How is Voice Search Different from Traditional Search

Asking a device to get results for your query is not the same as typing a query on a desktop. Searching with our voice is different.

Here’s how:

1. Voice Search Keywords are Longer and Conversational 

When we converse with a smart device and ask questions, we usually ask the whole question rather than just using a couple of keywords…

When we are on the desktop in the search term, we might type “make pudding cake” or “pudding cake recipe”

When using the voice, we might ask, “Hi Alexa, how do I make a pudding cake at home?”

If you notice, the length of the keywords in both of the above searches is different, with our voice query being longer and more conversational.

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2. Local Listings Search Are a Priority for Voice

The maximum volume of voice search requests consists of “near me” questions; this confirms two things:

1. People use voice search to find places to visit, hotels to stay, restaurants to eat on the go.
2. In addition to places, people also need information about time and things.

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Now that we know that “near me” searches are quite numerous, it’s time to take a look at the different places these searches are performed from:

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As you will notice, the use of voice search is increasing in public places like theaters, bathrooms, restaurants, etc.

Most of these searches are for local businesses and information pertaining to these businesses.

Voice Search is Faster and Easier…

There is not a shadow of a doubt, that voice search is faster than traditional methods of searching for a query.

Why Is Voice Search Becoming More Popular?

There are several reasons for the growth in popularity of voice recognition technology in consumer devices such as Android Mobile devices and Smart Home technology such as Amazon Alexa, Amazon Echo, Google Home.

The average person can write around 40 words per minute but can speak around 150 words per minute, allowing for greater specificity with less effort.

The second reason for the growing popularity of voice search is its ongoing integration with emerging products and technologies.

Is Voice Search The Future?

Voice search will continue to grow in popularity. In fact, 55% of teens use voice search on a daily basis.

By 2022, voice-based shopping is expected to grow to $40 billion. With stats like these, it’s clear there’s no slowdown for voice search.

Voice Search Results Are Prompt and To the Point 

The results of our voice searches are mostly the featured snippets that we get in traditional searches.

Google relies heavily on knowledge charts and rich snippets to answer voice queries.

Search engines want fast and immediate results, and Google understands that. The same also applies to voice search, where direct answers are the priority.

How Will Voice Search Affect SEO?

While voice search provides great customer experiences, it can also improve a business’s SEO, as long as you’re taking the right actions.

And the better your voice search SEO strategy is, the more likely customers (or voice assistants) are to find your business.

How to Optimize for Voice Search

Here are some tips that you can use to optimize your new and existing content for the voice search…Make sure to use this voice optimization strategy.

1. Make Your Content Scannable

People who are doing a mobile search. i.e., people who are searching the internet on their mobile devices are looking for content that’s been optimized for this platform.

Make sure your content is easily readable, scannable for mobile users, and doesn’t have annoying pop-ups or ads that can prevent them from getting the information they need.

Use simple sentences, short paragraphs, and bold headings to break up your content as much as possible…

2. Focus on Long-Tail Keywords

We’ve already covered the fact that people use more natural language when using voice search, so targeting long-tail keywords is a must.

To do this, you must “think how people speak”. This might be a different kind of long-tail than you’re used to.

It’s more about real speech and less about keyword variations. You need to know and target as many variations as possible.

Answer the Public offers a great tool for this. It appends on the search query or search terms with words like “for” or “with” to dig deeper into searcher intent:

You can also use Google Search Console to determine the actual queries that are drawing people to your site.

Right now, there’s no way to tell which queries are coming from voice or text-based searches, but Google has hinted that that may change in the future.

You can also use keyword research tools like SEMrush to find all the long-tail keywords for your content…

3. Create Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Pages

Another great way to use the customer data you’ve collected, you can also add some question that is related to your content and create FAQ pages that focus on those long-tail key phrases.

Try to group common questions on the same page and write as naturally (human language) as possible. If you need to create multiple pages to make it sound more natural, take that approach.

You want search engines to have the best chance of getting answers/information from your site, so anticipate direct and long-tail questions.

At the beginning of each piece of content, you should also add some quick responses to satisfy Google’s rich snippet requirements.

4. Pump Up Your Microdata

Make it as easy as possible for Google to crawl your website and understand what it is about…

This will increase the chances that the search engine will use your content to answer voice search queries.

To do this, in addition to adding your Google My Business information(business listing information), you’ll need to submit a sitemap to Google that includes information such as prices, directions to your physical location, business hours, and store address and phone number.

Next, use microdata to help Google understand what this text means. Create markup for various use cases. For example, here is a rich snippet that Google returned for “How many people live in the Bahamas.”

Google knew which answer to show for my questions due to a microdata markup on the World Bank site.

To make sure your microdata is structured correctly, visit Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper and learn about the different types of content you can markup …

It will be even better if you go through the process that will help you to create the correct HTML Webpage.

Conclusion:

The future of voice search is not predictable. However, we know that it is gaining considerable traction and that its growth will not slow down anytime soon.

You need to go back to the drawing board and modify your Search Engine Optimization strategy to incorporate voice optimization.

Also, check my other post that guides you in a very detailed way on how to optimize the keyword. Additionally, you can check my post that tells how to find a search intent of a specific keyword. Do check these posts…

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