Today, we start with information that must be taken into account:
Before long, most Google searches will be done orally.
Indeed, you can already see the change. You certainly use it yourself: you are in a car and you need to find a parking space quickly. What are you doing? You lower the window, as before, and ask the first passerby?
No. You ask the question on your mobile. And your mobile tells you where to park. Nothing's easier!
And that's not all.
The proliferation of voice searches leads to changes in relation to the SEO of your site, changes that you must know to take advantage of them. This is why, in this article, we will explain to you:
- what voice search is (and how it relates to SEO).
- how to use them in your favor in order to attract more organic traffic.
Take good notes;)
👉 ¿What are voice searches on Google?
Let's start at the beginning.
Since you know Google, you use it to do your research by typing a few words in the browser bar, right?
From there, Google tracks the results it considers most relevant to your search and presents them to you.
We all know about this process.
Voice searches are essentially similar to traditional searches. Only the method you use to communicate with the search engine and make it understand what you want differs.
Voice search is a technology that allows us to search the Internet by asking a question orally on our smartphone, tablet, laptop or smart speaker.
To communicate, we need a virtual assistant. Today, the majority of devices are equipped with it. Here are the main ones:
- Siri: the first virtual assistant installed on a smartphone (Apple), presented in 2011. There were already assistants for simple tasks like voice dialing or transcription. Siri went further, responding to complex requests.
- Cortana: this is Microsoft's bet in terms of voice assistants, but it seems to be lagging behind, withdrawing from Android and iOS, even if it remains on Windows 10.
- Google Assistant: it is the assistant available on any of the Android smartphones and Google Home (smart speakers) that you can install at home to automate household tasks, among others.
- Alexa: Amazon has entered the virtual assistant race with vigor and it seems to be taking the lead with Alexa and its Echo smart speakers.
Voice research is becoming more and more part of our habits. The way we communicate with our devices and access information is changing (and will continue to change).
✅ Why is it important to understand and exploit this change?
Because a few years ago, talking about speech recognition technologies might have seemed futuristic, but today they are assimilated and should experience rapid development in the coming years.
Here are some figures to explain it to you. In the first four months of 2019, 42% of Internet users have used voice search at least once.
Almost half.
And 32% did it via their smartphone, which is by far the most used device. Why? Because it is a way of searching:
- simple,
- convenient,
- fast,
- effective.
Voice searches are increasing exponentially year after year. This is a trend to watch closely as it will change users' search habits.
👉 Why include voice searches in your SEO strategy?
As we told you, voice searches are increasing day by day.
It is estimated that they will soon account for half of the total Internet searches. And you cannot stay on the sidelines. Because even if you've been looking for a while to optimize your site for SEO, voice searches work quite differently.
Take a look at this example:
When you search on the search engine, Google shows you on the first page the 10 most relevant results.
Your SEO objective is to position your keyword in order to be on this podium of ten winners. The higher you are positioned, the better. In any case, being among these organic results is a good result and offers you the possibility of increasing traffic.
But, what happens with voice searches? Imagine that you are doing research by walking or driving.
You cannot stop to analyze these ten results. The wizard simplifies your task: it only gives you one.
One.
You understand?
There is only one winner. The others lose. The rules of the game are greatly changed. We must aspire to become this winner and to do this, it is necessary to adapt the SEO strategy.
✅ What are Featured Snippets or zero position?
Google, in addition to organic results, gives the main result.
It is the one which, according to him, best corresponds to the research intention of the user. He also offers him first place. This is the Featured Snippet.
By appearing first and above all the others (without moving them, that is why it is also called "the zero position"), it wins the price: it monopolizes the clicks.
This is the result that the voice assistant offers you.
Have you understood how Google is moving towards choosing a single result?
You will wonder what it takes to get this privilege and win all the clicks, but that's another matter. The important thing is that at this level you understand that you have to adapt your SEO strategy to voice searches.
👉 4 keys to be better classified in voice searches
Staying behind is unthinkable. So the faster you start optimizing to try to position yourself in voice searches, the better.
Below we give you some tips so you know where to start.
✅ 1. The user's research intent and the importance of long tails
First of all, you have to take into account that when we talk to a virtual assistant, we do it as if it were a normal "conversation".
That is to say with short and familiar sentences. It is a convenient way to communicate. For example :
In the search engine, we would write the " Italian restaurant Madrid center".
When we ask the voice assistant, " Where can I eat pizza near here?" "
As a result, most research is basic questions that begin with:
- than
- who
- How? 'Or' What
- or
- when
Why do we specify this? Because you need to know what are the most popular questions among users or customers in your industry.
So, in addition to keywords, watch out for long tails.
The long tail "normal" are keywords longer, but in this case, the long tails become "long key phrases" much more natural in conversation. In addition, they guide the research intention of the user.
If a user types in the keyword " chocolate muffins ", they do not give much information about their search intention. What exactly does he want to know?
On the other hand, these long tails give many leads to the research intention:
- Where to buy chocolate muffins here?
- What are chocolate muffins?
- The easy chocolate muffin recipe
- How many calories do chocolate muffins contain?
They are formulated in the type of conversational language used in voice searches.
Therefore, your SEO strategy for voice searches should analyze in detail the search intent of the user and pay attention to the long tails to include them.
✅ 2. Optimize your content
Above we explained that users of voice search often ask many very simple questions in natural language.
So make sure your content (written according to SEO writing rules) answers these questions just as simply and naturally. In this way, you will simplify the task of Google and it will "read" you better.
A good idea is to improve the FAQ. The FAQ page is ideal for answering all those questions that start with "what, who, how, where, etc." ".
It is also the ideal place to include all the long tails meeting the user's research intention.
✅ 3. Pay attention to local SEO
Many vocal searches are done inactivity: by walking in the street, by driving, by shopping…
And many of them relate to local research. Using the "near me" so that the results correspond to the user's location.
It is, therefore, a great possibility for small shops. We give you 2 ideas to help you improve local SEO:
- Create your business listing on Google My Business: it focuses on local businesses and allows you to interact with customers. It simplifies searches on Google and Google Maps because it standardizes information on your business in one site.
- It reinforces information about your location throughout your On-Page strategy: it includes keywords with local references that a person present at the moment could use, for example, "near the cathedral" or "next to the stadium. soccer ".
If you have a physical business, these tips should be used.
✅ 4. The loading speed of your website
We already know that the loading speed of your website or online business is always an important SEO factor.
In addition, in the case of voice searches, you should also take into account that:
the pages with the fastest load speed are Google’s favorites.
Pay attention to the conclusions of this study which analyzed the results of voice searches on Google.
- The average page load time is 8.80 seconds.
- Google results for voice search usually load in 4.60 seconds.
The charging speed is an important parameter for classifying. So one of your priorities will be to optimize your page so that it is as fast as possible.
👉 Will you take advantage of voice searches on Google to improve your SEO?
You have seen what voice searches are and understand that it is important to adapt your SEO strategy to take advantage of their possibilities, in particular, to win new customers for your online business in local searches.
If you define a smart strategy, you can gain ground.
Voice searches are a great opportunity to do business. Enjoy it;)
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