With technology always at our fingertips, we live in a world where convenience is paramount. Whether we are on-the-go or trying to multi-task at home, we have become extremely reliant on using voice search through mobile personal assistants and smart speakers like Siri and Alexa to get the answers we want without having to lift a finger. As a result, it is critical for your business to optimize content for voice search using successful local search engine optimization (SEO) strategies.
With effective voice search capabilities, you can enhance your search rankings, which will drive site traffic, increase brand awareness and elevate your KPIs.
With our supreme digital marketing services, AIS Media will help your business apply the local SEO strategies it needs to achieve the results it deserves.
Voice Search is Bigger and Better Than Ever Before
Over time, voice search technology has evolved to become increasingly intuitive and user-friendly. With algorithmic updates and advancements like Google Hummingbird, voice search can learn speech patterns and contextualize previous searches to provide more accurate and reliable answers the more that it is used.
With its ability to give precise and immediate results, it has quickly become one of the most popular search technologies amongst all generations of users.
Voice Search is About the Conversation
The most important aspect of voice search is that it is much more conversational than traditional search. When typing into a search bar, users rely on short phrases and autofill to get the answers they need.
But with virtual assistants, they employ longer phrases and present their inquiries in the form of a question. As a result, the best way to enhance content for voice search is to make it more human, natural and conversational.
How to Optimize Voice Search Using Local SEO Strategies
When optimizing your content for voice search, consider using the following SEO strategies:
- Incorporate filler words and long-tail keywords in your content. When creating content for voice search, include the use of filler words that are present in everyday conversation like the, I, for, to and so on. Also, review relevant long-tail keywords and incorporate them into the content to make it feel more interactional.
Gone are the days when content had to stick to specific stiff keywords. Google has advanced so that keywords can be used separated naturally in a phrase and still get recognized.
- Add an FAQ page to your website. FAQ pages are ideal for optimizing voice search because they inherently contain question keywords. They are also presented in a format that makes it easy for Google to pull and display, which will increase your search rankings. You may even be featured on the snippet section of the SERP page.
A sales company client with AIS Media had the perfect business for voice search. Since their sales revolved around estates, they needed to have long-tail keywords ready for potential customers looking for answers on sales, the process and locations.
The SEO team optimized their FAQ page to include popular keyword phrases customers were searching for pertaining to estate sales along with an easy answer that wouldn’t leave them looking for other options.
- Ensure your website is responsive and mobile-friendly. Most users conduct their voice searches on smartphones. As a result, you want to ensure your website is built for optimal mobile performance. This includes quick upload times and crawl-able content that is easy to read.
The SEO team at AIS Media runs a technical audit when first taking on a new client to make sure the website is operating at full capacity on both mobile and desktop. The more content and changes that happen to your website, along with updates from Google, the more you need to stay on top of your website’s technical functions.
To make sure your website is always responsive on desktop and mobile, we conduct technical audits quarterly to find and fix any errors. If your site isn’t functioning properly, the chances of you ranking high under voice search are slim.
- Review your Google My Business listing. Since voice search means the user may never see your website, you want to do everything you can to ensure your user can still learn about your business.
This is done by making sure the information on your Google My Business listing is accurate so users can get directions to your business and call you all without ever having to touch a keyboard.
The most common voice search inquiries are for near me listings, which means the companies with the most updated local information near that user are going to get pulled first. If you’re only optimizing your website, you’re missing out on valuable potential customers that Google My Business can bring in.
To keep your Google My Business listing updated and accurate for voice search it’s important to implement the following:
Review your Name, Address and Phone Number (NAP) information to ensure it is up to date. Also include posts, news, exclusive offers and more to enhance your listing.
Embed a Google Map on your website to gain extra SEO benefits. This shows Google that your listing is verified and makes you a more reliable source for “near me” voice searches.
To embed a Google Maps feature:
- Search for your business on Google Maps
- Click on “Share”
- Choose “Embed a Map”
- Copy and paste the link to your Google My Business contact page
To stay on top of voice search, the AIS Media SEO and Location Search Specialist team monitors clients’ Google My Businesses pages monthly. This includes making sure all of the information is accurate, timely updates are made, the latest features are managed, and voice search optimized posts are created regularly for extra SEO value.
AIS Media has the Local SEO Strategies You Need to Improve Your Voice Search Capabilities
When you use these effective SEO strategies to optimize your voice search capabilities, your business can experience better organic search results that will help enhance its growth, visibility and sales. With our unparalleled knowledge and proprietary methods, we can help you grow your online visibility.
Contact us today to schedule your free consultation.
