Targeting voice search as well as standard search for local SEO is a great way to ensure that customers near you have access to your information and are more likely to find it through a quick search on mobile phones or smart speakers.
User intent and voice search
Keeping user intent in mind is critical when creating and optimizing content for voice search. A good way to do this is to try to anticipate common questions and then provide answers.
As with written content, you still need to make sure the most important information is clear and easy for Google’s crawlers to parse.
Think about common search terms like your business address, shipping terms or product information – then create content that a voice searcher can easily find and read.
Optimizing for specific search engines
In the current situation where Google dominates the search engine market, it doesn’t make much sense to optimize your content for specific search engines. The nuances between Google, Bing, and other companies will ultimately have little impact on your optimization efforts, since Google sets the standards for how search engines operate anyway.
Rather, create great content and then use well-researched SEO measures that will ensure it is picked up by all types of searches – both standard and voice-activated searches.
Use Schema metadata
Schema is a useful tool to make your content even easier for Google to understand and sort by allowing you to create content metadata that “describes” your website and how it is used. It’s an extremely powerful SEO tool that’s currently a bit underutilized, and using it can give you a bit of an edge over the competition.
Target and use long tail keywords
Long-tail keywords are just as effective in voice search as they are in regular search. These are search terms that are longer than a regular search query and are usually much more specific.
An added benefit of using them in voice search: they are more in tune with how people speak and thus are more likely to match a voice search query than regular short keywords.
Update your Google My Business profile
You should update your Google My Business profile anyway, but doing so will definitely give you an advantage in voice search. More complete business information will make your website more relevant to users and will rank closer to the top of search results, where a voice search app is more likely to find it.
Use Google Ad Location Extensions
With Google Ad Location Extensions, you can display all relevant business and contact information alongside your ads. This is very important if you want your ads to be highly visible on search services that search for “near me”. Make sure you include all the right information in your extensions and it will improve your visibility in local searches.
Use Google Maps Local Search Ads
Local search ads on Google Maps are a very effective and unobtrusive way to get your business noticed by potential local customers. Your ads will appear in the organic results on all platforms, which is a great help to get more people to visit or call your business.
Marketing in Voice Search: The Future of Digital Advertising
As the digital environment is constantly evolving, one of the digital marketing trends that is becoming the foundation of future strategies is voice search. As more and more consumers use digital assistants like Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant and Cortana, understanding and leveraging voice search marketing is critical for businesses.