Alexa, Is Voice Search the New Face of SEO?

voice search optimization

How to Optimize Voice Search SEO to Your Advantage

Search engine optimization (SEO) is kind of like the Thanksgiving turkey of your marketing spread.

Out of all your marketing efforts, SEO takes the longest to cook up. You’re probably looking at around six months before you start to see the results take effect. This is a dish that you’ll need to be patient with.

As an SEO agency that has served as a search engine optimization consultant to countless clients, iFocus Marketing has perfected the recipe for getting sites to rank for the keywords and phrases that searchers are looking for.

There’s just one little problem: not everyone is searching for things like they used to.

Learning the Ropes of Voice Search SEO

voice search seo efforts

There’s one huge constant when it comes to technology: it’s constantly changing. And as technology changes, so, too, does our behavior.

The past decade is a fantastic example of that, as we are now turning to voice assistants such as Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, and Google Assistant. We’re still asking the same questions about which restaurants are closest to us, and where’s the best place to go shopping, but we’ve adjusted our method to more contemporary search methods.

To give you some stats, roughly one-third of the U.S. population is using voice search features. Additionally, a whopping 71 percent of consumers say they prefer to conduct their search queries by voice as opposed to typing them out. For those that own a smart speaker device, it’s reported that more than half of them use their devices on a daily basis. Finally, it’s projected that 55 percent of households will use smart speakers in 2022.

So, does this mean that voice search is the new paradigm in how we track down information on the internet?

Not quite yet, but it’s ramping up to that. There are still plenty of people typing out their questions which means companies need to pull double-duty in the SEO department.

As an SEO agency who has been in this game for a while, we can tell you that you need to have a strategy in place for both text-based and voice search SEO.

Fortunately, this doesn’t mean cooking up two different SEO turkeys at the same time. However, you will need to adjust your recipe to account for those that prefer voice search over text.

Basic Optimizations for Voice Search SEO

Let’s say that you own an ice cream parlor in Las Vegas. That means you’re only interested in targeting people who are searching for ice cream in the Las Vegas area. Any local SEO company will tell you that strategizing your keywords for local searchers is going to be critical (but only ours will give you in-depth metrics on your success each month).

seo graphic

Here are a few potential phrasings for the query:

  • “Hey Siri, what’s the closest place to get ice cream in Las Vegas?”
  • “Hey Alexa, is there an ice cream shop near the MGM Grand?”
  • “Hey Bixby, where’s the best ice cream place near me?”

When you focus on telling the search algorithm that you’re a local business using landmarks and such, this is what’s known as local SEO. It’s key to a voice search SEO strategy because voice search is three times more likely to be used for local searches compared to text.

Another big thing to keep in mind when optimizing for voice search SEO is to be as natural-sounding as possible with your content. You want to sound like a human being – not a keyword robot.

People are conversational when they ask their voice assistants to retrieve information for them. If you want to increase your SEO presence, you’ll need to sound conversational, too. Not only is this good for your voice search SEO efforts, but it will also make your brand feel way more authentic to those who are engaging with your content. Go ahead and end that sentence in a preposition.

Last but certainly not least, you want to be sure that your site is optimized for mobile. Those people who are out looking for ice cream in Las Vegas using voice search are on smartphones. This means it’s critical that you deliver a quality user experience and optimize your website for both Apple and Android users.

Ready to Team Up with an SEO Agency that Specializes in Voice Search? Let’s Get Started!

iFocus Marketing is a full-service agency that specializes in voice search SEO and local SEO. It’s a tough bird to cook, but we’ve got the experience and the resources to help your company rise through the ranks on search engines and get you noticed by your target market.

Creating great SEO results is a matter of time, consistency, and executing the right strategy. Every business is unique, so we develop every SEO strategy from scratch to keep in line with their brand while also appealing to search engines.

The best way to get started is to contact us today. You can call us at (913) 708-8567 or email us directly using the contact form on our website, and one of our business development experts will reach out to you to learn more about your business objectives.

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