Voice Search Optimisation
Back in 2015 Sundar Pichai of Google predicted that by 2020 searches made by voice – questions asked to a smart device – would make up 50% of voice search. Whilst we are almost certain this isn’t the case (and are waiting on Google to release updated figures!) we know that in 2018 20% of searches were made by voice. This, plus the increasing ubiquity of smart speakers, means voice is an inevitable area SEOs should be adapting to.
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Where are People Searching Using Voice?
One of the biggest reasons voice search is on the rise is due to the availability of Google on various smart devices. Currently these include popular devices such as Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant (built into popular Android phones), Siri (built into iPhone), Google Home and now many headphones from brands such as Sony. This makes it ever more important to work with an SEO agency who understands the changing nature of search and how to adapt to it.
What are the Foundations of Voice Search?
At Yellowball, we create content that is naturally ready for voice search. As with many SEO practices, we’ve been doing this for a long time, because it’s really about building on things that are just done ‘properly’. We operate based on creating value for our customers, their users, and ultimately those looking for the right answers.
Creating voice search optimised SEO campaigns
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Although we’re not about to reveal all our secrets here, we’ll cover the basics so you know what should be going into your SEO campaigns to cater for voice search.
Focus on Longer Tail Keywords
Voice changes the way people search. Using voice means searches are naturally more conversational in the way they interact with their computers. This means as SEOs we must adapt to these changes within our keyword research. At Yellowball we ensure that long tail keyword research is not ignored, and cater for more questions in our content creation.
Write content in a natural, conversational tone
Closely related to the previous point on long tail keywords, we are always aiming to write our content in a more natural style. Of course, we must take into account our client’s brand tone of voice first and foremost, however using a more conversational tone can lead to producing content which inherently answers questions.
Provide Concise Answers
At the same time as producing more conversational content, there are many benefits to providing search engines with a quick and concise answer to a question. These more often lead to rich snippets and are the visuals that get presented back to users on device screens such as the Amazon Echo Show, or read back to the user on Google Assistant. Usually we will integrate schema data with these answers too.
Focus on Semantic Content
Search engines are getting better and better at understanding semantics, so our writing should reflect this. This is a case of putting everything into context, creating articles and page content that offers value outside of a single subject, ensuring we have semantic links between subjects and writing.
User Intent
Our search offering drives all of our marketing strategy, and due to the nature of our strategic approach to working closely with every aspect of a client’s marketing, we naturally provide attribution modelling as a result. This allows us to target user intent at different stages of the buying process, therefore our content aims to take into account the intent of searches too. For example, we wouldn’t create content filled with sales style copy if the searches were at the information seeking stage, looking to get their questions answered.
Integrate Structured Data
Voice changes the way people get their information from search engines, and as SEOs we need to provide direction for the search engine from a technical point of view also. This can be done with structured data which takes many forms. A great way to produce content that is pulled through to search results is by creating FAQ markup, allowing us to have a good mix of long form content whilst also providing direction for search engines in the way of answering direct questions.
