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.