If you want new customers to be able to find your business, then you need to know how to optimize your site for voice search, which is becoming one of the most popular ways. I must say, while voice search has not become a leader, but no one excludes that this will happen in the future.
Who uses voice search?
Voice search has not quite captured the world, but it is definitely becoming more popular. Last year, more than half of consumers used voice search to find local business information. Almost half of the users did this daily, another third - every week.
People of all ages use this technology, although the trend is that young people do it much more often than older consumers.
How do consumers use voice search?
Smartphones are the most popular voice search tool, and smart speakers are the least used. This is probably because almost everyone has a smartphone and not everyone has a smart speaker. However, people who own smart speakers are more likely to use voice search. Perhaps because it is much easier to announce your request for smart dynamics within the walls of your home than to say it in a crowded metro.
Why do consumers use voice search?
Consumers most often use voice search for food-related businesses. The most common voice search industries are:
- Restaurants / cafes (51% of consumers).
- Grocery stores (41%).
- Food supply (35%).
- Clothing stores (32%).
- Hotels (30%).
If you work in one of these industries, you really need to optimize your site for voice search.
How to optimize the site for voice search?
Given all of the above, you should understand that the relevance of voice search is beyond doubt. That’s why you really should focus on optimizing your own site. Here are simple ways to do this.
- Add your company to local directories. If your business (for example, a hairdresser) is tied to a specific place, make sure that your site is listed in local search directories, and that the information about it is complete and accurate. Also make sure your location, opening hours and phone number are correct and visible on your website. Place location-related keywords in your site’s content and image tags.
- Use keyword phrases consisting of several words. These are the so-called long-tail keywords, which are four words or more. You can use the keyword planner to find them. People using voice search speak sentences, so their queries contain more words than a regular search query. Your site’s content should include long keywords that sound like a question that customers are asking. For example, a fitness studio can use long-tail keywords such as “the best health club for men” to capture voice queries like “where is the best health club for men?”
- Use natural language. If your site’s content is conversational, it’s more likely to appear in voice search results. Try to keep a simple style of storytelling, which roughly corresponds to the eighth grade of a comprehensive school. Use short sentences and concise narration.You can use special services to check readability and make sure your content is easy to read.
- Add questions and answers to your business website. People using voice search ask questions like “What kind of pizzeria has vegan pizza?” Creating an answer page is a good way to start developing content that will fit your customers' questions. However, you can also create product or service descriptions, blog posts, and other questions to answer questions.
- Optimize your site for mobile use. Mobile voice search often occurs when a user is nearby. Your site should load quickly on a mobile device, otherwise the user will proceed to the next local recommendation.