Voice search is already taking the digital world by storm and is changing the way content is managed. According to pundits, more than half of all online searches in 2020 will be carried out by voice. As such, you can’t afford to have content that will not pull through voice searches.
With voice search growing in popularity each day, it helps to learn a few tips on how to optimize your content for voice search and stay ahead of the curve.
Create Question-Based Content
People use search to answer questions, so your content should also be based on questions. As such, you want your content to answer people’s questions directly and provide solutions to their problems. As you search for possible target keywords, put yourself in the consumer’s shoes. Think about the questions they’re likely to ask and even more importantly, how they might phrase the questions.
Craft these questions into headlines, subheadings and opening lines, and use them as guidelines to organize and structure your content.
Also, you want to craft a thorough FAQ page for your website as it raises the chances of ranking highly on search results when people make inquiries about your products or services.
Write in A Conversational Tone
The days of keyword stuffing and unnatural-sounding content aimed at pleasing search engines are long gone. Unfortunately, people still go down the keyword stuffing route. Not only does this put off readers but it attracts a Google penalty.
Write like a human would speak to another human by:
- Using natural language
- Creating posts that are easy to read and understand
- Include long tail keywords, which are critical for voice search optimization
Identify Long-Tail Search Queries
While text search may include two to four words, voice search is often longer and more conversational. To stay ahead of the curve, you should optimize your content by identifying long-tail queries that will drive voice traffic to your site.
Some of the ways to discover these voice queries include testing content with FAQs and new web titles and by analyzing customer phone calls to identify similar patterns. Your helpdesk staff or customer care representatives may be of great help here as they often deal with customers directly and know the exact phrases people use when calling your company.
Also, you can check out niche forums and social media platforms and listen in on how people ask product-related questions. Some of these strategies may be time-consuming, but they’re often worth the effort.
Mobile Optimization
Most voice search is done via mobile devices. Therefore, work towards making your content mobile-friendly. Some of the strategies you can employ to optimize for mobile include:
- Using short paragraphs comprising of short one to three sentence paragraphs
- Writing short headlines with about seven words or so. Shorter headlines are not cut off on smaller screens, which translates to higher click-through rates.
- Help readers get the most relevant content first by leading with the most critical points. It also pays to find keywords that will be more often used in voice search rather than type searching.
Optimize for Local SEO
According to research findings, a large percentage of voice search is local. And since many voice searches are conducted on mobile devices, they’re location-specific.
So how do you go about content that’s optimized both for voice and local:
- Craft your content to answer local questions specifically
- Use trending local stories to act as an anchor for your content
- Feature case studies about local businesses you’ve helped or worked with or projects in which you’ve participated.
- Guest post on local websites and blogs
There’s plenty more to voice search than mere convenience; it’s changing the way search engines handle queries, how we search for information and even general attitudes towards search engines.
