Are you looking for ways to drive more traffic to your website and maximize its visibility? Well, the answer is simple. Adjust your SEO strategy to embrace challenges brought by voice search. Over the past few years, we have seen an increase in devices accessing digital content with just one command such as Siri or Alexa.

This trend has grown exponentially thanks to modern advances in artificial intelligence providing users with a much more efficient way of searching online. That’s why optimizing your website with this latest technology is critical to get more organic traffic.

Voice search SEO is not new but is quickly becoming a major player in the online search game. Now let’s take a closer look at how to optimize the website for voice-enabled search to keep it on the top spots of SERPs.

Best Practices For Voice Search Optimization

When it comes to voice search optimization, there are a few steps that you should take to ensure that your content is optimized and visible in search results. Following are some of the tips for voice search optimization:

Understand Your Audience

The first step is understanding who you are targeting. Users have different needs and interests, so it’s important to know who you are trying to reach before optimizing your website.

This will help you create content that appeals to the right people. Furthermore, understanding your audience will give you an idea of what keywords they will likely use when speaking on their device.

Use Long-Tail Keywords

Before optimizing for voice search, it’s important to consider how people are asking to search for keywords. Most people search for long-tail. Because they are more detailed phrases that tend to be more specific than single generic words or short phrases. These keywords often contain 5 or more words.

For example, if you’re selling shoes online, targeting a short phrase like “shoes” won’t be as effective as including a long–tail keyword like “mens running shoes size 8.5 blue with red laces.”

Long-tail keywords are often used by potential customers who already have a good idea about what they want. It can allow companies to use their content as solutions for shoppers looking for something specifically tailored toward them.

These queries tend to be less competitive. This means optimizing for long-tail keywords can be a great tactic to boost your visibility in voice searches.

You can use long tail keywords in headings (like h2 or h3). There are many keyword research tools that can help you in finding the right keywords for your website. But you also find these keywords using Google. Just search your query and scroll down to related searches.

Target Question Keywords

Utilizing target question keywords is very important. Long-tail phrases that ask specific questions are typically part of it. The typical questions audiences ask to begin with:

• Who
• Why
• How
• Where
• What
• When

You must ensure your content intentionally provides answers to these types of inquiries. You can simply do it by covering different FAQs in H3 heading which will help you to rank in audio-specific content results. You can also use schema for FAQs, which is the best way to answer your users’ questions.

Use NLP Content

Using conversational language in your content can profoundly impact how your audience absorbs your message. For instance, if you use using friendly tone in your writing it can give readers confidence and familiarity with your brand.

This will make it more likely for them to stay engaged with you and remember the information you provided more easily. Write content in a way like you are talking with your reader.

You can use conversational words like (I, You, We, Us, Our) in your content to make it more friendly. This way readers will feel like they are part of the conversation.

And when expressing complex ideas or addressing difficult topics, including conversational language can help simplify things for readers. Whether it’s a blog, an email, or even a press release, creating content that speaks to readers in a friendly, informal tone is the best way to engage and connect with them.

Prioritize Local SEO

Local SEO plays a very important role in this optimization technique. This is because most people use audio queries to get specific information about nearby locations or businesses.

Optimizing your GBP (Google Business Profile) listing can significantly improve your website visibility in local audio search results. Make sure to include relevant information on the GBP page such as an address, contact details, opening hours, etc. You should also claim and optimize your local listings on other websites like Yelp, Mapquest, CitySearch and more.

For example, if someone searches for ‘Italian restaurant near me’, Google will show them the list of local Italian restaurants nearby as you can see in the image below.

If you have properly optimized your GMB listing you can come up in the list and get more leads. Which can result in increased sales.

Use Schema Markup

Schema markup typically includes key information about your business including hours, address, contact info, pricing info, reviews, and more. It allows search engines to recognize and better understand the source of information on a given page.

There are many schema markup types, and every type serves its purpose. Following are a few examples that can be used to improve your website visibility.

• Organization Markup: Use this markup to help search engines understand your business and its contact information.
• FAQ Page Markup: As this technology improves, more people are using questions to find answers quickly. This markup can answer questions and provide quick solutions to users.
• Local Business Markup: This markup helps web crawlers better understand the location of your business, which is especially important in these queries.
• Person: If you have a personal website or are an influencer, you can use this markup to let the web crawlers know who is behind the content.
• Reviews: This schema helps boost your website visibility in audio searches by providing customers with additional information about your products and services.

Using schema markup can result in increased online visibility, improved click-through rates, and ultimately elevated rankings. Something that I’m sure all webmasters strive for. Research shows that schema implementation can give pages more of an edge in terms of SEO and increase user engagement.

Now it does not help the user but it helps the crawler to understand your content in a better way. Which as a result can help you to rank higher in audio-specific content. And the best part is you don’t have to do manual coding or anything like that. You can use a plugin in WordPress to add schema markup with ease.

Improve Website Load Time

According to research, voice search results in load 52% faster than the average webpage. Now page speed is also a ranking factor in organic search. But with audio searches, it’s even more important since slow loading webpages can greatly reduce the chances of appearing in voice search results. So make sure to optimize website speed as much as possible.

You can use the Google PageSpeed Insights tool to identify and fix any issues causing your website to load slower than average. And if you are using WordPress, then there are many plugins available that can help you to improve your website speed.

Optimize for Mobile ‌

There were over 7.26 billion mobile users in 2022 and this number will only increase over time. And more than 50% of voice-enabled searchs are done on mobile devices. Also, Google gives a higher ranking to sites optimized for mobile devices in voice search.

So make sure your website is optimized for mobile devices and loads quickly on desktop and mobile devices. You can use the Google Mobile-Friendly Test tool to check whether your website passes the test. Which can help you to improve rankings in voice search results.

Get Your Business on SERPs

Optimizing your website for audio-specific content isn’t difficult once you know what steps you need to take. If you want to ensure that your site stays ahead of the curve, then now is the time to optimize it and 10x growth.

By following the above strategies, you can make your website much more visible in audio-specific content results. So what are you waiting for? Get started now and get your business on the SERPs.