You can be tech-savvy if you have used your smartphone to search online. You may have used voice search or Google’s search engine to search for the keywords. The former is the most common and well-known way to do things. However, the latter is on the rise and will be the first to go – sooner than you think.

Oberlo reports that around 122.7 million internet users will use voice search by 2021. What do you think?

You, as a Phoenix digital marketer and business owner, need to understand how voice search influences the design of online marketing strategies and how it impacts search engine optimization. According to the 2020 eConomy report from Google and Temasek, voice search grew 120% in South East Asia during 2020 quarantines. You can stay ahead of your competition by investing early in optimization for voice search. It’s already changing SEO.

Voice Search: The 5Ws & 1H

Being a digital marketer or SEO agency requires a keen awareness of the current market trends. Before you can optimize a website or business for voice search you will need to make sure that there is an existing foundation of an online presence.

Before we get into SEO’s impact on voice search, let’s first discuss the basics of voice search. Let’s look at the What, Why, and When. Where, Who, How.

• What is voice search? At its core, voice search allows a user to speak a query. IBM’s Watson speech recognition was the first to produce voice technology devices. Later, Google and Apple followed suit with Voice Search and Siri.

• Voice search is important. Voice search is different than a browser search. And with the increase in mobile phone users, voice search popularity also increases. Moz reports that almost 50% of consumers use it to search for general queries online.

• What is the use of voice search? Voice search is not for all businesses. It will still be up to the business to decide if voice search is suitable for their marketing. Voice search ability does not replace text search. It serves to augment. By creating content to target the most common queries for local goods and services, a local business can reap the benefits of optimization for voice search.

• Voice search is critical in certain situations. Voice search is a great option for narrower user intentions and long-tail keywords. Voice search is not used to browse by users who have clearer search queries. These audiences are more likely to be at the bottom of the sales funnel.

• Who uses voice search? Voice search is most popular among mobile users. Voice-enabled technology is used for 20% of all mobile search queries.

• Voice search is so important! Voice search ability is becoming more important for digital marketers in Los Angeles and business owners. It’s faster and easier than typing specific keywords into the search bar. Voice search can make your life easier, whether you need directions or quick fixes.

How does Voice Search affect SEO?

The impact of voice-enabled technology in SEO is certain due to the increasing use of mobile search and the rising adoption rate. Businesses that rely on digital advertising solutions will either experience success or struggle. This is why it is important to understand the impact of voice search. Voice search is a powerful tool for digital marketers, SEO analysts, and business owners. It can help you win the battle, achieve your marketing goals, grow revenue, and survive in the market.

These are the many ways voice searching is changing the game.

• It defines search context and dictates user language.
• It allows you to use long-tail keywords to locate a specific answer.
• It rewards websites with higher SERP results.
• It makes local businesses more accessible.
• It allows e-commerce to flourish in the same way that local businesses can profit from its presence.

Language and context

Voice technology must be able to understand and use language to function effectively. To be able to understand the query, users need to speak in a manner that can be understood by their voice-enabled technology device. A voice search is different from a browser search where a user enters a few keywords at a time. Instead of typing a fragment of two or three keywords, a voice-enabled tech device or platform will understand the query. A voice search usually involves phrases or sentences that contain at least one complete thought.

Jeff Bullas discusses how 70% of voice searches have a conversational tone to them. A typical search engine for Miami digital marketing content will read “digital marketing meaning”, but a voice search allows a user to ask “What is digital marketing?” This is another important aspect of SEO’s impact: the context and keywords.

Core keywords are used to build question words such as the 1H and 5Ws. A website can get a featured Google snippet by providing concise and accurate answers for such search queries. Marketers must understand the context behind voice searches to distinguish between the need for more detailed content and simpler answers.

Google’s RankBrain and Hummingbird provide relevant search results to users through understanding semantics and natural languages. This can only highlight the impact voice search has on SEO. Google will rank pages higher if a website provides value to users based on their search intent.

Keyword Lengths

Voice search allows users to combine more words to find the information they are looking for. This makes voice searches much faster than traditional browser searches. Backlinko reports that voice searches average 29 words. This allows for the priority of long-tail keywords. These search queries often lead users to the conversion stage of the buyer’s journey.

Search Rankings

Google rewards useful content by ranking it higher on the SERP. 75% of voice search results appear in the top 3 spots. This allows them to make their way into rich answer boxes and featured snippets.

Local Search

Voice-enabled technology has a significant impact on local search. Voice search is three times more likely to help users find something in their area than using traditional methods. Nearly 60% of voice search users find businesses nearby them. This shows that optimizing for location-based queries such as “Where can I locate a pad Thai restaurant in Oregon?” can help businesses reach their target market.

E-Commerce

E-commerce businesses have the opportunity to capitalize on voice search’s growing popularity just as local businesses do. Search Engine Journal reports that 72% of users used a virtual assistant to voice search, and 35% used a smart speaker. This is a good sign for online retailers to invest in digital assistants to cater to more customers.

How to optimize your website for voice search

These seven tips will help you to be aware of the effects voice search can have on your SEO campaign.

1. Keywords Conduct voice search keyword research by taking your key keyword and entering it into your keyword research software. Your long-tail keyword should be structured on variations that are closer to natural language. These keywords will be more closely associated with voice searches.
2. FAQs and Headers: Make your website more voice-friendly by answering users’ search queries with concise answers. Formatting your content as an FAQ page is one way to achieve this. The question keywords should be used in the headings. You can then provide the answers in the body of your text. Google will identify the content as valuable if it is concise and direct.
3. Schema Optimize your voice search results for featured snippets, as more than 40% of voice searches are found in Google’s featured. snippets. This can be done with your content by making its structured data. To show the value of your content, you can use tables and bulleted lists to format it.
4. Content Create high-quality video content to support certain business aspects, such as product reviews or instructional videos. Optimize the meta tags. This provides value for a search query, especially for practical purposes like how-to.
5. Google MyBusiness Makes it easy for your target market and local voice searches to find you. This can be done by making sure your Google My Business profile is up-to-date so that potential clients who are searching for “digital marketing agencies in new york near me” will find your business easily.
6. Authorship: Learn more about your topic and increase domain authority. Google values quality and will only provide content from trusted sites. Engaging and valuable content, high-quality backlinks, and organically-grown social sharing are all key factors to achieving this. This increases the likelihood of your content being a voice search result.
7. Core Web Vitals – Improve page speed and calibrate page experience. Core Web Vitals also considers user experience (such as how fast your website loads) as a ranking factor. It shouldn’t take that long for a page to load, considering the average speed of voice search results is 4.6 seconds.

These seven tips will help you create an SEO campaign that incorporates voice search. Create, plan, and execute accordingly. After 90 to 180 days, you can review the results and make adjustments if necessary. Data is crucial here. Make sure you maximize your tools.