Why should you optimize your website for voice search? With voice assistants such as Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa and Siri now everywhere, voice search has become one of the main ways people look for information every day. User behavior is changing as a result, which means every website owner needs to adapt their SEO strategy to keep up.
In this article, we’ll give website owners a complete guide to optimizing their sites for voice search, with effective strategies for getting more visibility online through voice search.
What Is Voice Search?
Voice search is technology that lets users search the internet by speaking instead of typing. It works on devices with smart voice assistants, such as Google Assistant, Siri and Amazon Alexa. When a user speaks to the device, voice search converts the speech to text, and AI works out what it means, analyzes the query and returns the right results.
Voice search relies on natural, conversational language. People speak in long sentences and full questions instead of the short keywords they usually type.
Why Voice Search Matters for Website Owners
Voice search has become a big field, and it’s growing every day. Many studies show that voice search is mainly used for local queries, such as looking for nearby restaurants or services, and many people use it to search on the go. If you own a website, optimizing it for voice search will help you appear higher in search results and grow your organic traffic over time.
So how is voice search different from typed search?
When typing, people usually use a few short, specific words, such as “best restaurants in Egypt.” With voice search, people use a conversational style, such as “What are the best restaurants near me?” This makes the intent behind voice searches more precise and detailed.
Voice search relies on natural language, unlike typed search, where people can enter short keywords. Voice queries tend to be longer and sound like human conversation, so website owners need to focus on long-tail keywords that match the common questions and full sentences people use when searching by voice.
Voice search intent is also often linked to quick, practical questions. For example, when someone asks “How do I fix my computer?” they want an immediate, practical answer, while a typed search might just be specific words such as “computer repair.”
Why Is Voice Search Growing So Fast?
Voice search is growing very fast for several reasons:
Searching by voice is 3.7 times faster than typing, according to Bing, so many users now use their voice to search instead of a keyboard.
Voice is ideal for searching on a phone. In fact, about 60% of mobile users use voice search at least “some of the time,” according to Stone Temple.
Voice search is easier, which is one reason more than half of the people in one survey said they use voice search so they “don’t have to type,” according to Stone Temple.
Key Strategies for Optimizing Your Website for Voice Search
Now that we understand why voice search matters and how it differs from typed search, here are the most effective strategies for optimizing your site for voice search:
Voice search optimization: use long-tail keywords
As we mentioned, voice search relies heavily on long, complete questions and sentences, so website owners should use long-tail keywords that mirror users’ natural language. For example, instead of targeting “best Italian restaurants,” you might target “What are the best restaurants serving Italian food in Egypt?”
Voice search optimization: focus on featured snippets
Featured snippets are short answers that appear at the top of search results. When someone does a voice search for specific information, the voice assistant often reads the answer from a featured snippet. To optimize your site so it appears in these snippets, follow these guidelines:
- Write content that answers the most common questions users ask.
- Use numbered lists or short, specific answers.
- Structure your content so a short answer is easy to extract.
Voice search optimization: make your website faster
Site speed is a key factor in how your site ranks in search results, and it matters even more for voice search. When someone asks a voice assistant a question, they expect a quick answer, so if your site loads slowly, it’s less likely to appear in voice results. To improve your website’s performance and speed:
- Compress images without affecting quality, and reduce the size of large files.
- Use caching to make your pages load faster.
- Check your site’s speed regularly with a tool such as Google PageSpeed Insights and apply the suggested improvements. Learn more about improving your website for better, faster performance.
Voice search optimization: use schema markup
Schema markup is a type of structured data that helps search engines understand your content better. Using it increases your chances of appearing in voice search. For example, you can use FAQ schema to answer common questions, or LocalBusiness schema to improve how you appear in local results.
Voice search optimization: improve your local SEO
One of the most important facts about voice search is that it’s often used for local queries, such as “Where’s the nearest restaurant?” So it’s important to optimize your site for local search by:
- Filling in all your information on Google My Business and keeping it up to date, including your address, opening hours and phone number.
- Targeting the local keywords people use when looking for services near them.
- Making sure your site has engaging local content.
Voice search optimization: write conversational content
As we mentioned, voice search is conversational, so your site’s content should be simple and sound like natural conversation. If your content is full of technical terms and complex sentences, it won’t suit voice search. Instead, use a simple, clear writing style that answers users’ common questions directly.
The Best Tools for Voice Search Optimization
There are many tools you can use to analyze and optimize your site for voice search. The most important include:
- Google Keyword Planner, which helps you find the keywords used most in voice searches.
- AnswerThePublic, which helps you find the most common questions people ask when searching by voice.
- Google PageSpeed Insights, one of the best tools for analyzing and improving your page load speed.
- Moz Local, widely used to improve your site’s local search results.
As technology keeps developing, people are expected to rely on voice search even more, so website owners should prepare now, because competing for voice search results will only get harder.
Optimizing your website for voice search has become essential in today’s world. Using the strategies above, you can improve your site’s visibility in voice search results and bring more traffic to your site.
If you have any questions, get in touch with the Kemetova team, and we’ll get back to you. We offer a full range of SEO services, as well as website design, web hosting and domain registration.