How voice search impacts your SEO efforts

With the fast-growing market for intelligent home speakers like Google’s Home and Amazon’s Alexa, the SEO game is changing quickly. Digital marketers are fast discovering the need to take voice search seriously in there efforts to impact SEO results.  Let’s dive in to how voice search impacts your SEO efforts.

There is a significant difference in how people search when typing versus using voice. With voice search becoming one of the most used methods of searching, marketers need to be aware of this and make the appropriate adjustments. To put this in perspective, Comscore predicts 50% of all web searches will be voice queries by 2020. Here are a few implications for digital marketers.

1. Incorporate natural speech into content

People type and speak differently. It’s a fact. While a user might search for weather in San Francisco by typing “San Francisco weather”, voice search would more likely include “what is the weather in San Francisco?” Long tail keywords are the longer search terms that use casual voice instead of truncated speech. Plan to use more natural speech with your focus keywords.

2. Strive for Featured Snippets in your niche

Featured snippets are the big prize for digital marketers. This is the snippet of information at the top of your Google search that answers your question.  It is located above the links to other related websites specific to your search. This placement is highly desirable to marketers as Google-enabled voice search, such as that used with Google Home, only responds with a single answer.

Tools such as SEMrush and Moz’s Keyword Explorer will give you information and data needed to determine which keywords are resulting in featured snippets.

Comscore predicts 50% of all web searches will be voice queries by 2020. Click To Tweet

3. FAQ pages are a gold mine for organic traffic

With voice search generally being centered around asking questions, FAQ pages are a very popular and successful way to drive web traffic to your site. Google suggest is a great way to find out what types of questions people are asking specific to your product or service. Simply start typing something related to your keywords and see what pops up below the search bar. This is a great place to start when developing your own FAQ page.

4. For goodness sake, make sure your website is optimized for mobile

As we’ve mentioned in previous articles, your website needs to be mobile responsive and share the same content as available on desktop.  This is even more critical as voice search becomes more prevalent, especially with Google announcing their plans for mobile-first index.  This means Google’s search results will be based heavily upon the mobile readiness of your website and the information your site provides on mobile devices. They understand the pervasive nature of mobile technology.  Digital marketers and small business owners should take heed and ensure their web presence is ready for the future of web search.