Does SEO Have an Impact on Voice Search Results?

With smartphone technology developing rapidly over recent years, one function that has gradually improved with it, is that of voice search. Functions such as Google Voice Search on android, Siri on iOS or Cortana on windows devices have slowly been refined in order to help the user have a more convenient way of controlling their phone, and to search for things on the go.

Voice search allows the user to search online via google or other search engines. With an android device saying the words OK Google allows the user to make a query. This requires having google now turned on in order to function. This skips the stage of opening the search app and manually entering a query.

Voice search is ideal for finding things locally, answering a question or any other query you have. The answer from the voice search option that you have may come in verbal form, or as a SERP depending on the information you request. Both Bing and Google have stated that more and more people are using voice search for queries, and it is another way that mobile traffic is being boosted.

The big search engines may have stated that this is a growing way in which people are finding information, but what do we know about it?

• The use of voice search is likely to rise – as the technology develops more and more then more people will become comfortable using voice search for quick queries
• Simple Searches – trends show that people for the most part only use voice search queries as a means to find simple information. So for example, they’d ask about a football score as opposed to a match report or price comparisons rather than product reviews or what restaurants are local as opposed to reviews on them.. The theory being that it’s a convenience process, as opposed to trying to get a detailed answer.
• Being Mobile Friendly is Important – it goes without saying that in an age of increasing use of mobile technology for searching online, it is important to ensure that when a user visits your site through voice search or not that it is mobile friendly and can be accessed on the go.

As with all forms of search, then there are algorithms working behind the scenes which produce what is thought to be a relevant search result for the user. Therefore you need to assess how your website works from an SEO perspective. Keyword research is a key part of this, as well as relevance. Therefore it is important to have a clear focused goal in mind. Depending on what you have to offer then you tailor your research to this.

The type of information that you offer on your website is also important. If you can demonstrate an ability to be a useful resource then search engines can pull a snippet from your site and use this as an answer to a question. For example with the question “what is voice search” you get :

Therefore if there are specialities in your business then create an FAQ section where commonly asked questions can be succinctly answered. This still provides a link to the page and therefore your site and acts as an indicator of authority.

At the same time however it is important to understand that search levels are increasing overall, all that is different is previously voice search wasn’t an option before and therefore the basic principles of SEO still remain key. It is never the best practice to solely focus on one aspect of inbound marketing and then disregard others.

At Zelst we are experts at tailoring SEO strategies to suit your business’s needs. Contact us today and see how we can help you and your business grow online.

You can learn more about voice search from Moz.