your website, or a developer should also be able to help you.
Improve Your GMB Page
If you are running a website for your brick-and-mortar business, it should be optimised for local SEO. This is one of the most effective ways for Google to show your business to people searching for you.
Why does this matter to voice search? According to Bright Local, around 58% of customers tend to use voice search for various searches like “near me”. So, think about that when you are creating content. Usually, someone in the area is looking for something to eat, drink or a place to watch a movie on their phone.
To show up for these so-called “near me” searches, which we assume are pulled from the local search pack, ensure that you include questions like “which is the best bar near me?” if you are a bar owner.
Claim your Google Business Profile page, and then improve upon it. Include your business’s address, name, and phone number.
You will want to use words that best describe your business and the neighbourhood. This will include landmarks. The better your local SEO, the higher your odds of ranking high.
Final Word
Voice search is undoubtedly the future of SEO. That’s why you will want to focus on creating content geared toward people searching on their phones using voice.
By focusing on questions that people commonly ask, you’re ensuring that all bases are covered. However, you might also want to get creative and create variations of common questions.
