Give your search strategy a voice with these two "do now" tips

With the majority of searches now conducted on a mobile device, and the popularity of voice search rising, businesses must optimize their websites for voice search in the lead-up to the 2017 bargain-hunting and festive season. If you do nothing else, do the following two things.

by Helen Leggatt

VoiceLabs predicts that during 2017, 24.5 million voice-first devices will be shipped globally, up from 6.5 million devices last year. For marketers, that means an awful lot more people using voice to search.

Voice searches differ significantly from typed searches. Perhaps most importantly, voice searches are phrased in a natural, conversational style rather than the shorter, direct typed search. Voice searches also tend to be longer, using entire sentences/questions rather than select keywords. According to Google, 20% of mobile searches are currently conducted by voice, and 30% seek results "nearby" or have local intent.

The proliferation of voice search, and the key differences to typed search, make it necessary for businesses to revisit their SEO strategies now, before Black Friday and the festive season creeps up.

Tip #1

Get Conversational

Websites must be optimized for keyword phrases that simulate how consumers might ask questions about your product or service. Customer-facing employees are a good source for finding out what consumers are asking, as are social media channels and email. Add conversational words and phrases to your keywords and create website content that emphasizes those longer, conversational search terms.

Of courses, it's not always possible to create engaging content when constrained by longtail keyword and phrase requirements. To this end, the ideal way to capture voice search attention is to create a beefy FAQ section, or update a current one.

Tip #2

Maximize FAQ pages

For the most part, voice searchers are asking a question - how? when? where? - and where better place to place such queries but on a FAQ page. Here you can create content that contains both the anticipated questions, and the answers. Once again, ensure both the questions and answers are written in a conversational style.

Bonus Tip: If you have not already, ensure you have claimed and optimized your Google My Business Listing.