As the world of digital marketing constantly evolves, businesses need to adapt their strategies to stay ahead in the game. One of the latest SEO trends is the rapid rise of voice search. With more and more people using voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant to find information, optimizing your website for voice search has become increasingly important. In this post, we'll dive into some common voice search mistakes and how to avoid them.
Ignoring the Difference Between Text & Voice Search
Many businesses make common voice search mistakes that can negatively impact their visibility and user experience. The first step in avoiding these mistakes is understanding the difference between text-based searches and voice search. Voice search queries are usually longer, more conversational, and use natural language and question words. For example, instead of typing "best pizza places near me" into a search engine, someone might ask their voice assistant, "What are the best pizza places near me?"
Not Having a Voice Search-Friendly FAQ Page
To ensure that your website appears in the search results for these types of queries, it's super helpful to have a dedicated frequently asked questions (FAQ) page or knowledge base that answers common questions related to your business and industry. If you don't have a FAQ page or knowledge base, or if your current one is difficult to navigate and doesn’t get many page views, you could be missing out on valuable traffic from both voice search and regular typed-out questions. By creating a page that covers a range of common questions that are relevant to your industry, you can increase your chances of showing up in voice search results.
When creating an FAQ page for your website, research is your best friend. This can be as simple as analyzing top searches and getting customer feedback on what they think would be helpful to include. To optimize your FAQ page for voice search, ensure that the answers are concise, informative, and directly address the question. Once you've identified the most common questions, organize them in an easy-to-use way, and provide clear and concise answers that address customers’ questions. By creating a FAQ or knowledge base page that's well researched and user friendly, you not only provide a better user experience, but you can also improve your website's search rankings and boost your businesses’ SEO. For an added boost in this department, it’s also important for your business to be optimized in Google Maps, Apple Maps, and Yelp.
Using Technical Language or Industry Jargon
One of the most common mistakes businesses make in regard to voice search optimization is using language that is too scholarly or too technical, like industry jargon. Voice search is all about convenience. Customers want to be able to get the information they want faster, so businesses need to make sure their content is written in a way that makes sense to the average user.
Keep It Simple
Using simple, everyday words that most people wouldn’t have to look up in a dictionary is a great place to start. By using simple language, you can also make your web content easier for voice search algorithms to understand. In turn, they will be better able to appropriately provide that information in search results.
Using Only Short Keywords
Another frequent mistake businesses make in voice search optimization is that they only use short keywords. When people use voice search, they tend to ask questions that are longer and more complex than when they type them out. For example, someone might type "best sushi" into a search engine, but when using voice search, they might ask, "What are the best sushi places in my area?"
Incorporate Long-Tail Keywords
Long-tail keywords and questions tend to be more specific and more conversational in nature, which aligns with how the average person uses voice search. Also, voice search results often provide a single answer to the user's question rather than a list, so by switching up your keyword strategy to meet the needs of a voice searcher, you could increase the chances of your website being chosen.
Focus On What Your Customers Want to Know
If you want your content to show up in voice search results, it's important to optimize it based on what your customers tend to look for. To make sure your content works well for informational searches, you should give details about your products and services and make sure you have plenty of reviews and recommendations from other customers. For navigational searches, having a complete and up-to-date Google My Business profile is extremely beneficial as this can populate questions like “What time does Sushi Place open?” or “Is Sushi Place closed on Sundays?” For transactional searches, you need to make it clear how people can buy your products or services.
Not Tracking Results
If you don’t track the results of your SEO efforts, you won't be able to see which keywords are driving traffic to your website, which pages are performing well, or whether your SEO efforts are actually resulting in conversions. This can lead to wasted time and resources on strategies that aren't working. Tracking the results of your SEO efforts is important to ensure that your strategy is effective.
Use Analytics Tools
To increase your chances of voice search success, it's essential to measure and analyze your results. Using helpful tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console makes it easier to keep an eye on how you're doing and get insights on traffic, conversion, and even ROI. With optimized tracking, you will be able to switch up content that’s not performing well, making it easier to optimize campaigns. Proper measurement and analytics are also a great way for businesses to identify other areas that need improvement, which aren’t related to voice search optimization.
By following these tips to avoid common voice search mistakes, you can elevate your online marketing strategy and reach a larger audience. Remember, voice search is not just a fleeting trend; it’s the future of online search. By adapting your campaigns accordingly, you can stay ahead of the competition and further drive business growth. If you focus on creating a simple user experience, answering frequently asked questions, and considering what exactly it is that people are looking for when they search, you can improve your website’s visibility and make it easier for people to find what they need.
