Our youngest son came home the other day, saying that his best friend was grounded for asking Alexa the answer to his math problem instead of doing the homework himself. While we all got a chuckle out of the story, it did reinforce the massive role smart speakers have taken in the home. “Okay Google” is just as powerful a phrase today as “you’ve got mail” was a decade ago, with more than 40% of Americans owning a voice assistant, according to a recent article in TechCrunch.
According to PWC, 65% of people between the ages of 25-49 use voice search daily, and Forbes reports that more than 29% of smart speaker owners are leveraging voice search to make online purchases. As consumers gain more and more confidence in voice assistants like the Amazon Alexa, Apple’s Homepod (Siri), Microsoft Cortana, and Google Home, businesses will soon be challenged to capture that first organic search engine optimization (SEO) result on these devices.
Here are four key considerations when optimizing for voice search:
- Google and other search engines must be able to find you – Simply put, they are asking for you to help them help you. One of the most important and foundational requirements for effective search engine optimization (SEO) is the inclusion of an Extensible Markup Language (XML) sitemap embedded into your site code. Basically, an XML sitemap is a table of contents that outlines all of the pages on your website. Google and other search engines use this “table of contents” or XML sitemap to more easily find your content. Without this, search engines won’t find your content at all, let alone for voice search
- Do Google and other search engines know “what” your company is – Now that they have found you, it’s time to personally introduce yourself. Another critical component of your website code is the addition of structured data, or schema markups. These schema markups eliminate potential confusion for Google and other search engines when they are evaluating your content for accurate results listings for both desktop and voice search. Are you a Mustang car, or a mustang horse? Hilton Hotel in Paris, or Paris Hilton? Consider this your elevator pitch, sharing the who you are and what you do.
- Voice search is often different from a desktop search – Let’s face it, people speak differently from how they type. Voice search is typically attached to a trigger, such as a question word (where, what, when, etc.) or an adjective (best, easiest, etc.). This is a key distinguisher from the more fragmented words or phrases we type into a search engine. Consider adding frequently asked questions (FAQ’s) and glossaries to your website that include some common voice search triggers. Content that utilizes “what is”, “how is”, “where are”, etc. will provide an advantage to improving your company’s ranking from a virtual assistant, smart speaker, and mobile voice search result
- Voice search is tied to mobile search – 57% of cell phone owners use their mobile device to issue voice commands and inquiries (PWC). Therefore, Google and other search engines are putting a significant amount of emphasis on mobile readiness and use of AMP sites. Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) were introduced by Google in 2015 to speed up load times and improve scrolling for mobile usability. Companies who have adopted AMP have an advantage from an SEO perspective
Voice search on smart assistants, smart speakers and mobile devices are continuing to grow exponentially. In a generation of convenience, technology companies are constantly creating ways of integrating voice into home thermostats, clocks, appliances, etc. Standards in new home construction will be including these innovations more and more. While this trend presents a challenge to companies to be at the forefront with their customers, it also offers a unique and exciting opportunity to take SEO mastery to the next level.