With nearly
40 million voice-first devices
in U.S. homes, it’s clear that voice search is on its way to ruling search engine optimization.
Thanks to Amazon’s Alexa, Google Home and Siri, asking a question is becoming easier than typing it out in a search engine. In fact,
Stanford University discovered
that speech recognition technology is three times faster than typing, and users are catching on. As a result, copywriting needs to be optimized to accommodate voice searches.
It’s imperative to take voice search into consideration while preparing content for your brand. But how is this done? How exactly can you ensure your content meets voice search requirements?
At my company, after we introduced our daily roundups and blog posts, there was a time when we stagnated and couldn’t figure out a way to make them stand out in search result rankings. Recently, by switching to a Q&A writing approach, we have been able to make our content more relevant for users who are looking for solutions to their problems online. For example, a voice search-friendly title such as “What’s the best smart home security camera?” can rank higher in voice search results.
Based on my experience, here are several ways to optimize your content with voice search in mind:
Create question-and-answer-based content.
In order to rank higher in Google search results for specific voice-search queries, make sure your content follows a question-answer approach and includes a variety of long-tail keywords. As mentioned above, a question-answer approach in writing is about turning your content into a direct solution for a specific problem.
For example, if you’re writing about the best Alexa-enabled devices, a simple change in title can actually make your content more voice search friendly. All you need to do is turn it into a question, such as “What are the latest Alexa-enabled devices of 2019?”
Within the content of the article, use a similar approach for subheadings. The key is making sure to directly answer the question in the post.
Use a conversational tone.
Keyword stuffing is no longer a good way to optimize your content for SEO. Instead, using natural language or long-tail keywords can help you rank higher thanks to easily readable posts. Concentrate on keyword prominence. If you’re writing your article on a specific keyword, you need to make sure your keyword is prominently visible in the:
• Article headline and page title
• URL slug
• First paragraph of the article
• Article subheadings
To keep the article more conversational, use words and phrases that are more colloquial such as “at the same time” instead of “simultaneously.” The goal of creating voice search-friendly content is to align with the spoken word. When writing, imagine that you are speaking the content out loud. This will help you to produce a more conversational flow. Also, be careful not to use the keyword too often.
Prioritize mobile-friendly content.
More and more consumers are using voice search on their mobile devices. That means it’s imperative to make your content mobile-friendly by taking the smaller screen into consideration. Try to use:
• Shorter headlines (less than seven words)
• One- to three-sentence paragraphs
• Smart formatting with more subheadings, bullets, etc.
This will help your audience digest your content faster even when they’re on the go.
Cater to local SEO.
Did you know that 82% of mobile searchers are looking for local “near me” solutions? If you want to cater to a local audience, provide specific answers to local questions. For example, you could have a local audience-centric FAQ section to optimize voice search-enabled content.
Create snippet-rich content.
Featured snippets are those that are selected for the boxed search results that rank on top in Google organic search. To increase your chances of attaining this coveted spot, and to rank higher in general, space your content into snippets and include more lists, paragraphs and bullets.
For example, if you’re writing a research article of over 2,000 words, make sure the content has enough paragraphs (at least six to seven), with subheadings describing the different themes of each paragraph. If you’re discussing tips and tactics, turn your piece into a list to make it easily comprehensible for both search engines and readers.
Leverage long-tail keywords.
Voice search queries are typically longer than their text counterparts. For this reason, utilize long-tail keywords in your content. Tools such as Google Auto Complete or Serpstat can help you find the correct keywords.
For example, if you’re writing about the best smart home technology released in 2019 so far, your article would be more voice-search friendly if you use a long-tail keyword such as “best smart home automation technology of 2019” instead of keeping it simple with “smart home technology.” This will help your article rank higher under the specific long-tail keyword, while still having prominence with the relevant shorter keywords.
It’s always tricky staying on top of the changes in the SEO landscape, and voice search is no exception. The best way to stay on track is to continue to think of questions that your product can answer and adjust your content accordingly. With more and more voice-search friendly devices entering the market, it’s high time we molded our content to accommodate it.