“Alexa, hire me a real estate agent near Denver, Colorado.” While it’s not that simple, voice search via Google Home and Amazon Alexa is becoming quite common. According to Nielsen, nearly 25% of American households own a smart speaker—and that number is only continuing to grow. If you want to be on the cutting edge of digital marketing technology, you might have to start optimizing your website for voice search. Here’s what we know.
Should You Optimize Your Website for Voice Search?
The answer? Absolutely. With the increased use of digital assistants in 2019 alone, optimizing for voice search is critical if you want your website to be successful on Google. But, how do you do it? It’s simple really. The first step to optimizing your website to voice is to write like you’d speak—or, preferably, how you think your customers would speak.
Google is becoming smarter by the day—and, it can now understand the conversational tone of a searcher. You won’t necessarily ask Alexa for the “best Italian restaurants in Denver”. Instead, you may ask, “Alexa, which restaurant near me serves dinner right now? It’s more like talking to a friend—but how do you optimize for this shift? Here are 3 tips to consider implementing.
1. Answer questions
Make your website provides quality answers to common questions. This can be questions about the services you provide or general questions about your industry. Keep in mind that nearly 22 percent of people using voice search are seeking basic information for local businesses—just like you. Have your contact information, hours of operation, and services listed prominently on your website—especially on the homepage. Also, make sure you’re curating your Google My Business listing with up-to-date information.
2. Write conversationally
Don’t optimize just for search engines. This isn’t the early 2000s anymore. Google is smarter than ever before and its robots have taught themselves our language. No longer does Google’s technology simply compute what you are saying and match up keywords. In 2019, it’s learned how to interpret context. Writing conversationally will help Google understand your worth and, over time, send searchers to you organically.
3. Consider long-tail keywords
Not only are keywords in voice search conversational, but they’re also much longer. Your keyword strategy should mimic how real people talk and ask questions verbally. Don’t just focus on short keywords you’d type into a search engine.
Need a good tip on where to start with voice search? Jot down a few notes the next time a customer calls your business. What did they ask? How did they ask it? Record the exact words they use when they talk to your staff—this will help you begin to understand how your local market speaks conversationally.
Beyond Blue Media: Top Digital Marketing Agency in Fort Collins, CO
At Beyond Blue Media, we make it our mission to serve our clients as best we can—and that means staying up-to-date on the latest in search engine technology and marketing best practices. As a full-service digital marketing agency serving Fort Collins and the surrounding areas, we ramp up digital marketing campaigns for small to medium-sized businesses and turn websites into lead-generation machines.
Need help? Our agency can provide for all of your marketing needs in 2019 and beyond. Take the first steps to a successful marketing plan by contacting Beyond Blue Media online today—or giving us a call at 970-691-6149.
Located in Fort Collins, Beyond Blue Media expands beyond our doorstep to offer digital marketing services to businesses across Northern Colorado. Our service areas include Fort Collins, Loveland, Ault, Greeley, Denver, Windsor, Boulder, Longmont, and the surrounding areas.
