In the age of emerging technology, optimizing your website to answer local voice search queries is becoming an increasingly important task in order to remain competitive. With voice search expected to take up 50% of all online searches by 2020, having a website that is optimized for local voice search can give you a leg up on the competition. Here, we’ll provide you with the essential tips for optimizing your site for local voice search, so that you can harness the power of this growing technology.
Table of Contents
- 1. Prepare for the Rise of Local Voice Search
- 2. Analyze Your Keywords for Local Search Relevancy
- 3. Optimize Your Site Structure for Voice Search
- 4. Build a Comprehensive List of Local Search Questions
- Q&A
1. Prepare for the Rise of Local Voice Search
If you have not already done so, it is time to get the jump on local voice search and ace it. Here are several tips to nail it:
- Make sure to have your business location’s voice search categorization and markup optimized. All of your titles and categories should be well defined without too much overlap, and should sync perfectly with other local data bases.
- Ensure your site is mobile friendly. Responsive design is a must as the majority of voice search comes from phones. Search engine crawlers should be able to find your site and associated pages without difficulty.
- Undertake a full SEO audit. Make sure to check for the latest and greatest voice-search-specific best practices, such as inclusion of Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) words and phrases.
- Start optimizing your content in a way to include more natural language. After all, people tend to phrase their questions differently than the way they type what they are searching for.
Accurately Optimize your Site: You want to have accurate information and content about your business on your site; not to mention having accurate information on all local data bases you are associated with.
Keep Current: Voice search algorithms are changing constantly, and it is up to you to stay ahead. Consider local news, features, and events from time to time to keep optimizing your site in order to stay up on local voice search.
Keep Engaging: Make sure your content is engaging, scannable, and easy to follow. Above all, think in terms of people, not robots, when creating copy for your site.
2. Analyze Your Keywords for Local Search Relevancy
Following on from research in Step 1, the next thing to do is to figure out which of your keywords are most relevant for local shoppers. By drilling down to keywords that are specific to your area, you can target your markets more accurately and improve your ranking for local search.
Start by creating a list of keywords. Use tools like Keyword Planner to generate ideas. Reorganize the list according to relevance. Identify the terms that are most closely linked to your industry, that have high search volume, and aren’t too competitive.
Next, take a closer look at your list and check for local relevancy. Go beyond your town or city – look for geographical triggers like nearby villages, counties, or regions – and think about local events or festivities. Also, pay attention to how people speak in your area. For example, do they call it soda or pop? That type of local vernacular can be used in your keyword list too.
Finally, make sure that your target keywords are accurate. No matter if you’re using Latent Semantic Indexing, Geo-Modifiers, Long Tail keywords, or any other method, any keyword that’s not relevant won’t get you the traffic that you want.
3. Optimize Your Site Structure for Voice Search
Create Relevant URL Structure
Voice search heavily relies on keywords, so design the URLs of your pages in a way that they contain at least your website’s most prominent keywords or keywords related to each page. This way, it’ll be easier for the search engine to identify the contents of the page and rank it higher.
Pay Attention to HTML Tags
When it comes to optimizing the content on your website for voice search, HTML tags are particularly useful. Make sure you include tags like H1, H2, and H3 to clearly define the structure of your contents. Plus, including important keywords in the title and description tags of your website is proven to make your site more visible.
Include Questions and Answers
Voice search queries often take the form of questions. Even when it comes to written search queries, questions are becoming increasingly popular. Adding pages that feature brief questions and answers to frequently asked questions is a great way to show the search engine that your website offers exactly what the person is looking for.
Optimize for Natural Language
Finally, optimizing your website for natural language can really help you when it comes to voice search. Natural language means using the phrases people naturally would when asking something. For example, if someone is looking for your contact page, they’re more likely to say “How can I contact you?” rather than “Contact page”. Including these phrases in your content is a great way to optimize for voice search.
4. Build a Comprehensive List of Local Search Questions
A comprehensive list of local search questions is essential for any digital marketing campaign. Understanding the common local queries and putting together a comprehensive list can help businesses focus their efforts and target the local market.
The following tips can be used to build an extensive list of local search queries:
- Get familiar with your customers. Knowing the demographic and interests of the potential clients can help narrow down the list and create targeted keywords and phrases.
- Perform a basic keyword search. Enter generic industry terms in the search engine to get a list of common queries. These results will be a great starting point for the list.
- Research competitors. Analyze the competitor’s keywords and phrases to get a better understanding of what people are searching for in that industry and location.
- Think outside the box. Once the initial list is established, be creative and brainstorm other potential keywords and phrases. Add customer vernacular, terms related to the location and any other relevant terms.
Tap into Local Insights. Reach out to local influencers, businesses, people on the street and other members of the community for local insights into what people are searching for in that area. Ask them about how they query for information specific to your industry.
Building a comprehensive list of local search queries requires time and effort, but it is essential for targeting more organic local traffic. Making sure that the list includes relevant questions and covers all facets of the industry and location, can help businesses increase their digital presence in their region.
Q&A
Q: What is local voice search optimization?
A: Local voice search optimization is the practice of optimizing your website content and SEO strategies to make your business more visible and discoverable via voice search on local devices like Amazon Alexa, Google Home, or Apple Siri.
Q: How can I optimize my website for local voice search?
A: Optimizing your website for local voice searches involves a few key tactics. Firstly, optimize your website content for specific cities by including location-based keywords in titles and text. Secondly, make sure your business is listed with local online directories like Google My Business and Yelp so you appear in voice search results for regional searches. Finally, use structured data markup for local business information such as address, phone number, opening hours etc so that voice assistant devices can display accurate results for local voice searches.
Q: What are the benefits of local voice search optimization?
A: Optimizing your website for local voice search gives you an opportunity to increase visibility in local search results and be discovered by people in the vicinity of your business. Additionally, local voice search optimization can help you improve your website ranking in the major search engines. Finally, making your website content and local business information available to voice assistant devices will allow you to provide customers with more personalized and useful answers, strengthening your overall customer experience and reputation.
If you’re looking to optimize your site for local voice search, these essential tips will give you a strong foundation for success. It’s time to seize this exciting opportunity and get your website in front of more potential customers. Start optimizing today and watch your local traffic skyrocket!
