Voice Search SEO

Introduction

Voice search is becoming increasingly prevalent as the years tick on. With the release of Google Home and Amazon Echo, many people are now using voice search on a daily basis. This trend is likely to continue as the technology improves and becomes more affordable.

This means that as SEOs, we need to start optimising our content for voice search. Google has released some guidelines on how to do this, which we'll go over in this article.

What is voice search?

Voice search is a technology that allows a user to perform a search by speaking into a microphone instead of typing. The user can say a command or ask a question and the technology will interpret their speech into text and use that text to perform a search.

Voice search is useful because it's faster than typing and can be done while the user is doing other things, such as driving or cooking. It's also useful for people with disabilities who may have difficulty typing.

What are the benefits of optimising for voice search?

There are many benefits to optimising for voice search. The first is that it will make your content more accessible to people with disabilities. The second is that it will make your content more accessible to people who are busy or who don’t have time to type out a long query.

The third benefit is that it will make your content more likely to be featured in voice search results. This is because Google's algorithms are designed to favour content that is optimised for voice search.

What are the guidelines for optimising content for voice search?

Google has released some guidelines on how to optimise content for voice search. These guidelines are:

Use natural language
Use short, concise sentences
Use keywords that are likely to be spoken
Use structured data
Use a fast website

These guidelines are designed to help you create content that is more likely to be featured in voice search results. Let's take a closer look at each one.

Use natural language

One of the best ways to optimise your content for voice search is to use natural language. This means using the same language that you would use if you were speaking to someone in person. For example, if you're writing about how to make a cake, you would use phrases like “how to make a cake” or “cake recipe”. You wouldn't use phrases like “baking a cake” or “cake making”.

Use short, concise sentences

Another way to optimise your content for voice search is to use short, concise sentences. This is because people are more likely to speak in short, concise sentences than they are to type out long, convoluted queries. For example, if you're writing about how to make a cake, you would use a sentence like “This is a recipe for a chocolate cake.” You wouldn’t use a sentence like “This chocolate cake recipe is perfect for any occasion.”

Use keywords that are likely to be spoken

Another way to optimise your content for voice search is to use keywords that are likely to be spoken. This means using keywords that are commonly used in speech. For example, if you're writing about how to make a cake, you would use keywords like “cake recipe” or “chocolate cake recipe”. You wouldn't use keywords like “baking a cake” or “cake making”.

Use structured data

Another way to optimise your content for voice search is to use structured data. This is data that is formatted in a way that makes it easy for computers to read and understand. For example, if you're writing about how to make a cake, you would use structured data like this:

//Recipe
<div>
    <h1>Chocolate Cake</h2> //Title
    <ul> //ingredients
      <li>1 cup flour</li>
      <li>1 cup sugar</li>
      <li>3 tablespoons cocoa powder</li>
      <li>1 teaspoon baking powder</li>
      <li>1/2 teaspoon baking soda</li>
      <li>1/2 teaspoon salt</li>
      <li>1/2 cup butter</li>
      <li>2 eggs</li>
      <li>1/2 cup milk</li>
    </ul>
    <ol> //Steps
      <li>
        Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour one 9x13
        inch baking pan.
      </li>
      <li>
        Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and
        salt.
      </li>
      <li>In a large bowl, cream together the butter and eggs.</li>
      <li>
        Alternately add the dry ingredients and milk to the creamed mixture.
      </li>
      <li>Pour batter into prepared pan.</li>
      <li>Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes.</li>
    </ol>
</div>
html

Use a fast website

The final way to optimise your content for voice search is to use a fast website. This is because Google's algorithms are designed to favour websites that load quickly. So, if you want your content to be featured in voice search results, you need to make sure your website loads quickly.

Conclusion

Voice search is becoming increasingly prevalent and as SEOs, we need to start optimising our content for voice search.