Websites in the earlier days were one point of interaction from the company to the potential reader or customer. Nowadays, it has become a two-way method of interaction. The internet has evolved from a simple point of communication amongst the devices in a smaller area to a global one. Websites have become interactive and have established two-way communication from the buyer to seller and vice versa. With the world witnessing the recent pandemic, things have become more dependent on the Internet. Does that make you wonder how a person who is searching for holidays, reaches the website that says about holidays? Or, being a business, do you wonder how a person searching for holidays reaches out to you who is a travel brand?
We techies call this SEO [Search-Engine-Optimization]. To explain elaborated, it simply means you optimize your website in a way that Search Engine wants it to be. Search Engines act as lovely hosts to each and every brand across the globe. A website would be seen if it’s merely selling a safety pin to an organization that builds rockets, SpaceX. The internet has the space for all. To explain Search Engine Optimization, let me share something about Search Engines with you.
A popular Search Engine that we all know is Google. It’s followed by Bing, Baidu, DuckDuckGo, etc that are popularly known. There are users who would be using these Search Engines for their searches. Upon entering a phrase, they end up having some brands who come up. These phrases are nothing but Keywords, these keywords have your potential customers who could reach out to you. They could turn from a general audience to a converted customer. Such searches could be happening through mainly 4 methods M, L, D and T
- M – Mobile
- L – Laptop
- D – Desktop
- T – Tablet
These are major devices or can say only devices that get your major searches from. Customers type and get their results and they have an opportunity to choose from.
In recent times, we have a new format upcoming and i.e., Voice Search. Google Voice search has become popular for quite some time. It was initially Siri by Apple, which began in 2011 with voice-based assistance. Way before it was the IBM Simon in the 1990s. Now Android has developed it way ahead. We have Alexa who not only helps us with all the voice searches but also with any sort of communication.
Voice search might have commenced as a small concept, but it’s now one of the most essential subjects inside the seek industry. the convenience to go looking with voice is second to none, and those cannot get sufficient of it.
The concept of voice seeking started with smartphones then quickly escalated to smart audio systems and voice assistants worldwide. These days we’re experiencing a voice seek revolution with almost every technology welcoming voice seek with open arms.
The below graph shows the growth in Numbers on how it was 3.25 billion voice searches in 2019 to 5.11 billion voice searches in 2021. That’s a whopping 63.6% rise in the number of people using a voice search. It’s projected that by 2023, there shall be 8 billion voice searches done frequently.
Voice Search Graph Data:
Image Source: Statista
In case you search in your pocket or on your table right now (perhaps even in your hand), there’s a good risk you’ll discover a voice seek tool. One motive voice search is so famous is due to the fact the technology is in almost every tool we use, making it first-rate easy to get entry to.
Some popular voice searches that are known are as under;
- Google home: Google
- Amazon Echo/Alexa: Bing
- Google Assistant: Google
- iPhone/Siri: Safari
- Android phones and gadgets: Google
- Microsoft Cortana: Bing
This indicates whether or not it’s your cellphone, tv, portable speaker, or some other device, it’s were given the potential to look at the internet through speech.
To add a simple quote to run ahead, Innovation is fostered by information gathered from new connections; insights gained by journeys into other disciplines or places; from active, collegial networks and fluid, open boundaries. Innovation arises from ongoing circles of exchange, where information is not just collected or stored, but created. Knowledge is generated anew from connections that weren’t there before – Margaret J. Wheatley
Let’s get into the details on how we can work on the following points to get our website optimized into Voice Search. The following techniques can help you with optimizing your website with voice search. Also, let us get an elaborated understanding of the same.
1. Keyword Optimization;
To get your website optimized online you need to have proper Keyword Research done. You can check the keywords through tools like Google Keyword Planner. The keywords are of 3 types mainly;
a. Transactional
These types of keywords are towards the buying intent. “American Restaurants Near Me”, “Best American Restaurants near me”. These will exclusively show that the user seems to lookout to buy a particular product or service.
b. Navigational
These types of keywords are navigational. They help usually to just get a normal idea about the brands around. Yes, they are important but lesser compared to the Transactional ones. Like ‘Restaurants Nearby’. ‘Restaurants in San Diego’ or ‘Restaurants in Clairemont area’. Not certainly is the keyword intended towards sure short buying.
c. Informative
As the name says, these will provide you with basic information about the desired product or service. ‘Herb Pizza Cost’, ‘Bacon Pizza’. ‘Restaurant’ is something that a user will just get some basic information about.
You can see how the different keywords have a different impact on the search. It is up to the SEO person in arranging and optimizing in a way that helps the website reach the right audience. Also, there is something called a Long-Tail keyword which is highly required for your website.
Now, you must always have a ‘Near You’, ‘Nearby’ or ‘Open Now’ type of keywords infused into your content. Long Tail keywords are very essential for your website when making a voice search. You have to also look around the keywords that sound a little descriptive, instead of ‘Italian Pizzas in San Diego’, you could have ‘best Italian bacon pizza in San Diego’? Also, some keywords like ‘Best known Californian Restaurant in San Diego‘ could be better than simply ‘Best restaurant in San Diego’.
Ensure that your focus is on local search and long-tail keywords. This would make it well optimized for your website to appear
2. Ensure You Have Structure Data.
The research says that if your website has proper structured data, it becomes very ideal for Google to read you out and rank you with relevancy. Stats show 36.4% of websites that used structured data were featured with voice search. This is because of something called Speakable Markup. This Speakable Markup allows to identify parts written for TTS [Talk To Speech]. It allows Google to identify content to playback to users sounding natural.
Image Source: JSON-LD
[ Example how a Structured Data Code Looks i.e., Schema Tag]
These are some easy steps to add Structured Data, let’s get guided onto;
[Flowchart Representation of How A Structured Data is Made]
I. What is Structured Data?
It is nothing but a set of data exchange that is organized and structured in a way onto the webpage. When SEO is concerned, it is organized and tagged to a particular group set that will help the search engines understand the context of information and will provide accurate results to the seekers.
II. How Do You Make Structured Data?
We could use a tool like Schema Markup Helper which is ideally used by SEO Techies.
Step-1: Decide on What type of Schema are you planning to generate and click.
Image Source: Merkle
You could choose from the following;
- Article
- Breadcrumb
- Event
- FAQ Page
- How To
- Job Posting
- Local Business
- Organization
- Person
- Product
- Recipe
- Video
Step-2: Add all the Data which you want to add like Type, More Specific Type, Name, URL, Phone, Price Range, etc.
Step-3: There shall be a code that gets generated automatically to the right-hand side of the page.
Step-4: Upon adding data, you can copy the code set and you can add them to the footer of your website.
Step-5: Before adding, you must validate your entire code that must say 0 Errors. You can do the needful here “Schema.org ”
Ref: Schema.org
Step 6: Upon validating and Zero Error, you can post the needful on your Footer of the website.
3. Develop A Mobile-Friendly Website.
There is data that says that 88% of keywords that had ‘Near Me’ keywords have proven to be Mobile Friendly. A mobile-friendly website and voice search have a great relationship, if your website is great with mobile, it has the highest chance of getting featured during a Voice search. AMP which is also called Accelerated Mobile Pages was introduced to improve the mobile time of the website. AMP Pages can load instantly, this happens by restricting HTML, CSS, and JavaScript that quickens rendering time for mobile pages. We can use an AMP page and also have structured data for fueling our performance well.
Did you know?
More than 89% of the Mobile-Friendly websites were seen to be of resolution 414 x 896 in the USA.
How Do You Work Upon A Mobile-Friendly Website?
Step-1: Check your website well with the mobile devices if they work or not. You can right-click and select the Inspect element. However, all our websites when formed up have a default action of Responsiveness. This means it adjusts the website according to the device it is accessed from.
Step-2: You can reduce the size of images and ensure they have lesser page weight which can help in lesser load time.
Step-3: Readability must be checked by having some decent font sizes which could be read on mobile or smaller devices.
Step-4: Choosing the right template and theme is very important for you. Ensure they do not exceed the weight i.e. 1885 kb’s for an ideal mobile site.
Step-5: You must enable the AMP Service which is Accelerated Mobile Pages for your website
4. Improve The Website Load Time.
A long website loading time is something we personally do not like, how can our users, right? Also, Google has a guideline that it wants developers to have websites built with lesser load time. There is an ample number of ways, either by reducing the scripts or adding any sort of a plugin, etc. A quicker website could get you a higher chance of being into the Voice Search compared to the ones who are not well with site speed. Usually, the reduction in speed is because of CSS, JavaScript, or images if not properly optimized. Ensure such points are well taken care of.
5. Have a Voice Friendly Search Content.
Try having some content that could be easily fetched that is easier to read or has some sort of easy conversation. These shall be very simple that could be read and understood by a 7-Year-old child. These make your website an ideal candidate to get featured in the voice search. Such instances are ideally seen by the bigger brands and have been effective with their practices.
6. Get Listed Online and Google My Business
Have your Google My Business thoroughly optimized? This starts with having a proper online presence with Websites, and social media and also positioned through Google My Business for supporting small and medium businesses. Keep posting regularly on Google Business Page. Ensure that your customers are constantly adding reviews to the website. This will make your online presence strong. The brands who have been practicing such authentic practice are shown to have got stronger in the voice search.
7. Try Answering Some Rhetorical Questions
Rhetorical Questions are really good enough when it comes to answering the pain points. Answer the questions that people are generally seeking an answer for. A basic question these days among the travelers was quite seen, the question was ‘Is RT-PCR necessary for so and so airport’ So, such things were the point of concerns that needed to be delivered to. Also, answering ‘WH’ Questions as in Where, What, Why, When, etc. has always proven to be handy when reaching out to the masses.
8. Improvise Content Readability.
The question arises, that if we are talking about a voice search, how does readability relate? So the answer says that if the content is well-read, then it stays as a Mobile-Friendly website. Such mobile-friendly websites are ideal when it comes to getting ranked on the Voice Search. Try avoiding any sort of technical jargon or strong language. Try having subtle, sweet, and simple language for your users and readers.
9. Achieving Positions Could Depend On Your Device Too
To achieve your best with SEO, you’ll have to strive your best when it comes to online presence. Ranking would be an important factor for your business. Visibility on Google My Business, Yelp, and Bing would definitely be a part of your plan. Each of these pulls up the data from the NAP i.e. your business Name, Address, and Phone Number. They got to be perfect and known to these engines. The reason is that Siri pulls data from Yelp, Bing, Apple Maps, and Trip Advisor. Android devices and Google Assistant pulls the data from Google My Business. Alexa pulls the NAP from Yelp, Bing, and Yext. Lastly, Cortana is observed getting data from Yelp and Bing.
10. Create Some Q&A Pages Too.
We would certainly suggest having some Q&A pages on your website. They would not particularly be the FAQs that we refer to. But something that addresses ‘How’ and ‘What’ based questions. Many voice search users have been looking for such questions and seeking some appropriate answers. They need to be guided with their queries.
These questions can be found on Google Search Console and Webmaster Tools. You’ll be able to check out some questions, short research can be done that helps you find questions and queries. You can have your keyword targeted at such places.
Should I Go For A Voice Snippet Feature?
So the strategies that you apply for a text-based web search would certainly be applicable in the same fashion for a voice search. To get improved and featured in the SERP features and voice snippets, the on-page has to be well structured which makes it easy to extract. For example, if you are optimizing a page that wants to sell more Ladakh-based destinations, then a featured snippet that pulls NAP data from Google My Business and provides a Travel Agent’s data to travelers would be highly ideal. But if you have a page that is intended to deliver sponsored content on Acrophobia, then you are helping some children do their homework and not delivering it to the right audience. Imagine if Siri simply pulls up your content for that kid.
Hence, structuring your content with questions that are followed by a right answer will make Siri recite content from similarly worded questions by the user. The initial answers by a digital assistant while responding to a voice query will usually come from a relevant snippet that shows in SERP Features such as “People Also Asked” and some sort of graphical knowledge from Google.
Image Source: Invoca
The graphical representation of which industries are searched more through Voice Search.
A Review
Building a conclusion would be quite predictive. As we have observed data coming in from trusted sources that say that Voice Search is getting popular now. You could type like 38-40 words a min but when it comes to voice, it generally goes from 110-150 words a min. This means a fast search gets your answers fast. Faster conversions proportionately relate to shooting in the growth of the business. We have observed that Voice Search is gaining some real popularity and a legitimate trend amongst the techies. Not just the mobile devices, some of the voice search chunk has been coming from Laptops as well, the data by Cortana has said that over 25% of voice search has happened through laptops. Since 2008, the voice search has boomed 35 times and is super widely used. In 2018, there was a common SEO Trend that said how can and how will voice search make its greater share amongst the searches in coming years. We have seen a graph that says how it has made a 2 Times increase in simply 2 Years of its presence. Comparatively stronger than 35 Times since 2008.
With the introduction of Google Assistant, Cortana, Siri, and many more to come. We can certainly predict that these voice searches will make an incredible move into the Search Audience. This was the case initially when the internet was accessible to the phones but the search from Desktop and Laptop devices was heavy. Gradually, it all turned to Phones and Tablets. With the way, Siri took an innovative step, and gradually we have Alexa and Cortana, voice search has a massive scope in the search industry. Every year, these search engines are coming up with greater innovations, but the base remains the same. Websites have to be developed in a highly smarter way to make them Universally SEO friendly. Not only are the development factors important, but the people from operations and sales points of view also play a major role in developing the entire business.
The Conclusion Made
To conclude the entire observation, in brief, we can say that Voice Search is rapidly becoming embedded in consumers’ lives. Definitely, it is important to focus on Voice Search by optimizing your website as per mobile. But, this is just one of the branches you work into. We have seen how AI has become more sophisticated and talking to our gadgets feels so normal. The way it responds to the users and makes communication or conversation so normal and helpful is something worth it in modern times.
Optimizing your website with the Voice Search is just an added flower to a bouquet. It’s up to us how we make the add-on so great that it really boosts and powers up your business into the industry the business is into. Although there are some pros and cons that are attached to the entire process. There are steps, procedures, and tactics that can help you swim through it.
To absolutely conclude, personally we feel that when it comes to SEO, on a whole everything is important. Images, URLs, the content, the keywords, etc. But, nowadays people have become dependent on their phones and handy devices. Bigger search engines have moved to most microdevices and as a brand, we need to follow in the footsteps of these devices do. This is a small, but big way to reach the masses. Imagine just driving a car on a busy street, suddenly hunger starts biting you. Generally, if it’s a known road, we know where to pull over for a bite. But, what if it’s an unknown road, you’d definitely take the help of a voice search for ‘Restaurants Nearby’ or ‘McDonald’s Near You’. Within seconds it will direct you to a nearby outlet for you to have your choice of food. The decision is taken within seconds and conversions are happening really quickly.
In general, the entire SEO has to be equally focused. When it comes to Digital Marketing as a whole we have multiple branches like Social Media, Google Ads, SEO, etc. The idea is to push the brand, get the traffic, build a business and contribute to our growing economies. With everything new that is coming up into the industry, as a brand it’s important for us to be with the trend. Relate our brand with the trend and connect brands to the people. Businesses have to really strive well to innovate themselves and maintain their presence with the audience. Connecting amongst the masses is really important, we know not everyone can afford a Mercedes, but if you see the brand is open and warm to everyone. Everything has to be worked from a higher perspective and the brand has to keep everything standardized in order to have a strong run into the market.
To end this entire line, I’d only vouch and stick to the statement Mr. Peter Drucker rightly said that ‘the best way to predict the future is to create it.
