Remember the first time you used a voice-activated assistant? It felt like we were finally living in the future ( minus the flying cars ). Today, it’s not unusual for people to talk to their favorite voice companion to find out about the weather or today’s biggest news topic. Siri, Alexa and even Cortana, these are the most common household voice assistants.

50% of all searches will be voice by 2020

Source: Comscore

Which brings me to Voice SEO. It’s currently trending in 2020 and besides the fact that it’s convenient, it’s also quite effective within the digital marketing world. Let’s see what this is all about!

Typed vs Voice Search

So how much of a difference is there really between the two? Do the method in which we look for the answers to our questions really have an impact on a grander scale? Sure it does, and here’s what we know.

The way we do it

Data shows that when we use our voice assistants to search, it creates new search keywords that are far more conversational than traditional typed keywords. This is important to note because it means it has a direct effect on on-page optimization.

More than half of all smartphone users are engaging with voice search technology in 2020

Source: theedigital

An example being, normally you would type “closest restaurant” but using voice you’d be more likely to say something like “where is the closest restaurant near me?”. This right away triggers different keywords to be used. Why does this matter? Your voice search is directly analyzed by Google’s RankBrain language-learning AI.

When your search is being analyzed by this fancy new tech, it’s using four categories to do so.

• Informational (know)
• Navigational (go)
• Actional (do)
• Transactional (buy)

It’s an intuitive experience and it’s central to the voice assistant search technology.

Optimize for Voice Search

The impact of voice search is having on the digital world is impressive. Let’s see how you can optimize your content to this latest marketing trend.

By 2020, 50% of all search queries will be voice searches

Source: ComScore

Voice Keywords

Ultimately this means you’ll have to reinvent your keyword strategy as well. Spoken language is usually longer which means as a marketing expert, you’ll need to adjust. The takeaway is that once the keywords themselves become longer, there’s a higher chance of conversion ( Find out more: 7 ways to Use Video to Increase Conversion Rates).

Who, when, which, where and how

Without a doubt, question words dominate voice searches. This is why today’s marketers need to ensure that their content can deliver relevant answers to the search queries. And more importantly, to be able to tell the difference between simple questions and ones that require more precise answers.

Adapt to the Voice era

As mentioned above, it’d be wise to optimize your content to voice searches. But apart from keyword optimization it’d also be a good idea to fix up other aspects of your content as well!

Snippets

I’m talking about the summary answers from your favorite web pages that are used in position zero. The key here is to make content easier for Google to read by using bullet points and H-Tags!

99.58% of featured snippets already rank in positions 1 through 10 on Google

Source: Ahrefs

Be scannable!

Since most people these days are using their phones to search, make sure it’s optimized for that very platform! Easily readable content is a godsend and overwhelming your viewers with ads in every window will only discourage them to stay on your website. Be straight to the point but also precise.

Understand how it works…

It’s one thing to know that this technology is playing a fundamental part of reinventing SEO ( check out also: SEO tips to make your Video Content stand out) in the digital world. It’s another to know how users are using voice search. Understanding how your future customers and current website visitors interact with this technology will play a huge role in the way you optimize your content from here on out.

HTTPS websites account for 70.4% of voice search result pages

Source: Backlinko

As the world evolves, with that its technology, digital marketers play a key role in implementing the latest strategies to keep up with the competition.

Frequently Asked Question Pages

Apart from the fact that you should be structuring your sitemaps around voice SEO, building an informative and practical FAQ page is a must. These days, businesses have a single FAQ page that offers questions regarding return policies and more common customer service questions. That’s all fine and dandy but if you really want to drive traffic ( and you do ), building FAQ pages around big volume keywords is important.

and don’t forget…

Besides just the FAQ pages, why not adding questions to each of your products on your landing page? You’ll get a chance to include long-tail keywords.

bonus…Video!

If some of the questions you’re answering are longer than the recommended 150 words, why not use Video? It’s effective and it plays a vital role in today’s digital marketing strategy ( See: Video in 2020). Video without a doubt has become a medium that no businesses should take for granted.

By 2020, the number of videos crossing the Internet per second will approach 1 million

Source: Social Media Week

And no, video content doesn’t have to be expensive or time consuming. Videommerce is a platform that allows for the creation of stunning and professional looking videos, without getting in the way of your business. Meaning, it’s intuitive and it comes packaged with tools that’ll help get your message across. It’s completely free to start and well…you’ve got all the reasons to start integrating it into your marketing strategy.

Google My Business Listing

This is just a little tip for local businesses looking to get a head start using voice search. Customers are always on the lookout for places to visit, using voice search of course. The thing is, whenever they use the feature, Google will use its technology to use their current location and look at Google My Business listings to answer the customers questions.

So if your business isn’t claimed, you’re missing out on valuable traffic here.

Before you list your business make sure that all of your contact information is up to date. Include valuable business information such as hours and directions. And referring back to the impact keywords have, add a proper 350-400 word description in your listing, include your most effective keywords.

Conclusion

Voice Search brings with it new obstacles to conquer, while at the same time providing exciting opportunities for businesses of all sizes to take part in. You’ve got the knowledge to optimize your content towards this effective digital marketing strategy, and you’ve also got the tools to help you in other aspects too! ( Video)

As technology advances and Google enhances it’s voice search algorithm, it’ll be up to you to adapt to the changing landscape and employ new voice SEO tactics that’ll get your business into a new level of success.