Voice search, a voice command to search the internet, has gained traction among internet users and has taken up a major chunk of the search market. The ever-increasing usage of smartphones and the advent of personal assistants have contributed to its popularity.

Before telling you the impact of voice-based search on SEO,

let us precisely explain what voice search is…

Voice search basically allows users to speak to a device rather than typing keywords into a search query to obtain results.

Audio technology uses voice recognition to understand with unprecedented accuracy what the users are saying. Then, it delivers results to the user verbally. Examples of voice search include software such as speech-to-text and voice dialing.

Furthermore, programs like Google Assistant, Siri, Microsoft Cortana and Amazon Alexa all make use of voice search capabilities.

Impact of Voice Search on SEO

In a top SEO survey conducted recently, experts suggested that the SEO voice search figures at the top of the list! Most of the businesses that spend their money to optimize their website have based their keywords on search phrases that are spoken more frequently than being typed.

While the advent of voice search does not mean that typing requests will vanish completely, it actually implies that digital marketing needs to respond to an emerging customer trend that is currently taking place.

Here’s how its impact affects SEO:

Length of Search Queries

The number of searches that are spoken are totally different from text-based ones. The text-based searches are based on nearly two or three words, while commands prompted by voice may often be longer than ten words. Natural language keywords need to become more important in order to adapt to these longer searches.

Question-Based Search Queries

Besides being longer, most searches on voice search are in the form of a question. For example, a search that would normally be typed as “voice search and SEO,” might sound like “how will search impact SEO?” in voice-activated commands. Therefore, it is important to look at keywords more as part of the content strategy in the context of a question.

Clear-Minded Search Queries

Since voice search queries often come in the form of a question, they show the level of intent the user has. If you are a marketer, identifying such high-value queries and optimizing related stuff appropriately is essential.

The use of natural language in these cases is more important than ever as the more keywords match user searches, the higher you will rank.

5 SEO Adaptations for Voice Search

With voice technology having varying impacts on SEO, here are a few recommended actions marketers should take to adopt

• More information about a brand and driving traffic is provided by structured data and schema mark-ups. They make pages appear in rich snippets, thus raising the odds of being the first result in voice searches.

• Google Voice prioritizes websites that are loaded quickly, so marketers must ensure that images are optimized, files are compressed, response times are minimized and the site is completely responsive.

• Long-tail keywords that represent common queries used in voice search should be used to optimize content, based on natural language.

• The snippets used are brief answers from web sites and can be used in position zero. To optimize content, try including identifiable excerpts to be featured and make Google’s content easier to read with H-tags and bullet points.

• Increasing domain authority can assist in search rankings; this can be strengthened by using high-quality links.

Typing Search Queries Will Soon Become Obsolete

The reality is, voice search takes the ground from the conventional ‘keyboard-based search’.  Because voice search is convenient. And another factor being that the business leaders are putting forward so much effort and interest in voice-search. Siri, Cortana, Alexa, google voice search are among the four popular voice assistants. These giants bend over backwards to stay ahead of the competition.

You must be wondering why that is?

Voice search is the best way to use the algorithms that translate human language into the user intent.

Serving the purpose of the customer is the secret to success for search engines and content creators alike. Let’s think about the best ways we can work with the search engines and encourage users who turn to voice search.

Last Note

The impact of voice technology is certain to have on SEO. Given a sharp rise in voice adoption and use, the impact on companies would be critical. Businesses that can foresee changes and stay ahead of changes before they happen will certainly reap the rewards in the future.