How To Optimize Your Content for Voice Search [Infographic]
What is voice search?
You have probably heard about voice search, heck, you have likely used it already – possibly without even knowing it. If you have ever asked Alexa, Siri, or Google anything from your smart TV, home station, or phone, the answer is yes.
Why is voice search important for dental marketing?
You might be wondering: Is optimizing your content for voice search SEO really that important? The answer is a resounding yes!
More than 50% of all smartphone users use voice technology every single day. *… This text opens a new tab to the source link…[SOURCE]
According to an Adobe Analytics Survey, 47% of all voice searches performed were done in relation to an online search query, and 34% were asking for directions.
What does that mean for you?
If your dental website does not have its content optimized for voice search you are missing out. BIG TIME!
As with text-based search, the major player you will want your website optimized for is Google. Both Siri (Apple’s voice assistant) and Google Assistant both utilize … This text opens a new tab to an article about Rankbrain…Google’s RankBrain language-learning AI integrated search algorithms. In fact, they combine to own a whopping 72% of all digital assistant usage. *… This text opens a new tab to the source link…[SOURCE]
By optimizing for Google Voice, you’ll automatically be optimizing your content for Siri as well.
Now, you might be thinking: My dental marketing agency already optimized my content for traditional ‘typed search’ already, wouldn’t that cover it?
Voice search VS. typed search
Voice searches and typed searches are fundamentally different. Our habits for voice-based queries are very different from typed queries. For example, if you were searching for the best dentist in your area your query when using a text-based search would likely be something like this: “Best dentist near me,” whereas if you were using voice-based search it would likely be something like this: “Hey Siri, who is the best dentist near me?”
Notice how the query is more natural? More conversational? The way your content is optimized affects which keywords you use, and what on-page enhancements would be done.
One major benefit of voice search emerging in popularity is that it lends itself to semantic search. Instead of trying to stuff content full of exact match keywords, voice search works hand-in-hand with semantic search by better understanding the users’ intent.
So how can you make sure your dental website is optimized for voice search SEO?
5 easy ways to optimize your dental website for voice
- Make sure everything on your site is fast and up-to-date, which means compressing images, files, scripts, etc. as well as removing old or duplicated content. *Tip: Don’t sacrifice quality for speed, but do make sure you deliver quality as fast as possible.
- Write content in a natural conversational way with direct answers to specific questions, using long-tail keywords that reflect popular queries in your vertical and area of expertise. Avoid robotic keyword-focused text.
- Add in structured data wherever possible to help provide in-depth background information about your brand, your services, photos, etc. This helps keep queries and answers in context.
- Some types of schema markup available for a dental practice are … This text opens a new tab to a list of schema markup options…(See the full list here):
- Places
- People
- Organizations
- Events
- Tutorials or How-To Content
- Video Object
- Image Object
- FAQ’s
- Some types of schema markup available for a dental practice are … This text opens a new tab to a list of schema markup options…(See the full list here):
- Provide up-to-date localized information, including FAQ’s, on your website. You can also utilize the Q&A section on your Google My Business listing. (One of the cool things about GMB Questions & Answers is that you can go in and pre-populate your Q&A with frequently asked questions and answers yourself. This means you can essentially create an FAQ section on your Google My Business listing.)
- Invest in growing your backlink profile, which will in turn increase your domain authority and your overall ranking. (Backlinks matter because searches, whether by voice or text, rely on obtaining the most accurate and reliable information to rank highly.)
The impact of voice technology on SEO for dentists is certain. Given the massive rise in the adoption and use of voice search, especially in the United States, the impact it will have on dental practices will be considerable.
3 free research tools and voice optimization tips
… This text opens a new tab to the Answer the Public website…Answer the Public: Answer the Public is a keyword tool that visualizes search questions and suggested autocomplete searches in a visual search cloud. It includes ‘people also search for’ data which is crucial when optimizing for voice search.
… This text opens a new tab to a markup website…Structured Data Markup Helper: The Structured Data Markup Helper helps webmasters and content creators to highlight/markup specific elements on existing web pages so that search engines can better understand the data. Once Google or other search engines understand the data better, it can be presented in more attractive ways in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages)
… This text opens a new tab to Google My Business…Google My Business: Google My Business (GMB) listings are essential for both local SEO as well as producing relevant voice search results for your brand in your local area. Our own Alex Ratynski recently published a post on Moz outlining specific ways to get your business ranked. Check out his post: … This text opens a new tab to an article about Google Maps…A Beginners Guide to Ranking in Google Maps.
Voice search SEO statistics infographic
This infographic contains 13 voice search statistics to help you make sure your existing content and any new content you write will be fully searchable.