The Rise of voice search and its impact on SEO

With voice assistants like Alexa and Siri, people get used to voice searches. This normalisation is now becoming a trend, with more and more people shifting to this method.

The reason for this shift is obvious. Searching using voice is convenient and also comparatively easier than typing-based methods.

This tendency is no longer confined to fields like home assistance. Almost everywhere, where it requires search, voice has become a method.  Whether it is Google searches, YouTube searches, or even any e-commerce website, people usually opt for the voice search feature.

Google says it noticed 20% of searches in the Google App are now done by voice and 27% of the global online population is using voice search on mobile.  As the search pattern changes, so does the pattern of search results. Those websites focusing on voice search optimisation are getting equal weightage, impacting overall SEO rankings.

In this article, let us understand what SEO factors can help you deal with the changing scenario and what SEO strategies for voice search optimisation can work to stay in the competition.

Impact of Voice Search on SEO

Voice searches have changed not only the way people search but also the way they optimise websites. While these strategies are not alien to SEO marketing and are somehow inherent to known SEO practices, knowing which of them are meant for voice searches is still important.

So, let us see what are these impacts and what strategies can help.

Increased use of conversational queries

The foremost impact of voice search on SEO is that it has made queries more conversational. Because typing long queries wasn’t convenient enough, speaking any long-phrase quickly now seems easy and fun.

For example, if we had to search for a website design company online out of laziness, we would probably have chosen to type “website design process.”

This was simply a keywords-based search, not conversational.

With the convenience of voice search, it is now possible to conduct even detailed research. Like now, most of the queries are “Which is the best website design company in the UK?” or Which qualities should I look for in a web design company and so on.

The best part is that this conversation usually remains two-way, thanks to Google Voice Assistant, which usually answers the same questions concisely and precisely, making voice search even more convenient.

Now, it is obvious that if the search pattern changes, the optimization method has to adapt.

So, the strategy to deal with this is using long-tail keywords, as obvious: they are conversational.

Simply, during the keyword research process , the tip is to search for phrases that are long tail, sound conversational like what, why, where, and how, and show natural language tendency

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Importance of Featured Snippet 

Google introduced featured snippets to its SERPs in 2014. Featured snippets are results that appear in the 0 positions, i.e., even above those blue links organic results. They are simple, concise, and precise answers extracted from indexed pages in response to the question.

Now, as they are straightforward answers directly addressing the question, they tend to be conversational and natural, and because of this, when a question meant for understanding is asked on Google, it usually places this featured snippet in response.

This has increased the importance of optimizing web pages for featured snippets. When there is no standard procedure that guarantees zero position, paying attention to clear and hierarchal structure and concise and precise answers that sound conversational can help appear in snippets.

Local SEO

If you have ever searched for local things online, you would probably agree that you must have spoken that in a more conversational way, like “best pizza shop near me,” instead of simply saying pizza.

The same goes for other queries, such as asking for suggestions on the best hotels in London or where I can find local SEO services.

Local SEO is a local pack of answers that make any local business appear at the very top of Google with basic information like name, website, contact number, address, website, etc.

Voice searches have given a boost to the local sea, and that is why opting for it is extremely important.

FAQs based content

Again, as voice queries are addressed directly, it has impacted SEO. Now, developing content in the form of simple and easy frequently asked questions is used as an effective strategy as they sound more natural and conversational.

Wrap up

Voice searches have been rising for the last few years, and it seems there is no going back of this trend. This scenario is a game changer and enough to convince you that optimising a website for voice website is not an option anymore but a must. So, if you have neglected its importance so far, it’s high time you recognised it as a crucial element for SEO purposes.

You can approach an SEO consultant to discuss the best strategies to optimise your website for voice search and take advantage of this growing trend. You can also talk to our SEO experts about this. You call us on 020 374 52786 to discuss