Voice search is becoming one of the most reliable methods of attracting customers to your e-commerce business. This isn’t surprising seeing that it’s easier to use a virtual assistant than to type questions on your device. When you ask should I optimize my eCommerce website for voice search, the answer is yes.
According to Google, voice shopping could reach 50% by 2022, while smartphones and smart speakers are expected to grow by 55%.
How does voice search optimization help an e-commerce business? At the heart of it, all are intent and convenience. Google is now capable of identifying the former to deliver the latter.
For instance, let’s say you’re cooking something. You forgot a vital ingredient and couldn’t remember it. So you ask Google Home, Amazon Echo, or Alexa to provide an answer.
In a span of a few seconds, you’re back to preparing the dish. All of this without even washing your hands and typing the query yourself.
Having said that, how can you optimize your e-commerce business to accommodate voice search from your voice assistant? Here are 7 tips for you to remember.
4 Local SEO Strategies To Capitalize On Voice Search
1. Keyword Research Geared Towards Intent
Identifying the pain points of your target audience is a significant component of voice search. And long-tail keywords can help you address these pain points. How? By zooming in on the intent of a user’s query.
You do this by using question keywords and long-tail keywords in your content. For instance, instead of “fried chicken,” you should expand it to “how to prepare homemade fried chicken.” This will help you get featured snippets.
Even better is narrowing it down further. “How to prepare homemade spicy Korean fried chicken wings.”
For keyword research, SEMrush is a highly recommended tool. It’s expansive, goes in-depth, and thousands of businesses are attesting to its function.
2. Create Content Based On Customer Pain Points
Once you’ve found your keyword, it’s time to create content around it. Remember, always try to be specific. Identify the pain points you’re trying to address. You do this by looking forward to what users will input into the voice search.
It’s also important to add more value on top of the pain points you’re trying to address. Aside from answering the query, try to over-deliver and add relevant information to strengthen engagement.
This is why long-form content is favored by a lot of businesses. You can fit in a lot of user queries in long-form content, after all. It will also increase your organic traffic, decreasing spending on marketing endeavors such as Facebook advertising costs.
3. Local Business Listing
Another way of attracting a customer is by using long-tail keywords for your local business listing. So let’s say you’re a business that is selling “spicy Korean fried chicken.”
Add your local business listing into that keyword. It’ll now look something like “spicy Korean fried chicken in San Mateo California.”
This tip is quite important seeing that people are becoming more comfortable using voice search queries in public. While the home setting is still the most prevalent, theaters and public restrooms are surprisingly seeing an increase as well.
Moreover, “near me” searches are quite high. And when people are searching for these places, a visit is likely to follow. These are called micro-moments, a fleeting desire of a person to learn about, watch or buy something.
4. Use A Conversational Tone
If you look closely at the examples above, you’ll see that all of the optimized long-tail keywords are using a conversational tone. This is based on human behavior and how Google’s AI recognizes this pattern.
When typing a query, you might input “spicy Korean chicken wings near me.” In voice search, that becomes “What is the nearest restaurant for spicy Korean chicken wings open tonight near me.” Notice that the flow is far more specific and conversational. It also contains filler words such as “is,” “the,” and “for.”
So always use a conversational tone when optimizing your content for voice search terms. This way, you’ll add value to a user and provide detailed intent search results for the search engine.
5. Optimize Your Website For Speed
How many times have you closed a website for failing to load in only a few seconds? Most likely your answer is Countless times. It’s for this reason why your website should be optimized for speed.
After all, it doesn’t matter if you have engaging content if nobody is going to read it.
There are dozens of ways to do this. Enabling compression, reducing redirects, optimizing codes, and minimizing image size are just some of them.
6. Optimize Content For Easier Comprehension
When writing content, don’t just address the pain point and ensure the site is loading quickly. It’s also important to structure it for easier readability.
To do this, avoid being too technical and using jargon. Failing to do so will result in an increased bounce rate.
According to a study by Backlinko, the average Google voice search is written on a ninth-grade level. Here are a few tips in increasing your content’s readability:
- Use simple words for voice commands.
- Use transition words.
- Use shorter sentences.
- Use images.
- Structure information in a hierarchy (who, what, when, where, and why).
- Write in a conversational tone.
You can also use some apps to measure the readability level of your content. Aim for a readability level of 7 or 6, although you’d want it to lower to five 5 if possible.
7. Browse Specific Forums
When researching keywords, you’d want to look at what people are saying in a specific niche. Reddit is one of the best sites to use when trying to determine what language your target audience speaks. Quora is another option.
By looking at these sites, you’ll not only understand how your customers speak to one another, but you’ll also discover the queries they are using.
Moreover, you’ll also discover their likes, dislikes, and trends that are rising within that particular culture.
With technological advancement expanding globally, the smart devices that people use will become more ubiquitous.
Smartphones and smart speakers have already made their way into millions of lives. And alongside it is voice search and its impact on how consumers behave.
By tweaking your business to fit the growing voice search trend, you’ll be ensuring relevance in the future. Just remember to always add value to your consumers and you won’t go astray.
