How many of the questions you ask aloud every day start with the words “Alexa…” or “Hey, Google”?
More and more, people are giving up the standard query box for the convenience of voice search. As the technology powering these systems advances, I’m certain we’ll see even more users turning to Siri or Alexa to track down the information they need.
This shift is likely to be felt across the entire internet. Small- to mid-sized businesses in particular need to watch this trend carefully and take steps to ensure their websites remain fully optimized for voice searching.
Just How Popular Is Voice Search?
According to Google, the Google Assistant app is now available on more than 400 million devices. Over 50% of US teens and 41% of adults use voice search on a daily basis. The website eMarketer revealed that some 35.6 million Americans used a voice-activated assistant device at least once a month in 2017—a year-over-year increase of 128.9 percent.
Consumers are becoming increasingly comfortable with the technology. The flexibility and functionality continue to rise. Frictionless experiences drive user engagement, and consumers find it ever-easier to adopt this new convenience.
Smart businesses are reacting accordingly: voice commerce sales reached nearly $2 billion last year, and are predicted to reach $40 billion by 2022. What does this mean for your website?
Voice Searching and Search Engine Optimization
Understandably, today’s website optimization techniques were not designed for vocal search. Does that mean you’ll need to totally revamp your website around voice search? Probably not: a few small changes can help merchants take advantage of this new direction. For example:
- Keep the focus close to home.
Particularly for smaller businesses, vocal search tends to have a more local impact. Nearly 75% of smart speaker owners search for local business information on a weekly basis, while over 50% do so daily. Consumers seem to love the ability to ask about local businesses without having to pick up the phone. That means your SEO needs to be receptive to queries about services, hours, and locations.
- Take advantage of online directories.
Because vocal search is perfect for more localized uses, it’s important to have your business listed in the major online business directories like Yelp, Google My Business, Apple Maps, and Bing Places for Business. These are the “go-to” sites that the more popular devices search first for information. Check the listings often to be sure your basic data is not only up-to-date, but that it stays consistent across all directories.
- Talk the way your customers talk.
Voice searches don’t typically use the same rhetoric or style as traditional search; single keywords are not being typed into a query box. Users are more likely to ask Alexa a question the same way they’d ask another human being: instead of typing in “Toyota mechanic,” a voice searcher might ask “Where is the nearest Toyota Service Center to my location?” With that in mind, it’s important to add conversational keyword phrases to your SEO to accommodate voice searching.
- Answer customers’ questions before they’re asked.
When you’re adding these relevant key phrases to your site, it’s usually best to work backwards: think about the answers you want to give, or are most qualified to give, then come up with questions a consumer might as to get that answer. Put BOTH—the question and the answer—together on your site (on an FAQs page, for example). What you’re trying to do here is anticipate what a user will ask; if Google can find a very similar question with an immediate answer, that’s like to rank higher.
- Make sure your site is built for speed.
It’s been proven that fast-loading websites simply rank higher in Google searches, and that is even relevant with voice search, where users expect immediate responses. According to Backlinko, the average voice search result page loads in 4.6 seconds (52% faster than the average page). It was also measurably faster to load a voice search page (4.6 seconds) than most web pages (8.8 seconds). In other words, your website’s loading speed has a direct impact on your SERP, so optimize for speed.
- Have the Right Answers.
Since people are usually more conversational when using voice search, it’s not surprising that they prefer conversational responses, too. It’s rare for a customer to use vocal search for doing deep research: they just want a question answered. Make sure your site is able to provide quick, concise answers—the sweet spot seems to be 28 words or less. You can also improve your response rate by using trigger words like who, what, and how, which people will commonly use in voice searching.
Bottom line: SEO for vocal search is different from traditional SEO, but you don’t have to completely overhaul your website. In fact, doing so might have an adverse effect on all the other SEO tactics already working for you. While it may take some fine-tuning, traditional and voice search SEO tactics can complement each other, and help keep your business at the forefront of searches.
