SEO for Voice Search: Optimising for Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant
Voice is a relative latecomer to the world of human-computer interfaces – at least as far as being a viable mass-market option goes. People have been trying to programme computers to understand human speech since the 1950s.
But while people learn to talk before they can read and write, for computers it has been the other way around. Translating the subtleties and nuances of spoken language into code has proven to be fiendishly difficult. The fact that it’s much easier to programme a computer by text than by voice has shaped much of how we think and know about computers, including the dominance of screens and graphic user interfaces (GUIs).
The turning point came at the start of the last decade with the release of so-called ‘smart assistants’ or ‘voice assistants’ like Apple’s Siri and IBM Watson. These were the first voice interfaces to break out of the confines of limited rule-based vocabulary and syntax, capable of understanding a meaningful range of spoken interactions in anything like a ‘natural’ or ‘conversational’ way.
Since then, with the explosion first in smartphone technology and then in AI, voice interface technology has become a force to be reckoned with. Every smartphone, every laptop, every smartwatch is fitted with a voice assistant like Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant or Microsoft’s Cortana. It has spawned a distinct multi-billion dollar market in the form of smart speakers, plus the wide range of other connected, AI-powered ‘smart’ devices we now have in our homes, cars and places of work that can be operated by the power of voice alone.
All of this has also changed our relationship with the internet, and particularly how we search for information online. Voice search demands a brand new way of thinking about online discovery, and how we optimise digital assets for maximum visibility. With the arrival of voice search, search engine optimisation (SEO) is no longer purely focused on the information presented on a screen.
What is Voice Search Optimisation?
Voice search optimisation is the process of optimising a website specifically to rank higher for searches carried out using voice assistants such as Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant. It’s a different proposition to optimising for text searches in traditional search engines like Google and Bing simply because people use different language, different phrases and different ways of framing questions when they speak compared to how they type out text.
Voice optimisation therefore starts with an understanding of the way people speak to voice assistants, and then involves adapting websites so their content and structure reflect spoken queries and the intentions behind them. As with all forms of SEO, it’s about making a website as easy as possible for a search engine algorithm to glean information based on what people are asking for. And part of that involves paying attention to the medium of asking.
Why is SEO for Voice Important?
SEO is growing in importance because more and more people are using voice assistants. A third of web and mobile users now say they use voice search on at least a weekly basis. More than a billion voice searches are carried out worldwide every month.
Optimising for voice is even more important for reaching certain user groups. For example, the fact that the majority of online searches happen on mobile these days means mobile optimisation should be your number one SEO priority. One in five mobile searches are voice searches. So voice optimisation should be central to any mobile strategy.
How to Optimise for Voice Search
Before we dive into some specific voice-first SEO strategies, it’s important to say that there’s no suggestion of having to choose between voice and text optimisation, or that the two are in competition with one another. All forms of optimisation will benefit your search rankings. Search engine algorithms are built to understand how people use search, and to index web content accordingly. That means they rank ‘good’ content taking into account all forms of search, be it text or voice, mobile or desktop.
So the key with voice search optimisation is not to view it in isolation. The following are tactics you should aim to add to your existing SEO regime to ensure your site is optimised for voice as well.
Target long-tail keywords
The most obvious difference in the nature of voice searches compared to text is the length of the phrases used. To get an understanding of this, think about how you text a friend compared to speaking to them over the phone. You use much, much fewer words. Typing takes time, whereas speech is fast and fluid. So text is all about brevity and cutting corners. Speech is about letting it all flow.
The same principles apply to search. When we type a query into a search engine, we like to keep it short and snappy, focusing on a few keywords. Voice search is very different. A text search like ‘SEO agency London” might become “Can you recommend the best SEO agencies in London” when using a voice assistant.
To optimise for this kind of longer phrasing, you have to include examples on your site. These are known in SEO as long-tail keywords. So ‘SEO agency London’ would be short-tail. ‘The best SEO agencies in London’ long-tail. Because of the growing influence of voice, good SEO practice now demands including both types.
Optimise for conversational language
Long-tail keywords are just part of the challenge of optimising for the kind of language people use when they speak. Increasingly, voice queries are not just a one-and-done affair. As voice AI’s improve, users can engage in what amounts to a conversation with their voice assistants. Ask an initial question. Receive an answer. Then follow up for further clarification and more information. And on and on.
This is where optimising for voice becomes particularly tricky. You have to think about how you structure information to reflect the kind of questions people ask, and then what they are most likely to follow up with. It pretty much boils down to anticipating the kinds of conversations you might have face-to-face with someone looking for information on your website. And not just thinking about the words they might use, but the how they would structure extended queries, and what you would tell them and in what order etc.
Prioritise mobile optimisation
We’ve talked about the synergies between mobile use and voice search. With such a high percentage of voice searches happening on mobile devices, it’s also important that your website is optimised for mobile generally.
A key factor here is page speed. Lots of sites that aren’t necessarily designed and optimised from a mobile-first perspective are slow to load on mobile devices. And that drags down your search rankings, including for voice. Approaches like minimalist web design (i.e. keeping content and especially images relatively sparse) and effective use of caching will improve your page load speeds, and with it give both your mobile and voice optimisation a boost.
Focus on local search
Another area where there’s a lot of synergy with voice optimisation is local SEO. Three-quarters of smart speaker owners say they use voice search to find information about local businesses. This means voice search is particularly important for businesses with physical premises, such as shops, restaurants, bars and hotels, which rely on attracting footfall in a specific area. But also to location-based services such as tradespeople.
In addition, 70% of voice search results on Google are pulled from its ‘Featured Snippets’ and ‘People Also Ask’ sections. Featured Snippets are essentially top-ranking business listings relevant to a specific query. So, they skew heavily to local searches.
Local SEO involves making location-based information prominent across your site (including the metadata), and optimising for the keywords related to your locality that people most frequently use. It also helps to work on building the prominence of your online brand in your local area, through things like social media marketing and user-generated reviews, which search algorithms use in part to judge the quality of a site.
Use schema markup
Finally, schema markup is a way of structuring and categorising metadata on your site to in effect give search algorithms instructions on what your page is about, what searches it is most relevant to, and why they should rank you highly. As search has become increasingly complex and competitive, schema markup has become more and more important for successful SEO.
Google has now developed and released in beta format what it calls ‘speakable’ schema markup standards aimed specifically at voice search. This type of markup is intended to provide instructions to voice AIs about which parts of your site are most ‘speakable’ – or in other words, flag up content that you have designed specifically to be used in response to voice search, and which therefore ticks the right boxes for conversational/natural language.
Want to learn more about SEO for voice search? Get in touch with our digital marketing team to get the latest advice on optimising your digital presence.
Dominique Childs
