This guest post is by Nick Rojas.
Technology is constantly changing, and some changes may affect your current marketing strategy. For example, the increasing popularity of voice search could completely disrupt your SEO strategy. How? Here are some of the ways:
Focus on long-tailed keywords
The shift to voice searches will affect your brand’s keyword strategy. Why? Let’s say someone is looking for an Italian restaurant in Chicago. If the person is performing a voice search, he may say something along the lines of “I’m looking for Italian restaurants in Chicago” or “What’s the best Italian restaurant in Chicago?” However, if he were to perform this same search on a computer, he may type in “Chicago Italian restaurant” or “Italian food Chicago” instead. Because of this difference, it’s important that marketers start to incorporate long-tailed keywords into their targeting strategy.
Questions are key
As illustrated in the example above, people will ask more questions when they perform voice searches than they would if they were typing in a search query. Marketers need to keep this in mind when developing their websites and keyword strategies. Not only should questions be used as target keywords, but the website should also be edited to include a Frequently Asked Questions page. On this page, marketers can list out (and provide answers to) questions that people may use as a search query. This will help the search engine find you when someone is performing a voice search.
Local results may rank higher
People who use voice search are three times more likely to see local search results than those who use text search. If you don’t localize your SEO strategy, you may not have a shot at landing in the search results for mobile and voice users.
What should you do? Use keywords that would be relevant to someone who is searching for you locally. For example, let’s say you own a pizza place in the Inner Harbor area of Baltimore. In this case, Baltimore is the name of the city, but the Inner Harbor is the area of Baltimore where you are located. It would be more effective to use “Inner Harbor pizza” as a keyword than it would be to use “Baltimore pizza” because the former is more specific and localized. Keep this example in mind as you figure out how you can make your keyword strategy more local.
Schema markup is key
Schema markup is code that you can put on your website to help search engines return relevant information to users. To put it simply, schema markup translates the information to the search engine so it knows what your content means, not just what it says. Using schema markup on your website will help you rank higher in voice search results because you are helping the search engine understand exactly what your content is saying. Therefore, your page may rank higher for very specific, long-tailed keyword searches.
The world of SEO is constantly changing, so you have to be ready to adapt at a moment’s notice. Voice searches are becoming more popular partly because they are hands-free and more convenient, which is perfect for our constantly on-the-go, mobile culture. Right now, it’s important to focus your efforts on adjusting your strategy so you can tap into the huge market that is performing voice searches.
Nick Rojas combines 20 years of experience working with and consulting for small to medium business and a passion for journalism to help readers grow. He writes about technology, marketing, and social media for the aspiring entrepreneur. When Nick is not sharing his expertise, he can be found spending time at the beach with his dog Presto.
