Voice search is on the rise.
Since the concept of voice search was introduced over ten years ago, speech recognition technology has made immense improvements. So, it’s no surprise that the global voice recognition market is expected to reach roughly $27 billion worldwide by 2025. The convenience of voice search is undeniable, and with good reason; people speak three times faster than they type.
Give your site an edge by optimizing for voice search.
With voice searches becoming more and more popular among consumers, it is an important emerging SEO factor to watch. The popular phrases, “Hey Siri,” “OK Google” and “Hey Alexa,” are changing how consumers get their information. Is your SEO strategy poised to take advantage of this? Below are some tips for getting the most out of the trend toward voice search.
Increase loading speed.
To capitalize on the voice search trend, it’s important to ensure your website is optimized for speed. This includes optimizing images for faster loading times. Voice search is available on a variety of devices users rely on every day: smartphones for on-the-go searches, smart speakers like Amazon Echo and Google Home for hands-free searching at home, and even car infotainment systems for safe and convenient searches while driving.
Understand device-search engine relationships.
It’s helpful to understand the relationship between voice search devices and search engine platforms. This information can be used by business owners and marketers to optimize their sites for voice search by targeting the right search engine, adapting content and keywords, considering device-specific features, optimizing for conversational queries, and leveraging voice search-specific tools. By understanding these factors, business owners can make informed decisions about their optimization strategies and improve their chances of ranking well in voice search results. Here's a breakdown of popular voice search devices and their corresponding search engines:
- Google Home: Google
- Google Assistant: Google
- Android phones and devices: Google
- Amazon Echo/Alexa: Bing
- Microsoft Cortana: Bing
- iPhone/Siri: Safari
Focus on user intent.
Around 50% of adults use voice search daily. As voice search has become more popular, search engines have become more adept at understanding the meaning of conversational queries. Google's Hummingbird and BERT algorithms, in particular, have focused on user intent. When optimizing for voice search, it's crucial to shift your focus from specific keywords to user intent. Instead of merely targeting exact keywords, aim to understand what the user is trying to achieve with their search query.
How Voice Search Targets User Intent
- Natural Language: Voice search often involves more conversational queries, which are less structured than traditional text-based searches. Understanding the underlying intent helps you provide more relevant and helpful results.
- Contextual Understanding: Voice search devices often consider the context of the search, such as the user's location, previous queries, or device settings.
- Conversational Flow: Voice search often involves multiple questions or requests within a single query. Understanding the overall intent allows you to address the user's needs in a more comprehensive manner.
Google's Hummingbird and BERT algorithms have significantly improved the search engine's ability to understand user intent. Hummingbird introduced a more semantic understanding of language, allowing Google to better grasp the context and meaning behind search queries. Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) is a more recent algorithm that can process language in a more natural way, allowing it to understand the context of words within a sentence.
Why User Intent Matters
In the world of SEO, understanding user intent is crucial for success. When users search for something, whether they use voice search or type it out, they have a specific goal in mind, and search engines like Google want to provide the most relevant and helpful results for those queries. By optimizing your content to match the needs and expectations of your target audience, you can improve your search engine rankings and drive more traffic to your site. Here are some key reasons understanding user intent is so important for SEO success.
- Matching user intent boosts relevance. When you understand the intent behind a user's search query, you can create content that is more relevant to their needs. For example, if a user is voice searching for "best running shoes," they likely want to hear a list of top-rated running shoes rather than hearing about the history of running shoes.
- Understanding user intent is important for choosing the right keywords to target. By identifying the keywords and phrases that align with your target audience's needs and interests, you can optimize your content to attract the right users to your site.
- User intent informs your content strategy. By understanding user intent, you can create a more effective content strategy that meets the needs of your target audience. For example, if you know that users are searching for how-to content related to your industry, you can create informative and instructional blog posts or videos that answer their questions and provide value. This type of content can help establish your brand as a thought leader in your industry, which can improve your search engine rankings and attract more users to your site.
For a deeper dive into user intent and voice search optimization, consider exploring Google's Search Central.
Use Schema markup.
Schema markup is a powerful tool for improving the visibility and accessibility of your website and can help you to attract more visitors and provide a better user experience. This is especially relevant for optimizing voice search results. The structured data that schema uses helps improve search engine visibility and accessibility, give richer search results, and increase click-through rates.
Optimizing your SEO for voice search means your website is more likely to show up when people ask questions using voice assistants. This can result in a surge in targeted traffic, driving users who are specifically interested in what you offer. While results may not be instant, these efforts lay a strong foundation for your overall SEO, making your website more discoverable in the long run.
