Why you should be optimising your website for voice searches

When you’re planning and developing a website now, it’s important to think of how future trends are going to affect your results. Technology is developing at such a breakneck speed and consumers are adopting the latest developments quicker that failure to plan ahead can mean your website quickly falls in the performance stakes.One of the key trends that’s shaking up the online world is voice search.

It’s easy to see why it’s going to have a huge impact. It’s now one of the expected features on a smartphone and the rise of in-home personal assistants means voice searches are set to see exponential growth. When you look further ahead to how the internet of things (IoT) is shaping up, you can see that voice search is going to become one of the most common ways that consumers use search engines.At the moment, voice searches and sales are still a relatively small part of the market. However, when you break it down, it’s clear to see that it’s an increasingly important feature for businesses with a local focus. According to a BrightLocal study, in 2017 almost six in ten consumers used voice search to find local business information and over three-quarters of voice searches on smart home speakers related to local searches.Predictions for just how big voice searches will become by the end of the decade vary but they all have one thing in common – they expect voice searches to see a huge amount of growth. comScore predicts half of searches will be voice searches by 2020, while Gartner estimates a more conservative but still impressive 30%. What does this mean for websites? The importance of SEO for driving traffic to business websites means that voice search is undoubtedly going to have an impact. Forward thinking businesses should already be looking at how they can optimise their web presence with this trend in mind.While it might seem like a complex task, there are some steps you can start taking now:· Realise what voice searches are used for – Typing searches aren’t going to go away as voice searches rise. They’ll be used for different types of searches. When using voice searches, users typically want immediate answers, such as the names of restaurants that are open or the nearest computer shop to their home. Understanding which content will be accessed by voice searches and typed searches can help boost your overall SEO performance.· Revise your keywords – The way that people search when they’re typing and giving a voice command changes, this should be reflected in your keywords. Voice searches tend to be more conversational and use informal language, consider how you’d phrase questions or search command when using your voice and build these into your keywords.· Answer questions – When using voice searches, consumers are more likely to pose questions they want answering. Creating content that answers common questions can help you improve your SEO strategy and engage more with potential customers.· Localise your website – As we’ve already seen, voice search is more commonly used for local searches. Localising your content or creating dedicated local landing pages can help you tap into this trend and deliver a wealth of information.