Powerful Ways to Optimize Your Website for Voice Search

A shift from PC to mobile, has changed the digital landscape and the search marketing scenario. The way people seek information online has transformed a lot and so has the way in which search engines tackle search queries. Today, people have the boon of voice search, it has changed the way people communicate with search engines. Widely used on mobile devices, voice search is great for quick search, if you don't want to type your search query on a tiny screen, just speak it out loud to your search engine, and receive instant results.

You need to optimize your website to rank higher in search results, so as to drive more traffic naturally. Search optimization is not limited to text search, but with the outburst of voice search, you need to focus on optimizing website content to make it audio search friendly. Below, I have listed a few powerful ways to optimize your website for voice search, try them out for better voice search ranking.

1) Try to be mobile friendly
You cannot afford to miss out on volumes of audience using Internet services on mobile phones. Search engines satisfy our thirst for information, with maximum searches happening worldwide on mobiles, get ready to handle the traffic coming from mobile devices. Be equally prepared for text and voice search, launch a responsive website that is compatible across devices and screen sizes, for better market penetration.

2) Optimize for local searches
Value local customers if you operate a business in local territory. Optimize your content for locals and their voice searches. Get street smart, to target local customers write content with a local touch, mention your locality _ using it as a keyword is suggested. Always make sure to show up in searches pertaining to your local business to maximize market reach. For e.g.: Best Pet doctors in Symond Street. A well maintained website, directory listing, Geo tagging and easily accessible contact details can do the needful.

3) Answer questions
Surfers are looking for information on search engines, but how do they ask for it? Most search queries are in the form of direct questions seeking a direct answer. For e.g.: How is the weather in London today? In your website content, brainstorm and try to answer user questions, use an answering tone for better performance of the website in voice search results.

4) Keyword analysis
Keywords play centric role in voice search optimization, identify keywords that appropriately describe your product/services, categories and are commonly used by surfers in their search queries. Hitting the right keywords in your content and visual communication is believed to boost website traffic. Try to use keywords that are used when real people talk about your products/services, it may actually not include your brand name, but the need that your product satisfies. Try to use a conversational tone and long string keywords. For e.g.: What is the alternative of sugar for diabetic people aged 60 and having high blood pressure?

5) Be searchable
Being user friendly is important, but being search engine friendly is a mandate. Allow search spiders to find you when they do the crawling. Focus on target audience while writing the content, but do not go off the track. If search engines will not be able to understand what your website is about they may not list you for the search terms that you want and all your optimization efforts will go waste.

Humans love to communicate and connect. To make the most of voice search functionality, it is mindful to apply website voice search optimization techniques. Give your website a tone and voice, go conversational. Observe the way people around you are communicating with your brand and apply your observations to enhance search performance. If you already have a website with text search optimized content, it is high time to alter it to match voice search responses.