SEO in the Voice-First World

SEO IN THE VOICEFIRST WORLD

S o u r c e : https://anythingseo.wordpress.com/201 8/02/14/seo-in-the-voice-first-world/

Attention everyone, Voice-First is here!

Yes, you heard it right. According to Google, 20 percent of mobile search done on mobile account for voice search. And with the rapid development in voice recognition technology, there’s no other way but for this number to speed up.

In Voice-First interaction, smarts

According to comScore survey in

speakers are now being

2017 on 851 respondents (Age, 18+,

enhanced with screens like the

92% own smartphones), 1 in 2 who

Echo Show. Google’s voice-first

use smartphones use voice

technology is now 95 percent

technology, and 1 in 3 users use it

accurate (comparable to the

daily. What does this tell search

threshold for human accuracy)

engine specialists (SEO)? As the use

forecast and skimmed through your

and no one wants to fall behind.

of voice for search continues to

appointment calendar and ready to give

Personal voice assistants such as

grow fast, an SEO must be ready to

you a rundown of what’s going on for

Siri, Cortana, Alexa and the

get their content to show up in voice

Apple HomePod are all catching

search results. Now is the time to pay

up and making better and richer

attention to voice search if you wish

experiences for voice search

to stay ahead of your competition.

users.

There is a need for a solid

Compared to typing keywords on your mobile or web browser, voice-first interaction provides a more personalised and authentic experience. Imagine waking up and having an assistant who has read the papers for you, check out the weather

today when you ask for it. Voice search is different. Unlike with keyword search you don’t skimp on words, you want to interact as naturally as you can with your virtual personal assistant as you would with a

understanding of search strategies It is no surprise that according to

that will boost your ranking for voice

human assistant (something you can’t do

Forrester, the use of smart

search. With effective use of these

with keyword typing).

devices continues to grow and

strategies, you can increase the

will move in that direction as

chances of your content on the top

more brands expand their

of search results.

Voice-first interaction allows for handsfree control, multi-tasking and lets users give quick commands to the system with the use of effective natural language. The ability of your virtual personal assistant to

offerings. Currently, voice interaction is very much present at home and personal devices, but it is not a far-fetch idea to expect it in business and

learn and recall your search habit is a huge

commercial context in the near

advantage on convenience.

future.

In a nutshell, here are some strategies that will help your content reach the top positions.

1. Voice search queries are longer than text search. Think about longertail keywords when optimising your content.

2. Search queries are more natural and come in question format typically triggered by words such as who, how, what, where, why, when, etc. so it is best to use these words.

3. Make sure you aim to meet SEO best practices such as page speed, mobile compliance, content that answers questions or solves problems, use of natural language, website security (properly installed SSL certificates), site authority, etc.

4. Aim for the “featured snippet” spot to increase your chances of being the top result for voice search. Pages that become featured snippets use SEO strategies: writing topic-specific content, anticipating questions and answering it in-depth, optimising for longtail keywords, thinking of synonyms and trigger words, understanding the customer’s search intent, optimising content on pages specific to the customer’s buying journey, using conversational language, using headings, using unique title and description tags for each page, include keywords at the beginning of sentences or paragraphs, using keywords in the URL of the page.

5. Use a Schema Markup. It is an important component you can add to your site to help you rank in voice search. With Schema Markup on your site, Google automatically makes marked-up information searchable by voice assistants.

Of the above, the Schema Markup could be the least practised probably because of the code that comes with it. Schema tells search engines what the page is all about (details such as company contacts, business hours, products, etc.). By adding a schema markup, you make it clear to search engines what your site is all about. SEO specialists can now add schema markup without the expert coding skills through Google Tag Manager (GTM). This page tells you how.