7 voice search SEO strategies businesses should follow
Voice search technologies are widely used today for performing searches or interacting with devices instead of typing words. They utilize voice commands, allowing users to browse a website or an app with ease. Voice search optimization (VSO) is necessary for businesses to stay competitive in the market today. However, a business should consider implementing the best voice SEO strategies because they provide methods to produce better results. Apart from that, it can take the business to the next level with high success rates.
How to optimize voice searches?
- Using conversational long-tail keywords
Mastering or using conversational long-tail keywords will improve the visibility in voice searches. Long-tail keywords, which reflect natural speech, allow a website to enhance its visibility. On the other hand, it is wise to add question phrases such as “what,” “where,” and “how” in the long-tail keywords that help visitors get the answers easily while searching.
- Aiming for featured snippets
Featured snippets, or zero positions, are special boxes that appear at the top of the Google search results. They play an important role in voice search that provides direct answers or a summary to a user’s query. Using bullet points, numbered lists, or short answers will improve the chances of getting a featured snippet. A website should consider structuring its content in a voice-friendly way with direct and actionable answers, which enhance the odds of earning featured snippets.
- Prioritizing local SEO
Since most voice searches are local, a business should consider prioritizing local SEO to gain more traffic. A business should ensure its name, address, working hours, phone number, and other details are accurate to improve the Google Business Profile. Encouraging satisfied customers to provide reviews will appear in search results.
- Improving a website’s speed
Voice searches want quick answers, and a slow-loading website can lead to several problems while users want to know the details. Page speed is crucial for ranking a website in voice searches. However, a website should evaluate the factors that impact a website’s speed, which helps resolve them at the earliest.
- Implementing structured data
Structured data, or schema markup, is a code that allows search engines to understand a site better. It will help boost the chances of ranking for voice searches and appearing in voice search results.
- Generating voice-friendly content
Generating voice-friendly content will help improve the voice searches, and a website should know how to create the same with attention. Including FAQ content can work well for voice search optimization because it provides direct answers to questions in a straightforward way.
- Improving accessibility
Voice search is important for those who have visual impairments or mobility problems, and a website should address them properly. Enhancing a website’s accessibility can be helpful for those users and also improve the voice-search rankings. Implementing some best practices, such as using alt text for images, providing clear anchor text for images, utilizing semantic HTML markup, and including captions and transcriptions for video and audio content, will enhance the voice searches.
