HOW TO OPTIMISE YOUR SITE FOR THE FUTURE OF VOICE SEARCH

Voice search is on the rise; and is now being used all over the world.
Thanks to voice assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Home, you can answer questions and control your devices without lifting a finger. If you haven’t incorporated voice search into your overall SEO strategy, then you need to start planning fast!

WHAT IS VOICE SEARCH USED FOR?

Voice-based search is generally used for the following reasons:

• Personal assistance
• Local information
• General information or answering questions
• Entertainment

PREPARING YOUR WEBSITE FOR VOICE SEARCH

Here are a few key ways you can get your business ready for voice search:

• Prioritise local search – “Near me” searches are one of the most popular uses of voice search. This is where the user is searching for a shop, restaurant or service near to them. To make sure your business stands out from the crowd, make sure that your Google ‘My Business’ information is up to date and be sure to add location-specific pages to your website.
• Write natural copy – Copy which is more casual in tone will help catch voice-based searches. Try to write your web copy in a natural and conversational way, instead of being too corporate.
• Use long-tail keywords – These are longer and more specific than short-tail keywords. They pull in descriptors, and resemble phrases you might use in conversation. To answer voice search questions correctly, you will need to do some work on your long-tail keywords. Another important thing to note is that searchers will use terms like ‘nearest’ or ‘best’ to search for relevant results.
• Answer questions – Another good way to answer questions people may be asking, is by adding a FAQ to your website. Collect the questions people are asking about your business and write some short, but helpful answers. Search engines can directly use these answers to reply to voice search commands.
• Optimise your website for mobile use – If you haven’t already made your site mobile friendly, go, go, go! Voice search brings with it a greater need for mobile optimisation, because voice assistants fall under the ‘mobile device’ category.

Voice search is the future and it is going to continue to grow at a fast rate. If you want to get well ahead of your competition and continue to rank highly in search results, please get in touch for our expert tips and advice.