Voice Search Optimization
We always search for details of every minute thing on the internet. With the availability of smart assistants and smartphones, voice search usage is rapidly increasing. Leading researchers are predicting that by the end of 2020, the voice search will be used by around 30% to 50% of the users.
How can you optimize the voice search for your brand? Is it just like traditional SEO practices? How effectively can voice searches can be optimized? Here are a few answers.
How is voice search being used?
The development of speech recognition technology can be traced back to decades ago, but as a result of the advancements in artificial intelligence and machine learning in recent times, big changes can be experienced.
Google has improved the voice assistant and the search capability, reducing the error rate to a mere 4.9%. Their assistant is now able to understand nuances in the conversation of the users. A significant breakthrough has been made in this field.
Why should you care about voice search?
Optimizing the voice search is way different than the traditional search. Studies say that the results which are displayed first in Google get around 35% more clicks than its counterparts.
In the voice search, the gap is even narrower. There are just three search results in mobile and one in voice assistants.
By 2020, it is estimated that 50% of the search will be done via voice. Businesses must start preparing search optimization strategies to stay ahead in the race.
Creating a voice search optimization strategy
There are a few steps to create a voice search optimization strategy. They are:
Optimize your business listing
It’s essential to keep your business listings always clean. The vital contact information like name, address and phone number should always be consistent.
Studies say that various companies have lost an approximate of $10.3 billion in the previous year due to inaccurate listings. Ensure that you are providing accurate details to your customers.
Speed up your website
How does the website speed impact the voice search? The voice search users always look for immediate response. Thus, the faster the result, the more chance of the website to get listed. Tech giants Google has launched its “speed update”, where the page loading speed is an important criterion for page rankings. While the average speed of a mobile page to load in 15 seconds, pages with a fast loading speed of 3 seconds or less are preferred. Always optimize your page to load faster if you want a chance to be ranked more.
Focus on questions
41% of the voice search users interact with the search engine as if they are conversing with a friend. People interact with the voice search as if they are speaking with a human. They don’t search for keywords. They ask questions. Hence, the mode of interaction is different for voice searches.
Focus on using natural, long-phrase contents, which is in a pattern of answering questions. Natural phrased language has a better chance of getting answered. Use a FAQ section on your web pages. The better, the merrier.
Voice chat is the future of online search. In order to boost up the performance of your website, the site must be optimized for voice search with the above-given strategies
