Aleh Barysevich — January 26, 2017 Follow @ab80The steady move towards long-tail keywords over the past few years has been preparing us for the real future: voice search optimization. It is the next evolutionary stage in the ever shifting definition of the common search query.
By building on your existing knowledge of SEO, you can easily extend what you already know into the world of voice search optimization. What you need is to take a step back and apply some common sense about what makes voice search different.
Take a journey with us to help others find and interact with your website using only their voice. On the way, you’ll learn a few essential ways to begin improving your site’s SEO for voice search. You may be surprised at how simple it is.
1. Think in Conversational Phrases
We don’t search using a keyboard the same way we talk out loud.
Voice search reflects how we communicate in full thoughts with each other, as we haven’t been trained to speak robotically. This style of natural speech is involuntary. For example, using voice search to ask a question sounds like it would in regular conversation:
Compare that to the usual shorthand style of search that happens when you use the keyboard. You would simply enter “Matt Mullenweg” as your search query.
You can take this logic one step further. If you were in conversation, you wouldn’t keep saying Matt Mullenweg’s name; you would start saying “he” or “his”. Search engines are working on this type of contextual query refinement for voice. They can infer the meaning of placeholder words such as he, she, it, or they, based on your previous queries.
This extends to the use of filler or stop words – a tactic not usually recommended to include in a key phrase.
The end result is a string of search phrases that look something like this:
- “Who is Matt Mullenweg?”
- “What is he known for?”
- “Where did he speak recently?”
Google’s contextual search abilities in action.
Keep these and similar phrases in mind as you create content, and optimize accordingly. (We’ll talk more about communicated detailed data to search engines later.)
Next, take the concept of conversational phrasing to the next level by thinking about how often your shorthand text search comes back to a full question. Truth be told, it usually comes back to the five Ws:
- Who?
- What?
- Where?
- When?
- Why?
Optimizing for voice search can be as simple as asking a lot of those questions, and proceeding to answer them within your content.
How to Implement It
There’s no hard and fast rule on how to optimize for conversational phrases, other than writing them into your content.
To cover the basics, consider these tips:
- Brainstorm out loud. Think about the questions one might ask to lead into the blog post you’re writing. Include these questions (and answer them) within the post.
- Make use of headings, lists, definition lists, and blockquotes semantically. Learn more about semantic SEO.
- Write FAQ style summaries at the end of your blog posts. This naturally incorporates conversational style questions and answers, giving the search engine something specific to work with.
Think ahead to the future by creating an entire voice-centric content strategy around the five Ws concept. Follow these steps to start building your content road map.
- List the topics of your website.
- Research which keywords you already rank for, using a tool like Rank Tracker.
- For each unique keyword, create at least one list of questions using the five Ws.
- Answer each of those questions in a blog post or landing page
2. Get Mobile Friendly
You’ve heard it before, and you’ll hear it again: your site needs to be mobile friendly. This is especially important when it comes to voice search.
Mobile is already driving more search traffic than desktop, and it makes sense that voice search is more likely to come from a mobile phone. Optimizing your site for mobile is a natural extension of optimizing for voice search.
That ideally means getting on board with responsive design. However, being mobile-friendly isn’t just about your design. Speed is a big factor; your pages need to load as quickly as possible. The advent of technology like Facebook Instant Articles and the Accelerated Mobile Pages Project highlights the growing emphasis on performance. Mobile users want fast loading websites, and search engines are doing their best to weigh this as a factor in their results.
How to Implement It
From a technical perspective, responsive web design uses fluid layouts along with conditional CSS media queries to apply different styles based on the screen size of the device viewing it. This technique enables your site to fit virtually any device with a full browser.
While there are multiple ways to handle a mobile-friendly website, responsive design is Google’s recommendation.
3. Get Local Friendly
The statistics are in: mobile voice search is three times more likely to be looking for local results.
You might guess there’s a good chance these queries will be about an action the searcher can take immediately. These searchers are seeking out something “near me”, whether it’s directions, opening hours, or a phone number.
For example, asking for directions is incredibly common. By including directions to your store from popular interstates and major roads, you increase the chance someone will find your page – and consequently, you – when they need directions.
A few companies optimized to be found when someone searches for “directions to nearest gas station”.
Unfortunately, no matter how much optimization you do for your website, search engines may often prefer established networks over independent websites. For you, that means putting your business on top-ranked sites such as Facebook, Yelp, and Google Business.
When it comes to local, don’t miss the forest for the trees. The ultimate goal of any business’ SEO campaign is to bring new customers through the door.
How to Implement It
To build a list of optimized key phrases to target, think about what questions someone in the neighborhood might ask. Stick to topics that apply to your website.
To give you an idea, if you’re a hardware store, maybe try:
- Where can I pick up cheap nails?
- Where can I get wood cut to order?
- What hardware stores in my area are most affordable?
Brainstorm a nice long list; don’t be afraid to think outside the box. You can never be too thorough.
Once you’ve thought of a few, it’s only a matter of plotting out a blog series or landing page to target each of these questions.
Finally, optimize for higher foot traffic from search queries by putting your business on leading networks like Facebook, Yelp, and Google Business.
4. Add Microdata With Schema Markup
No matter how much content you create to target voice-driven search queries, it will only help you as much as the search engines understand what you’ve provided them with.
For maximum impact, the general consensus is to provide clear data for search engines to read. Yes, that means getting your hands dirty with the technical presentation. It allows search engines to understand very specific information to provide its users with contextually.
Voice search often depends on ‘ambient’ information. In other words, “near me” is implied on mobile. To be relevant in this example, search engines need to know where you are located (relative to the person searching) in no uncertain terms.
To achieve this, you need to use proper HTML formatting, add micro data by way of schema markup, as well as XML information to the fullest extent you can manage.
Let’s go over what all these terms mean.
Schema markup comes in the form of RDFa, Microdata, and JSON-LD. Which form you use will depend on the tools you have available to you, but the important thing to know is it enables your site to create rich and immersive experiences.
For example, Google uses Schema markup to offer rich search results and build its Knowledge Graph.
Beyond your Schema markup, XML sitemaps ensure that search engines have full access to every active link on your site.
How to Implement It
So, how do you make all this technical information available on your website?
Google provides a lot of useful documentation about rich tags and how to add them to your site. It’s a solid place to get started.
You can make use of free tools such as the Schema Creator to ensure you’re using the proper tags and data for your pages.
No matter what other information you include, you should always have your business name, address, and phone number clearly available in the appropriate Schema tags.
How detailed you choose to be page to page is up to you. The general policy for future-proofing and staying ahead of the game is: the more detailed information you give the search engines, the better.
5. Understand the Differences Between Siri, Google Now, and Cortana
Siri and Cortana are not search engines in and of themselves, so they default to using Bing to pull web-based results. Android and Google Now of course tie back into Google’s own search engine. Given that both Siri and Cortana are both popular native interfaces, is it possible that Bing could take over voice search?
If you take a look at the data, you can see that it’s simply not the case. The 2016 Android worldwide market share is 83.7%, with iOS only at 15.3%. That’s a lot of Google search. However, that doesn’t mean you should dismiss Bing entirely.
How to Implement It
It’s a two part game. To optimize for the mass market, you can assume Google is your target search engine. When you want to focus on your Siri and Cortana game, switch to Bing-specific strategies.
Here are a couple of noticeable differences between the two:
- Keyword Optimization: Bing prefers specific keyword, while Google is better at semantic search.
- Double Meaning Searches: Bing prioritizes local results, while Google will rank the most popular topic first.
Conclusion
Just as you’ve caught up to ‘normal’ SEO, it’s time to start thinking in terms of voice search. The principles are the same, but focus on what makes voice search unique and adjust accordingly:
- Use conversational phrasing
- Ensure your site is mobile friendly
- Optimize for local, action-driven questions
- Add microdata to your pages
- Understand the differences between Siri, Google Now, and Cortana
Have you experimented with optimization for voice search yet? Let us know about your findings and struggles in the comments section below; we’d love to hear from you!
Featured image: Alexander Supertramp / Shutterstock, Inc.
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