As announced by Google CEO Sundar Pichai during his Google I/O keynote, 20% of search queries on its mobile app and on Android devices are voice searches. With the advent of personal assistant apps like Siri, Google Now, and Cortana, it is now a lot easier than before for smartphone users to perform voice search and get accurate answers to their queries.
Let’s First Understand The Difference Between Voice Search and Text Search
The underlying difference between voice search and text search is the accuracy of the results that gets delivered to the person entering the search query. A voice search takes the guesswork out of searching as the search intent is quite clear from the user and as a result the search engine presents the most accurate results. So instead of getting several unrelated links in response to a text-based search, the user will get the most relevant responses in reply to the query.
It is anticipated that and also as stated by Mary Meeker, by the year 2020, voice and image searches are likely to contribute about 50% of all the searches.
What Is In Store For SEOs?
With the rapid shift in the search behaviour of users, it is in the best interest of websites and SEOs to adapt to this seismic shift as early as possible. This is important to lead the search in the upcoming years.
Voice Search Optimization Tips
1. Consider Micro-Moments
Efforts towards Voice Search Optimization will have to revolve around the micro-moments around which an online user typically tends to execute a search query. Following are four new micro moments that every marketer must know.
Source: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com
2. Add a FAQ Page
If you haven’t already, then you must add FAQs on your website to address common questions your target audience might have.
Online searches can be broadly categorized into the following three types:
* Navigational – These are search queries through which a user can navigate to a specific website.
* Informational – A query will be dubbed as informational when a user is requesting for specific information.
* Transactional – Any query that leads to specific actions such as ticket booking or completing an online payment.
By addressing the What, Where, When, Why, and How in your FAQs around these three search types can help you serve the most accurate information for someone using voice search for PC or through a voice search app.
3. Incorporate Longtail Keywords
As is human nature, people tend to enquire in full sentences. With the fact that voice searches are centered around natural language, the queries posed to search engines are anticipated to be long tail queries or in phrases. So it will be a smart move to focus on long tail keywords to produce relevant results for voice searches.
4. Use Microdata to Optimize for Local SEO
Voice-based search queries are coming across as a boon for businesses that rely on local search traffic. Over half of U.S. teens and 41% of U.S. adults are using voice search daily as per Northstar Research. Another fact is that large number of voice searches are around navigational queries such as finding nearby/local businesses. It is therefore important to structure your content to address this rise in local search queries.
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