“Hey, Alexa…” “Hey, Google…” “Hey, Siri…” “Hey, Cortana…” What do these all have in common? They are common trigger phrases that can activate a voice search on Amazon, Android, Apple, or Microsoft devices with voice control technology integration. These are just a few of the most recognized voice control systems. There are many additional brands and virtual assistants serving users across the globe.
If you have a business in Byron, Georgia, or anywhere in the nation, you want to show up in searches users are conducting to find the solutions you offer. As voice search is becoming an increasingly popular way for your audience to access the Internet, it’s crucial to start optimizing your website and digital content for voice search.
What Is Voice Search?
Voice search is a feature of many of today’s devices. Users can activate a voice search on compatible smartphones, tablets, computers, smart speakers, smart TVs, and many others. Using speech recognition technology, the device’s voice control system can process a request spoken by the user and produce a relevant result designed to satisfy the request.
How Does Voice Search Work?
From the user’s perspective, voice search is an easy, convenient process. All the user has to do is activate the system with a wake word or phrase like:
- “Hey, Siri”
- “Ok, Google”
- “Alexa”
- “Hey, Cortana”
Once activated, the user can ask their question or provide their request, which can include anything, such as:
- “How many ounces are in a cup?”
- “What is a baby platypus called?”
- “Where can I buy chia seeds?”
- “Show me movie theaters near me.”
- “Where can I get some street tacos right now?”
Just like a traditional search, where the user types their question into a search engine, there’s no limit to what a user can ask via voice search.
On the system’s end, the process is a lot more complex. Once activated, the system will:
- Filter the sounds received, separating the user’s voice from any background noise.
- Convert the sound waves into digital data for the search engine.
- Analyze and process the converted data.
- Connect to servers (Apple for Siri, Google for Google Assistant, Amazon for Alexa, and Microsoft for Cortana) and system-compatible search engine databases (Google for Siri and Google Assistant, Bing for Alexa and Cortana) to find relevant answers or results.
- Audibly present the results to the user through speech synthesis technology.
Users Conduct the Majority of Voice Searches Using Smartphones
Smartphone designs have included voice control systems for years now. As a result, voice search has increasingly become a convenient tool for anyone needing a quick internet-based answer or solution. Whether a person has their hands busy, is on the go, or is limited from physically accessing a device, they likely have their phone with them and can begin a voice search with just a single activation phrase, like “Ok, Google” or “Hey, Siri.”
Voice search allows users to:
- Receive information about a topic or subject
- Receive answers to questions
- Locate products or services
- Complete purchases
- Request directions and navigation solutions
And the list goes on.
Voice Search SEO
Businesses who want to capitalize on the opportunities voice search offers need to implement voice search SEO. By creating voice search optimized content and enacting technical SEO strategies and Local SEO strategies that boost site performance in voice searches, you can improve your ranking on queries relevant to your business.
You Only Have One Shot (Sometimes)
One thing to keep in mind about voice search optimization is that, in many cases, you only have one shot at being the winning source. The majority of searches conducted through a smart speaker, like an Amazon Echo, will offer a single primary result at first. It’s up to the user to dig further if they want to hear more options or learn more information.
However, users who conduct voice searches on their phones have a greater opportunity to encounter multiple sources, even if the system initially produces results from just one.
What Voice Search Systems Use as Sources
Voice search systems rely on a number of ranking factors when evaluating source options and serving users. In the vast majority of searches, the system will pull from the source used for the most relevant SERP feature.
What’s a SERP Feature?
SERP features are considered “Position Zero” on search engine results pages (SERPs). They appear at the top of page one before any paid or organic results and populate according to how relevant they are to the query. There are many SERP features to vie for, some of which include:
- Featured snippets – Short, concise answers, definitions, or explanations. They are usually one or two sentences long and offer a brief or broad overview. “What does ‘superfluous’ mean” or “who invented Cracker Jacks” are queries likely to result in a featured snippet.
- Local pack –Usually a group of three businesses with an accompanying map showing their location. The local pack appears in searches with localized intent. For example, “Pizza near me” or “Who can clean my air ducts” are likely to result in a local pack feature.
- Knowledge panel – The panel displayed to the right of a wide screen and the top of a mobile screen. The knowledge panel shows brief, concise information about a person, brand, topic, or entity. Searching a company like “Nike” or “Coca-Cola” will likely result in a knowledge panel.
- People Also Ask – A series of questions that relate to the original query. For instance, if someone searches “potato recipe,” the People Also Ask feature may include results to related questions like “Why do you soak potatoes in water before boiling?” “What is the unhealthiest way to cook potatoes?” “Why soak potatoes in baking soda?” and “Should you boil potatoes before roasting?” Each question includes a link to a web source that will answer the question. Additionally, if you click on one question, more questions will populate.
When optimizing your web content for voice search, you really want to optimize it for SERP features so your site can appear as the featured source in a relevant search.
Voice Search Optimization Tactics for Your Byron, GA Business
Businesses in Byron, Georgia, the Greater Central Georgia Area, or anywhere across the US can harness the power of voice search optimization with the right SEO strategies and tactics in place, particularly local SEO strategies.
1.Evaluate Your Current SEO Quality and Performance
An SEO audit is a crucial first step when you want to pursue voice search SEO. You need to know how well your current traditional and local SEO efforts are working, how well you stack up SEO-wise against your competitors, where you can make improvements, and where you are succeeding.
2. Test Your Current Voice Search Performance
Decide which searches you would like your business to rank high for. Think about what your customers are likely searching for and consider what products or services you really want to boost or improve, sales-wise. Once you have landed on the searches, test them out. Ask your smartphone or other smart device the questions your customers would ask to find you. Ideally, you should use a range of devices compatible with the four major virtual assistants (Siri, Google Assistant, Alexa, and Cortana) to see how you perform among each.
3. Evaluate Your Competition’s Voice Search Performance and SEO Efforts
Take note of where you fall in the ranking and which business or businesses are ranking at number one. Then, just like you evaluated your own SEO efforts, evaluate these competitors. Take a look at their content and other SEO tactics to see where they are succeeding.
4. Update Your Content and Focus on Featured-Snippet-Friendly Copy
The featured snippet is one of the SERP features voice search systems rely on most when producing an answer for a user. It’s crucial to produce snippet-friendly copy on your website to vie for your spot in the featured snippet that appears in a search related to your company.
When formatting for a featured snippet, use:
- Bulleted lists
- Ordered lists
- FAQs
- Tables
- Short, concise sentences that define terms, offer brief explanations, or answer specific questions
Users ask their devices “who,” “what,” “when,” “where,” and “why” questions and expect accurate, concise answers. Write in a way that would satisfy such questions that relate to your business.
While you focus on your copy, also keep in mind that voice searches are generally conversational. People are asking their questions in full sentences with long-tail keywords, and it’s natural for them to want to receive a conversational, natural-sounding response. Tone matters, and content that is too robotic or stiff can negatively impact performance.
When writing, read the content out loud to ensure it sounds natural, conversational, and like something a user would want their virtual assistant to say back to them.
5. Ensure Your Google Business Profile and Other Listings Are Accurate and Optimized
A lot goes into creating a solid local SEO strategy. But one of the most critical factors to local SEO is your Google Business Profile. This profile is what Google uses to tell users about your business, from your name, address, and phone number to your operating hours, website URL, customer reviews, and more.
When there is inconsistent information between your Google Business Profile, website, and other business listings, Google will lower your ranking or update your profile information with what it assumes is correct. This could mean inaccurate listing information, confusing users and negatively impacting your performance.
It’s critical to have accurate information across all listing directories, most especially your Google Business Profile. It’s also important to optimize your profile by adding as much information as you can. Your name, address, and phone number (NAP) are essential, but you have the option to add an about section, display business hours, upload products and services, add photos and videos, answer questions from customers and audience members, and respond to reviews. The more informative and engaging your Google Business Profile is, the better when it comes to local SEO.
Additionally, while Google is king, it’s also important to optimize your Bing and Yelp listings in the same way for the sake of your rankings in searches conducted through Amazon’s Alexa and Microsoft’s Cortana.
6. Update Your Website’s Code With Schema Markups
Schema markups are structured data that help the search engine’s crawlers understand the context and purpose of web content. Schema is the code added in the backend of a website in and can significantly increase your chances of landing the winning position of a SERP feature and being the go-to source for a voice search. And even outside of voice search, schema markups add tons of value to your SEO.
7. Enhance Your Site’s Domain Authority Score
Google and other search engines place a lot of value on websites that have strong domain authority. The SEO software, Moz, was the first one to evaluate all the factors Google and other search engines use to rank a site’s authority and relevance and produce a number predicting how much authority the site might have. That number is known as the domain authority score. It’s used to determine a site’s relevance, expertise, and authority within its market or industry.
The domain authority score is the result of an evaluation of factors like:
- How long your website has been around
- How relevant your website’s content is
- How well-written your content is
- How much authority and expertise you demonstrate through your content
- How many backlinks lead to your website
- How well-designed your UX (user experience) is
Scores range between 0 to 100, 100 being the highest possible score to achieve. Major sites like Amazon, Facebook, and Google have scores of 100, understandably, because of their relevance, UX, backlinks (which are all in the billions), content quality, history, and other factors.
When Google encounters a potential source for a voice search that has a high authority score, it’s likely to select that site as its primary or possibly secondary source for a voice search result.
You can enhance your website’s domain authority score through several actions, such as:
- Optimizing your homepage, about page, service pages, and product pages with SEO content and local SEO content
- Add location pages to your website
- Add customer review pages to your website
- Expand and optimize your business listings
- Add a blog feature or improve your current blog efforts with SEO- and local-SEO-focused content
Are you ready to add voice search optimization to your digital marketing efforts to increase traffic and boost sales for business in Byron? Talk to M&R Marketing about how we can enhance your voice search SEO strategies.
A lot of what goes into voice search optimization is the same sort of effort that goes into standard SEO. Regardless of the tactic, the SEO pros at M&R are ready to help you create, maintain, and continually enhance your SEO with effective solutions. From producing high-quality, focused content to ensuring your business listings are accurate and well-maintained, our team makes sure you demonstrate SEO best practices to improve rankings and see results.
Call 478-621-4491 or contact one of our business development managers today to learn more about what our SEO solutions can do for you.
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