More and more people are using voice searches through Siri, Alexa, Cortana and Google Assistant every day. Many adults say that they use voice search at least once a day. What may be surprising for most people to learn is that voice search queries are conducted differently than queries typed into a search bar.
Voice-based services use a slightly different set of data points to test the relevance and accuracy of the websites they turn up. If you haven’t optimized your site for voice search, you could be missing out on up to a third of potential searches in your area.
Context and Location Clues
One of the biggest differences between typed searches and voice searches is the prioritization of location and context clues. Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant take user location into account when trying to locate nearby businesses.
In addition, if users are searching for a specific product or service, or even discussing that product with their friends through a messenger, they can make a voice search such as “Get me directions to Starbucks” and the search agent will know where they are and which Starbucks at which they agreed to meet.
Your website needs to be optimized for these clues with step-by-step directions and maps that the voice search can identify and read back. This also means focusing in on long-tail keywords that boost your accuracy and relevancy.
Conversational Phrasing
The fact of the matter is that people do not speak to their devices the way they type on them. All of the major voice recognition programs have been optimized to understand colloquialisms and conversational phrasing. As a result, they aim to provide quick, concise conversational answers back to their users.
Sites that are full of engineering-level language do not translate well into automated responses, so they are often left out of the search results in favor of more easily understood content.
Quick Answers
Another big change is that many people use voice searches to answer who, what, when, where, why, and how questions as opposed to searching for concepts or doing research. When they use a voice search to ask a straightforward question using the “5Ws” they expect a precise response.
Adding an FAQ page to your site is a great way to show up in a voice search because you can take on common questions one by one in a format that the search engine will instantly recognize.
V Digital Services
These are just three of the ways that SEO is changing with the help of voice search technology. Now that voice recognition is getting more accurate, consumers are more and more likely to use these tools in their home and on the go to find local businesses and learn about products and services in their area.
V Digital Services can help you optimize your site for voice search today by creating great content that is easily searchable. Contact us today to learn more about SEO for voice searches.
Alexa, Cortana, Google Assistant, Siri, Voice Search
This article was very informative. I got a vast idea about the voice search service in SEO. Thank you so much for sharing it.