How to optimize your content for voice search

So if you want your business or blog recognized on a national scale today, then optimize for this new trend. In this article you will learn  how to create content that answers people’s questions when they ask “why?," "what?'", and other phrases commonly used during natural interactions between humans.

Let’s start with some useful insights that give context about this trend.

• According to Gartner, 32% of consumers are interested in hands-free technology that would limit touching or contamination. Voice search is one of the fastest-growing types of search.
• 55% of users do voice search to ask questions on a smartphone, according to Perficient.
• 39.4% of U.S. internet users operate a voice assistant at least once a month, according to eMarketer.
• Over 49% on Google Home and Amazon Echo users find them a necessity.
• 58% of consumers have used voice search to find local business information within the last year.
• 46% of voice search users look for a local business daily.
• 27% visit the website of a local business after conducting a voice search.
• 76% percent of smart home speaker users conduct local searches at least once a week – with 53% performing daily searches.

What are the main benefits of optimizing your website for voice search?

Voice search is becoming more popular, and it can help you rank in the top 3 positions on SERPs. Voice-optimized content attracts even more visitors to your site which means higher revenue from those visits as well! Visitors who use voice searches tend not only to be converted but also convert at a much higher rate than other types of users.

Τo sum up, optimizing your website for voice search it can only bring you:

1. Higher rankings - more organic traffic from more devices
2. Higher revenue
3. Higher authority to your website
   
   

Τhe process

1. Find queries (queries = keywords), where you are currently ranking in the top 10.
2. Identify questions related to that query.
3. Decide the format, you will structure your content answer (paragraph or list).
4. Provide a straightforward answer that adds value.
5. Implement voice schema for questions (speakable schema markup).
6. Create backlinks for your site in local directories and listing sites.
7. If you target local keywords (eg. Starbucks near me), make sure your content is location-optimized, this means create dedicated location-based pages.

How to optimize your content for Voice Search

1. Target “Question Keywords” . If you want to scale this process, I recommend Answer the Public and BuzzSumo’s Content Discovery.
   
   
2. Include Short, Concise Answers in Your Content -  it’s important that your content answers someone’s query in 30 words or less. That said: It doesn’t make sense to write a 30-word blog post.
   
   
3. Create Voice Search FAQ Pages
   FAQ pages are PERFECT for voice search. Why? Well, question keywords are on the rise. And you just learned that Google wants to give their users 30-ish word answers. FAQ pages check both of these boxes. That’s probably why voice search results are 1.7x more likely to come from an FAQ page compared to desktop results. FAQ pages can rank for hundreds of different voice search queries.
   
   
4. Optimize for Featured Snippets.
   Getting in the Featured Snippet is even more important for Google Home and Alexa search results. Why? These devices only give you ONE answer. So if you don’t rank in Featured Snippets, you’re going to be invisible on those devices.
   
   Content formats that work well for voice search include:
   
   -Bullet points
   
   -Table of Contents
   
   -To-do lists
   
   -FAQs
   
   -Direct answers to specific questions
   
   
5. Embed Long Tail Keywords Into Long Form Content.
   Long tail keywords are more specific queries. They might not have a crazy amount of search volume but they are more niche and to the point. Creating articles and optimizing them for long-tail keywords is the perfect way to optimize for voice search and potential
   
   
6. Optimize for “___Near Me” Searches.
   Back in the day, “local” searches meant city and state.  So if you run a local business, you NEED to optimize around terms that voice searchers use.
   
   
7. Boost your domain authority and local authority.
   Boost your domain authority to improve your voice search SEO by being active in the local communities your business operates in, conducting local PR campaigns, appearing in and gaining inbound links from authoritative local digital news outlets, industry-related online directories, citations, and partner sites, boosting your website’s expertise, authority, and trustworthiness, and populating and optimizing the parts of your website that matter most to local searchers, for example:
   
   

   -About page 

   -Contact page 

   -Authors 

   -Local content  

   -Customer reviews page  

   -Guest blogs from local businesses, organizations, and influencers

8. Add schema markup to your web pages.
   When it comes to voice search, schemas are especially useful for helping digital marketers to draw attention to specific parts of a web page, so it’s a good idea to take advantage of them as part of your voice search SEO strategy.
   For example, with schema markup, you can insert elements like a publication date, or a star rating, which add up to a more comprehensive, interesting-looking search result. And if more people are clicking on your result in the search engine, it will help it move up the rankings and therefore, increase the likelihood of it being chosen as a voice search result.

So, voice searches are becoming increasingly popular, with studies suggesting that nearly half of all searches will be voice-based by 2024. As a result, it's clear that ranking well for these queries is essential if you want to grow your organic traffic.
By taking the time to understand how voice searches work and how people use them, you can make sure that your site is well positioned to rank highly for the most important queries.

If you want us to take a look at your website, don’t hesitate to contact us today.