Is Voice Search SEO Important?

Have you been in the kitchen trying a new Pinterest recipe, and need to quickly look up an ingredient substitute? Instead of botching up your dish, you use voice search and shout “Alexa, can I substitute Cheddar for Gruyère”? Alexa responds with, “Cheddar is not a substitute. Comté, the French equivalent of Gruyère, is an acceptable substitute”. And voilà – crisis averted.

Traditional SEO vs. SEO for Voice Search

We are natural multi-taskers. We speak to our smart phones or voice assistants, and tell them to schedule reminders to make our lives easier.  According to eConsultancy, “By 2020, 50% of all searches will be conducted via voice”.  Because voice search is still gaining momentum, most businesses are optimizing for it as an afterthought.  That can be somewhat effective, but to be truly competitive a voice search strategy from the onset is imperative. For example, consumers are now asking their mobile devices for directions or store hours while in the car, so you want to ensure your business information is optimized and visible on mobile, as the top answer.

To adapt SEO best practices for voice, it’s also important to consider how users speak – this will fuel your keyword research.  Using the “People also ask” feature in Google can help to brainstorm keyword ideas for your SEO voice search strategy.

Searching a query by speaking into a device is usually vastly different from typing a query in a search box.  When we ask our device a question, we are using conversational sentences and asking a full question. Whereas, when you type into a search engine you may only type a couple of main keywords to start, then perhaps type in longer tail phrases.  So naturally, the voice search will live on the longer tail of the query spectrum (which for the most part, produces higher conversion rates). This difference is key in developing a winning SEO strategy for voice search.

How to Implement SEO for Voice Search

At Crimson Park Digital, we can help you develop an SEO strategy for voice search, by optimizing content for rich answers and structuring your website to reflect that. This helps the Google Bot understand your content and relevance. We’ll also dive into how your specific audience speaks, which can be unique compared to customers of other business types and industries.  Let’s develop a strategy that puts you ahead of the competition!