How Voice Search Affects SEO
Search engine optimization has been a popular marketing tool for years allowing businesses to make their way to the top of search engine results pages. The standard advice includes discussions about crawl accessibility, compelling content, keyword optimization, user experience, and share-worthy content. Share-worthy content refers to the idea that pages with the most in-links from pages with the most authority are ranked higher in the search results. Essentially, SEO allows businesses to build links and establish authority. However, with many businesses allocating resources and employees towards this practice, it has become more and more difficult for new players or those late to the SEO game to become the authority when search engines have already deemed a so-called winner.
Voice search optimization presents a new point of competition for businesses to reposition themselves within search engine results pages. Voice search is still in its early days. As of 2019, about 20% of web searches are voice searches. This figure is expected to reach 50% by just 2020, highlighting the growing relevance of voice SEO. Voice search is different from web search in a few important ways. Firstly, voice searches are often framed like questions; they’re conversational. Secondly, they tend to be carried out on mobile devices. Lastly, they don’t lead to sharing behaviors.
Most voice searches are done for quick information on-the-go. Because of this, voice-optimized sites need to feature conversationally-written content, be mobile-friendly, answer common questions, and incorporate local, “near me” keywords. Link-building is important but with 50% of searches moving to voice by 2020, it is important that sharing becomes even easier for these on-the-go voice searchers. These concepts are key for sites to consider if they plan to maintain or establish authority in the very near future.
Source:
https://www.business2community.com/seo/5-seo-mistakes-that-are-costing-you-customers-02243490, https://www.aithority.com/guest-authors/state-of-voice-search-2019/