Businesses all around the world are finding merit in adding voice search as a factor for their search engine optimization. This is in recognition of an impending reality that up to half of the searches being made on search engines such as Google would be coursed through voice instead of traditional type searching.
Particularly driven by the rise of mobile devices, voice search, will soon be a major search medium, and optimizing your site for it is undeniably a necessity. In no time at all, search engines voice compatibility would be a major ranking factor as well.
Optimizing for voice search is something that large brands would find easy to do. But small businesses should not be left behind. Here are some effective strategies that can help small businesses join in on voice search optimization:
Creating Long-Tail Keywords
One of the major differences between text searching and voice searching, aside of course from the manner for which the search is done, is the keyword used while searching. For text searching, using short keywords is the norm. Meanwhile, for voice search, the usual practice is the use of longer keywords.
This is because when you do a voice search, you are most likely to use full sentences, or at least longer clauses integrated into conversations in the natural way people speak. With this in mind, you should also make sure to use longer keywords that can help you appear to relevant searches.
Some of the best things about using long-tail keywords are that there would be less competition. Shorter keywords tend to be more general, which make them usable for many different searches, and some of these might not exactly be relevant for you. On the other hand, longer keywords tend to be more specific and can be used to have you appear on searchers where you can be the answer. And when it comes to costs, since there is less competition on longer keywords, the use of long-tail keywords can be cheaper.
To help you out in creating long-tail keywords, there are free online resources dedicated to keyword research. A lot of them show some great potential keywords, and how they perform. Choosing quality long-tail keywords is key for a successful voice search optimization campaign.
Google My Business and Google Reviews
One thing that can help small businesses is localizing SEO. Voice search is seen to put great importance in local results as these are perceived to be more relevant. A lot of voice searches are geared for local businesses such as restaurants, shops, hotels, and others. And with this in mind, it is more important than ever to boost your local presence through tools such as Google My Business and Google Reviews.
Google My Business allows you to create a profile of your business on the Google platform, with the general aim of helping improve the business’ visibility, as well as take advantage of Google’s wide array of services for business users such as being able to put in your location into Google Maps.
Google My Business can be used to provide your customers with relevant information about you such as operating hours, address, and contact information. Just by doing this, you are helping your business close more transactions than ever before. But in addition to that, it can also help you come up with a free website that you can use if you have not set up your own yet. You are also allowing your customers to provide feedback through reviews. Business with reviews is more likely to appear on the panel on the right search of the search, helping you be a lot more visible than the rest of the results.
Consider doing an FAQ Page
Having mentioned that the usual method of searching via voice is through the use of complete sentences, or in this case, full inquiries, then it is helpful if you build an FAQ page on your site.
FAQs are formatted in full questions, allowing you to make use of long-tail keywords, and probably even turning your full inquiries into aid to your SEO initiatives. You can further make use of your FAQ page to link to your other pages, effectively turning your FAQ page to a portal to your other pages. The key to maximizing this, of course, is coming up with winning content that won’t only be used for SEO, but ultimately for closing transactions.
Optimize your local strategy
It is worth another entry to discuss how crucial it is for small businesses to beef up their local strategy while working on voice search optimization. Again, local results are more relevant when it comes to voice search particularly because of the intent of users who are doing voice search. A user who’s on-the-go is more likely unable to do a text search and would use voice search instead. And people who are on-the-go are more likely heading towards a certain destination, such as a business like yours.
Capitalize on that fact and make sure that you amplify your local strategy such as making sure that you have localized content, that you put in your business address, that you include your location in map services, and that you localize even your keywords.
The key is to ensure that you make use of elements that can improve your local visibility. And doing this won’t aid just voice search optimization anyway, this will also boost your entire SEO strategy by making your site the most relevant answer when it comes to searches related to your area.
Optimize for Voice Search now
It is undeniable that voice search is going to be a major medium for searching shortly. It is essential that you prepare your website as early as now, especially considering that the competition is getting tougher every single day. As a small business, you are undeniably in a bit of disadvantage as compared to big players, but by coming up with effective strategies, you may just be able to level the playing field. So optimize for voice search now using the tips above and see the difference that it can make for you.
Author Bio: John Vuong is the sole owner of Local SEO Search Inc. that offers SEO Services in Ajax. John’s mission is to help local business owners improve their online influence so they can dominate their industry. With his business acumen and innate understanding of the local business landscape, John writes blogs that delve on how to customize SEO campaigns based on client needs.