As many marketing experts know, voice search has grown in popularity over the last several years. In fact, 41% of adults and 55% of US teens utilized it more than two times a day by the end of 2014. Moreover, studies indicate that over half of queries will be completed through the use of voice search by 2020. With this reality in mind, business owners who want their organizations to become increasingly successful should begin implementing strategies that help them make the most of voice search. Below you’ll find four techniques you can use to realize this objective:
1. Optimize Your Local Listings.
Most individuals use the voice search method to obtain information regarding physical places they want to visit. If they say something specific such as “Find Chinese takeout in Atlanta,†you’ll want to optimize your pages with a key phrase like “Chinese takeout Atlanta.†Also keep in mind that they might do a general voice search with a phrase like “get Chinese takeout near me.†Voice search will recognize the phrase “near me†and subsequently refer the mobile device user to a physical location that is close by. This type of search doesn’t correlate to your on-page keywords, but rather the Google My Business listings. This is why your listing should be up to date and impeccable. Specifically, you’ll want all of your NAP (name, address, and phone number) information to be up to date while simultaneously ensuring that you’ve selected the relevant categories for your business.
2. Think About How People Speak.
Another strategy you can implement to optimize voice search is thinking critically about how people speak. Specifically, determine what type of natural language people might be using when formulating search queries that would lead them to your website. This strategy moves you towards the realm of real speech and away from identifying the keyword variations people might type into a computer. You can use tools like Answer the Public to fine-tune your process of identifying real speech patterns that will typically be used during voice searches.
3. Create Q & A Style Content.
Another technique you can use to optimize the voice search process is by creating Q & A style content. This strategy enables you to attract traffic from voice searches that involve a query which you address through your Q & A content. As such, make sure that you move beyond merely having a FAQ page so that you’re regularly producing Q & A content.
4. Don’t Forget About Videos.
While implementing voice search strategies is important, make sure that you don’t forget about videos. People are more likely to watch videos than read an article or blog post, and this is why you want to implement video marketing strategies which ensure that your content gets found when people do their searches. One strategy you should implement is determining which platform your video should appear on. If your focus is general brand awareness, Vimeo and YouTube might be the ideal platforms to use. Including an engaging thumbnail is another wonderful video search strategy because searchers see it when your content is indexed and the quality of it can determine whether they watch your video.
Note that your video search optimization work can positively impact your voice search work. Specifically, more video clicks optimizes your visibility, authority, and ranking in the search engine results pages. This can in turn increase the likelihood that your content shows up on page one of the SERPs when someone does a voice search.
Conclusion
If you’re serious about optimizing your company’s online marketing efforts, note that focusing in on voice search can help you do so. Utilize some or all of the voice and video techniques outlined above to facilitate e-commerce efficacy now!
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