[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”3.22″][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”3.25″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”3.27.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”]SEO exhibits an ever-changing story. The recent trend of Voice Search is mounting high in the SEO trends. To quote recent data, one-fifth of the queries on Google are voice-searches owing to the convenience and time-saving attributes.

But if thought off carefully, these changes are the need of the hour. Carrying the laptops and tablets everywhere is not feasible. Therefore, the mobile usage for internet search is increasing. Now it amounts to 57% that is quite a large number.

Also, what can be better than hiring an assistant to operate all your search operations? It listens to your verbal query, searches for the most relevant answer and then answers you verbally thereby saving your writing-reading time and energy.

Everything has happened for good, but the issue lies in the optimization of the websites for voice search. This article will guide you through the process.

Make sure your website is mobile-friendly

Most of the voice-search takes place on the mobile phones, bringing in the need to make your site mobile-friendly. Approximately, 33 million voice-first devices are in circulation, and most of them are mobile phones. Thereby, to equip oneself with a mobile-friendly website, following measures can be taken:

Go for responsive designs

How-so-ever great your content is, unless and until it’s not visible in the right way on your screen, it’s not worth it. This brings in the need to make your website responsive. Your content should fit in well in all the screens, and this can be done if your site is responsive.

The responsive web design enables flexible display of images and proportion-based grids. Also, the data aligns itself on the screen according to the percentages rather than points and pixels. The responsive design thereby aims at increasing the utility of the screen.

Test pages for mobile friendliness

Now that’s an easier task. You can use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Tool for this purpose. This tool would not only let you know about your website’s status, but it would also provide you with the possible way out and the changes that should be made to make your site mobile-friendly.

Perform a mobile audit and don’t block resources from being crawled

The mobile audit can be performed by using the WebSite Auditor. It is the easiest way out. Also, don’t block CSS, JavaScript, videos, images, etc. It dampens the working process of the website.

Optimize load time

It just takes a fraction of the second for the user to switch between the websites. Millions of websites are in your competition and working hard to be on the top. Why give them a chance? People seek for the websites whose page-load time is not more than 2 seconds.

Firstly, check out the speed of your website through Page Speed Insights. It would guide you in case the loading pace is below expectations. Just follow the instructions offered, and you’ll succeed in speeding up your website.

Update your Google My Business listing (or claim it if you haven’t)

They say 20% of the search traffic comes from the local queries. So, in case you have a local business, you have the edge over others. Just ensure that you don’t repel back your customers by the unappealing or mobile-unfriendly website.

Usually, the voice searches on mobile-phones are to know about the much specific information. So, make sure you include the following information in the footer of your website (preferably).

The name of your business
Address
Contact details
Description of the services and products offered
Working hours

Make sure that all this information is accurate enough, not to irritate the potential customers. Do try to keep the description of business precise but informative. The word limit may range around 400 words.

Optimize your content around question keywords

The voice search enables one to speak up the query. And most of us tend to keep it in a conversational tone. That is, starting with what, who, where, how, etc. So, it’s advisable to build up your content around the questions. Equip oneself with an answer before the customer poses a query. The Long-tail keywords convert fast, and the competitiveness decreases. They take lesser time to bring out the most relevant text.

The long-tail conversational questions can be best addressed through the Q & A or FAQ page. These pages would include both questions and related answers, thereby, increasing the relevancy to the asked question. One can use the phrases that are often used in these issues to yield better results.

Also, do check the “People Also Ask” box for the information regarding the mindset of people while framing questions. This box would offer you ample of examples to search through, to add to your content. The relevancy level stands out if the key phrases in the box are taken care of.

Make use of featured snippets to stand out in searches

From where does the voice search assistant looks out for the answer to our question? It’s usually from this box called featured snippet that is present above all the results. This contains the most relevant and quick information to the asked query. But it’s not the case that the first link in the SERP is usually featured. It can be somewhere from deep down below but the best answer to the voice search to be read aloud.

So, the content should be optimized to make it come into the featured snippet.

Your website should look appealing to Google. Use the Google Analytics to be sure of the same.
The content should be organized- starting from the fundamental and essential information to the minute details with images, charts, and videos; and then summing it all with examples.
Optimize the format of your page. Use paragraphs, tables, lists, and maps to align things and make things appealing and informative.

With these few simple changes to your SEO strategy, you can tap into the ever-growing realm of voice search to boost your website traffic and conversations.

If you would like to know how to get your website up to par, book a 45-minute Strategy Session today![/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]