Voice Search is a Game-Changer for SEO

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Voice search isn’t a completely new concept – it’s been around for a few years – but this year it’s expected to really take off. It’s critical that businesses understand how voice search impacts their SEO strategies, especially since many do not seem to be changing their marketing tactics as voice search rapidly expands. Our SEO team is always up-to-date on the latest trends and in their opinion, voice search is going to be a game-changer for 2019.

In this post, we look at the information and advice from our digital marketing team’s SEO experts, culminated from years of experience in the industry, and break it down into manageable steps for improving your SEO strategy in the age of voice search.

“When people use Siri, OK Google or another software that uses voice search, they typically ask fully-formed questions.”

Why is this important to know? When we are searching the same way that we speak, it changes the keywords that businesses should focus on. For instance, when you’re typing a search into Google, it might read “coffee shop New York”, but if you’re talking to Siri, you’re more likely to say, “What is the best coffee shop near me?”

It’s time for brands to focus more on long-tail keywords. You want to capture the most relevant questions your customers are asking and develop your content to specifically answer those questions. In addition, make sure that you’re directing users to the right landing page – one targets that exact question rather than a more general overview of a topic.

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“Keep the copy conversational. People are asking a question – they want an answer that matches their own tone.”

This goes along with creating the appropriate landing page. When the user’s device reads out the answer to their question, it shouldn’t sound like the material was written by a machine. So, when you’re writing the content for your landing page, keep it conversational. Think of it as simply answering the question the customer asked, just like if they were to ask you in-person.

This isn’t just about giving your customer a better experience or making it easier for them to search – it matters to the Google raters. Part of the new criteria for your Google rating is how well a search response sounds, in addition to how well it answers the question.

“People are looking at the answer box (featured snippet) first, so it’s important to structure your content appropriately.”

When you’re using voice search, the answer box (featured snippet) is where a large chunk of voice search results come from. The goal of the answer box is to give users a quick, yet accurate answer. This lets them avoid reading the whole article, while still getting the gist of it and providing them with the exact information they need.

Typically, you want your content to be structured so they could easily answer a how/what question. For instance, to get your content showing up in the answer box consider including FAQ pages, bulleted lists, and charts that are easy to pull answers from.

“Don’t forget about technical SEO. Being at the top of the search engine results page matters.”

Keep up your technical SEO efforts as you optimize for voice search. You need to build a strong foundation for your website to come up on the search engine results page, and that is a long process. In one of our other posts we covered how to improve your Google E-A-T rating, and that still applies here.

Don’t forget about technical aspects like mobile speed, proper page headings, and structured schema markup. All of these aspects will continue to play an important role in allowing search engines to understand your content.

Get More Tips from Skyrush Marketing’s SEO Experts

Skyrush Marketing is a leader in digital marketing in the New York region. Unlike other large agencies, we don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all digital marketing. On the contrary, we customize our strategies for each of our clients to ensure optimal results. Our experienced SEO team is on top of all the latest trends and strives to keep our clients ahead of the competition. We work with a wide range of industries and businesses of all sizes. There’s no project too big or too small for Skyrush to handle.

To find out more about how we can help you get ahead of the voice search trend, contact us today for a free consultation.

 

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