Several clients have called asking about “Voice Search”.
Scammy companies are calling small businesses trying to sell “Voice Search Services” or
“Voice Search Registration”. This is BS. Don’t be a victim.
Believe me, if there is a legitimate service to offer we will be one of the first to do so. I am always looking for new ways to get results for our clients.
What is Voice Search?
Voice search occurs when someone uses Alexa, Siri, or Google using voice commands or questions. (See examples in this video.)
Right now voice search follows the basic SEO guidelines as normal search.
If you have your basic SEO foundation then you are good to go.
ALL of our SEO clients have everything they need to rank for voice search.
For more a deeper explanation of Voice Search Optimization check out this video:
Article Reference: https://www.searchenginewatch.com/2020/01/03/voice-search-impact-seo-in-2020/
6 Ways to Optimize for Voice Search
- Google Voice prioritizes quick-loading websites, so brands should ensure images are optimized, files are compressed, response time is reduced, and the site is fully responsive.
- Content should be optimized with long-tail keywords that reflect popular queries used in voice search. Focus on natural language.
- Featured snippets are summary answers from web pages that may be used in position zero. To optimize content for this, include identifiable extracts to be featured and make content easier for Google to read by using H-tags and bullet points.
- Structured data and schema markup provide more information about a brand and drive traffic. They help pages appear in rich snippets, which will increase the chances of being the first result delivered in voice searches.
- Local information for your brand should be provided to meet the increased search volume for local businesses with voice – using Google My Business will help.
- Increasing domain authority will help with search rankings – this can be improved by including high-quality links.
Video Transcript
Hey everybody, this is Joe Burnich with BigWestMarketing.com, and in this video, what I want to do is talk about how to optimize your local business for voice search. Let’s get busy right now. Okay, so before we get into talking about what voice search is, what it looks like, and then how to prepare your business for it, I first want to talk about some scams that are going on right now. These companies are calling small businesses, these scammy companies, saying that they need a special voice search service in order to be ready for this, and this is complete BS. You do not need to pay extra money to get prepared for voice search. As long as you’re doing some basic SEO foundational work, then you are good to go. And that includes … And I’ll get into the details, but the main thing is, you want to make sure you have unique content on your website. Do not copy and paste content from another website. This is just a basic SEO 101 principle that you need to make sure that you’re following.
But what I want to do is show you a couple of articles that I like on the internet from reputable websites, reputable sources. The first one here is searchenginewatch.com, and this is the most recent article I could find, and it’s not talking specifically about local SEO, but there are a few things that do apply. It’s talking about the rise of voice technology. We’re talking about basically people getting on their phones or getting on Alexa and searching for a local business. They’re using the Google Voice Search or they’re using Siri or they’ve got the Alexa device or the Google Home device. One of these things where you can just talk to a device and get some kind of information. It’s talking about the effects, using natural language. You already want to be using natural language on your website, the text on your website, like I talked about before. You want to make it kind of, in the future, and this is what we’re doing for our current SEO clients, is kind of gearing it towards answers to possible questions that could come up on voice search.
But for a local business, it’s pretty self explanatory. You don’t need to do anything crazy. There’s no big stuff that needs to happen here. If there is something major that needs to happen where a whole new service needs to be introduced, you can bet that I’m going to be on top of this, because I want to grow my business and offer new legit products to people that actually get them results. Right now there is no special product out there, so do not fall for the scams when people call you. And then as I scroll down here, there’s … Okay, adapting to voice search. Quick loading websites, that’s SEO 101. That’s something we’re all over for our clients. Content should be optimized with long tail keywords. Basically, talk about your services in a natural way, not in the super SEO keywordey way like you used to have to do to get Google to rank you. You don’t have to do that anymore. Google is too smart for that.
Snippets, we’re all over that. Schema Markup, all of our clients have Schema Markup on their website, all of our SEO clients. Local information, and then you want stuff that’s kind of geared towards when people search for carpet cleaners near me, okay? And that mainly has to do with Google ads, not SEO. If someone’s going to type in carpet cleaners near me or plumbers near me or HVAC services near me, then if you’re running Google ads, and this is what we do for our ads clients, is we always have that keyword in there, near me, so that you make sure you show up at the very top for any kind of searches that have the near me phrase in there or question in there, in the search, whether it’s voice or written. It’s basically the same thing. Now, what I want to do is show you an example. What is voice search? What does this actually look like? You got your smart phone here and maybe you’ve done this, maybe you do this on a regular basis. I’m going to go to Google. I’m going to go to the Google app. Let me get to the home section there, and then it’s set up so I can say, “Okay, Google carpet cleaners in Missoula, Montana.”
Listings for carpet cleaners around Missoula. Here they are.
And Google gives me the listings of all the carpet cleaners in Missoula, Montana. Now, if I was going to type that into Google, it’s going to give me the exact same results. Okay, so you don’t need to … That’s what I’m saying, you don’t need to do anything special. As long as you’re doing good SEO practices, you’re ready to go for voice search. Another way to do it is if we’re like, “Hey Siri, show me plumbers in Denver, Colorado.”
One option I found is Do It Yourself Plumbing and Heating Supply on Brighton Boulevard in Denver. Want to try that one?
What Siri does is they use Apple Maps. For SEO, you need to be registered with Apple Maps and have your business in Apple Maps to make sure you have a good chance of coming up for voice search with Siri. Same with Alexa, same thing. Okay, so that’s it. That’s all you need to worry about, is making sure you’ve got your basic SEO fundamentals or foundational stuff taken care of, which is something we do for all of our SEO clients. If you’d like more information and if you’d like us to review your SEO profile and your website to make sure you are good to go for voice search, then please give us a call at (406) 493-1881. We do a free 30 minute consultation. I will also put a link down below so you can schedule a call with our marketing specialist, and then we’ll just go through everything and make sure you’re good to go. It’s completely free and we will make an offer to you and see if we feel like you’re a good fit. And if you want to work with us, fine. If not, don’t worry about it. All current SEO clients that are with us are taken care of. You don’t need to call us, you don’t need to inquire about it. We’ve got you covered. We’ve got your back. Once again, I am Joe Burnich with BigWestMarketing.com and I will talk to you soon.
