However, certain elements of voice search need specific attention, such as conversational queries, Amazon shopping, and local search.
Local SEO: Voice Search & Near Me Queries
Voice search and local queries are closely aligned due to the use case. People on the road, looking for somewhere to stop, will likely use voice search. Or they might look for somewhere to go right before leaving the house.
The good news is that if you’re investing in local SEO, you’re already well-positioned to appear in these kinds of voice searches.
It’s critical to optimize for the Map Pack, build your Google Business Profile, and develop local-SEO friendly websites to serve these voice search intents.
You want to make a local-focused experience as smooth as possible. When people are out traveling or running errands, being the first to serve their immediate and specific needs can mean walk-in traffic.
Screenshot from Google search, November 2024
Make sure your Google Business Profile is complete, including contact information, address, service area, payment types, etc.
Navigate to your business profile by searching for your business.
Click on “Edit Profile.”
Ensure that you complete all relevant fields.
Screenshot from Google Business Profile, November 2024
Make sure that you add products and services to your Google Business Profile. This helps people discover you when they’re looking for something specific.
Click on “Edit Products” or “Edit Services” depending on your business type.
Add details about all of the things you offer. Pair this with keyword research to understand what people are looking for and align your offerings with their intent and wording.
Screenshot from Google Business Profile, November 2024
Follow these resources from SEJ to achieve higher local rankings and show up in local voice searches:
Optimize For Ecommerce Queries On Amazon And Google
The Alexa ecosystem connects with users’ Amazon accounts and allows them to make purchases quickly and easily using their voice.
If you’re in ecommerce, this makes your optimization on platforms like Amazon critical. While the Alexa ecosystem often means that users skip platforms like Google, that doesn’t mean SEO is irrelevant.
Amazon is a search engine, too, and properly optimizing your business and products on the platform could help you increase sales via direct voice purchases.
Other voice assistants might access search engines like Google for product searches.
Optimize your product landing pages with structured data (expanded on in the next section) for an easy user experience, both in Google Search and if a user decides to explore your page using voice.
Optimize Structured Data And Target Featured Snippets
SERP features and AI Overviews focus on providing short, quick summaries and answers to specific queries.
If you can appear in these additional features, then you’re right at the top of the page where those queries are answered, whether they’re typed or spoken.
Structured data is particularly important for voice queries, especially those spoken back to the user without a screen.
Properly structuring the data about your pages and content helps the algorithms choose what to display and helps voice assistants speak coherent results.
On the smaller screens of mobile devices, featured snippets become important because there’s less screen space for users to see organic results.
Schema should be part of your overall SEO strategy and you can learn more here:
Target High-Intent Long-Tail Keywords
Voice search involves answering queries that people speak. While SEO often involves targeting short phrases that people type, people speak very differently.
There are three key considerations for keyword targeting when it comes to voice:
People tend to speak in long phrases.
Many people use voice search for purchase-related queries, such as making online purchases and creating shopping lists.
Voice queries tend to express immediate or short-term needs. People often ask their voice assistants to find something or perform an action. (Play a podcast, find a recipe, find or direct to a place.)
All these facts make long-tail queries and high-intent task or product-focused queries important.
By creating content on your website that serves these types of queries, you can get yourself in front of audiences during decisions or consideration points in their process.
SEJ has many resources on long-tail queries and targeting query intent:
Answer Questions Conveniently
Developments in AI have improved how search engines respond to queries in longer form, “natural” or “conversational” language. These types of queries are more likely from voice searchers. They’re also key to successful SEO strategies overall.
As AI algorithms get better at understanding and responding to complex queries, voice search is becoming less of a separate thing to optimize for and more of a benefit of a robust SEO strategy.
Your content strategy should involve developing easily accessible answers to questions and common queries you expect from your audience.
You can use Google’s features, such as People Also Ask, and your keyword research tools to identify questions your audience will likely ask and then build them into your content strategy.
Read these resources from SEJ to find out more about questions and answers:
Understand Intent To Serve Voice Queries
Advanced natural language processing means search algorithms can easily interpret queries, even in complex language, and return results that match them.
Your focus should be on search intents for users who are either in a hurry, have a high intent to action, or need additional accessibility.
For all these users, you should make your website easy to navigate and focus on acquiring the top spots in featured snippets and local SEO results.
While voice search wasn’t as disruptive as expected, it was a step in the development of natural language processing towards AI technology. Understanding these concepts can help you succeed in modern SEO.
More resources:
Featured Image: New Africa/Shutterstock