Speech-to-text technology is evolving at a scary pace. The algorithms and programs responsible for recognizing our voices and words that we utter into our smartphones’ microphones areconstantly changing and improving. Mobile devices have gotten a lot better at things like recognizing accents and figuring out what you are actually trying to say, even if you slur your speech or mumble certain phrases incoherently.
This is why digital marketing specialists all over the world have started focusing on crafting and implementing optimization strategies that would bring websites up to speed with the crushing pace at which voice search seems to be progressing. Those trends are universally recognized across the board. Regardless of whether you’re talking to an SEO consultant in Brisbane or a webmaster operating out of Paris, they are both probably going to tell you that within the next couple of years, businesses will scramble to quickly optimize their web pages for voice search, just like they scrambled when Google started punishing sites that were not mobile-friendly.
Voice recognition and speech-to-text tech are quite complicated, and the mechanisms behind it can easily escape the regular person’s grasp. However, when it comes to optimizing websites and adjusting them to the new reality where more and more people Google things by speaking directly to their phone instead of typing in their queries, the matter gets quite simpler and easier to comprehend.
If you believe that your web page could use some optimization in the voice search area, check out the simple tips listed below that will surely help you be more visible to the rapidly increasing amounts of people who are too busy to type their queries on a keyboard and resort to using their voice instead.
Approach Keyword Research Differently
When it comes to regular online searches carried out by people typing in words on a keyboard, they are more likely to sound dehumanized and robotic. Say that you’re looking for a good place to eat dinner tonight, for example. If you fire up your browser and decide to type your query, it’s probably going to sound like this: “best restaurants in <your town or district>. The search engine will return results that best match that robotic query, which won’t be that hard since most websites are more than well-optimized to pop up whenever these generic searches are carried out.
The case is quite different with the voice search. Research shows that when carrying out these types of searches, people tend to have a much more conversational tone and sentence structure in comparison to the queries that are typed out on a keyboard. When searching for restaurants via voice search, it might sound more like a question you would ask another person, rather than an internet inquiry, for example, “where is the best restaurant nearby.” The reason behind this is the fact that searching by voice is more organic and much closer to the way human beings organically communicate. It means that when posting new content with hopes of optimizing your site for voice search, you should focus on implementing question keywords, such as where, when, how, etc. Additionally, keep in mind not to overlook the more specific, long-tail keywords, as well as phrases such as nearby or near me.
Read: How to Google search from Linux terminal : Build your own search engine
In layman’s terms, the most revolutionary aspect of the emergence of voice search is the fact that it seems to be turning search queries from generic statements, such as “best coffee NYC,” to actual questions that might pop up in human-to-human conversations, like “where will I get the best coffee nearby.” It’s absolutely crucial to keep this trend in mind when revamping the content on your site.
Stay Near Your Customers
It should come as no surprise that people tend to use voice search mostly when looking for events and establishments that are located in their close vicinity. The answers to these queries are often called “near me” results, and, as mentioned above, they are one of the main things you should focus on when implementing SEO changes to your web page.
Credits : thinkwithgoogle
If you want to rank for these “near me” searches, you need to make sure that you’ve included all of the necessary information to allow people to find your business easily. The name of the establishment, its address, and a phone number are the most important, but you should also categorize your business accordingly, as well as include area codes. If applicable, include opening and closing hours as well. These are just the basics that most companies implement right at the start – they might not improve your rankings all that much, but they’ll at least put you on the map.
In order to continue optimizing for “near me” results, you should start focusing on local keywords. It is one of the best ways to climb up the rankings in your area. Organically including these words might prove to be a tough challenge, especially if your business does not have anything to do with the history or culture of its location, but when it comes to voice search, it is absolutely invaluable.
OK, Google, Rank Me Higher!
The tips mentioned above for voice search optimization are just the tip of the iceberg. You’ll find plenty of online resources that can provide you with other valuable advice, but in general, you should stick to modifying your site in order to adopt a more conversational, natural tone, as this seems to be the direction in which search engines are evolving.
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