Optimising your website for local voice search

Voice search is the wind of change that started as a small concept but now it has become one of the essential tools to use the internet. Initially, the concept of voice search began with smartphones and then quickly accelerated to smart speaker usage and voice assistants globally.

It has changed things significantly for website owners and marketers as voice search has entered mainstream internet searching, and traditionally written commands are losing their appeal. This is a rising trend that makes optimised websites for local voice search inevitable.

Why Optimise your Website For Voice Search?

Voice search is a technology that allows users to perform a search through voice command, and the usage of the voice search feature is growing faster. According to research, 111.8 million people in the US alone used voice search features in 2019, 9.5 per cent more than the previous year. This means that a third of the US total population comprises voice search users.

Data shows that public dependence on voice-activated personal assistants and search tools such as Siri, Cortana, Google Voice Search, Amazon Alexa, and Google Home has increased significantly and is constantly on the rise.

Not to forget, since searches tend to be locally focused, voice search optimisation is important and beneficial for local businesses. So, it’s mandatory to optimise a website for voice search. Here are the top 5 ways to optimise a website for voice search;

Voice Search Use Long-Tail Keywords

Right now, there’s no way to determine which query comes from voice or text-based search, but we know that typing a query on a desktop and searching with voice are two very different things. People usually ask a whole question in voice search instead of writing just a couple of keywords.
Therefore, it is essential to use long-tail keywords that are also locally targeted to make your website more voice search-friendly. Adding frequently asked questions is an excellent way to include long-tail keywords and optimise a website for voice search.

Improve With Voice Search Friendly Content

For voice search to bring maximum results, you must ensure that your content is conversational and easy-to-read for an automated voice clearly. Another factor to be added is that content needs to be relational for voice searchers. So, write short, scannable paragraphs with bold headers to break up your content.

Schema And Structured Formatting Usage

For your website to be featured and optimised, you need to make sure that you provide concise voice answers to the questions that voice search users are mostly questioning. For this, it is recommended to use schema and structured formatting. In fact, 36.4% of voice search results come from pages that use schema markup structured data.

Develop A Phone Friendly Website

Phone friendly and voice search optimisation go hand in hand as most people use the voice search features on mobile devices. So, the goal is simple; make your website phone-friendly. This also includes eliminating pop-ups that could obstruct the voice search feature from getting the information they need.

Claim Your Google ‘My Business’ Listing

Local voice search optimisation is incomplete with claiming and optimising your Google My Business listing. By doing so, you will provide Google with the necessary additional details about your business, including phone number, industry, business hours, address, and more.

Having your Google My Business Page up-to-date will enhance your website’s chances of showing up in the results when a related voice search is done.

Final Words

Voice search is quickly becoming a powerful new way to search for information and local businesses. Still, few websites are properly optimised to be discovered via voice search, so use the technique we have shared and optimise your website to put your business ahead of the curve and at an advantage against your competitors.