Voice Search and SEO’s Future

Don’t you love how technology allows you to connect with potential customers easier than ever before? 

You have optimized the content on your website, so your company ranks on the first page of many keyword searches. You are connecting with customers who need and want your product or service. 

You are beating competitors! 

You are increasing sales! 

You are winning life! 

But now that you rank high for keywords specific to your industry and location, customers are changing how they search for information. More customers are conducting searches using their voices rather than keying them into a search engine.

You can’t blame them. Completing voice inquiries is much more convenient than keying in text. You can search for something when driving or when your hands are full.  

Your older customers have become accustomed to asking Siri or Alexa for help, and younger customers don’t remember life before having every answer available at the sound of their voice.

While voice searches aren’t new, many SEO strategists have ignored this form of query up till now. Don’t let this happen to you. You still have time to add more content that connects your website to voice searches. 

Here’s what you need to know.

You still need good, quality informative content. 

In fact, it is more important than ever before. Your content still needs to be engaging, and you need to keep including internal and external links within your text. Content is still king, and that will never go away.

Remember your goal is still to be Google’s featured snippet that answers the question. The only way to do this is to provide helpful information to a wide variety of users.

You need to answer specific questions.

Brainstorm common questions that people may ask regarding your business. Within your website, you may want to include the question as an H2, and then answer the question clearly and concisely in the body text below the question. These more extended questions replace the shorter keywords that we have been accustomed to including in our writing.

The answers should be found within the first few lines of the text. Think about times when you have used voice searches to find the answer to a question. You probably had no intention of reading a thesis over the subject. You probably wanted a quick answer, free from jargon or complications. Lead with the most important information.

You need to optimize for your local area.

Think of the times you have used voice searches when driving. Most of your queries probably regard where you can find a specific business in your local area. 

If you are running a business that relies on walk-in customers from your surrounding area, it is essential that your Google My Business page is up to date. Your customer, whose hands are covered with paint, wants accurate information on when your local paint store closes when making a voice inquiry. 

If you are a barber, your business needs to pop up every time a shaggy man on his way home from work asks, “Where is the nearest barber?”

You need to make sure your website is mobile friendly.

Most of the verbal searches will be completed from a mobile device, so to capitalize on these searches, your website must be mobile optimized. Your customers are at a stoplight or in a hurry. They won’t have the patience to wait around for your content to load. 

You need to utilize long tail keywords.

While your websites may be optimized so that customers can find you while searching “cooking class near me,” customers using a voice search will potentially ask, “where can I find a barbecue cooking class in Kansas City, Kansas or Missouri?”

These long tail keywords can be used on your websites FAQ section or within original blog posts that answer your customers’ questions.

How Voice Searches Work for Your Business

If you are the owner of a cooking school in Kansas City that specializes in barbecue, you may want to consider having professional writers create blogs that answer some of the most common questions people would have regarding making mouth-watering ribs or melt-in-your-mouth briskets. 

Here’s how it would work. A worried at-home chef does a voice search saying, “how long should I cook a rack of ribs?” Your website will appear with the answer. The answer is clear, concise, and includes message advertising your barbecue cooking class that teaches the basics of ribs, briskets, and how to make your own amazing KC Sweet and Spicy BBQ sauce.

Don’t assume that because you made it to the top of the Google search your job is done. Keep up the fight. Learn new strategies. Your business depends upon it. 

This article was originally posted at Virtual Surge.