Whether through a smartphone, Google Assistant, Alexa, or Siri, ~50% of all searches are conducted via voice.
VEO is SEO on steroids. Ranking at the top is literally everything. While the first organic result on a Google enjoys ~35% of all click-throughs, only the top result is returned for searches on a smart speaker. Just the top three results for voice search are delivered on mobile devices.
Users are 300% more likely to research a local listing with voice search. It has become the resource for on-the-go information, while walking, or driving. If you engage in Voice Engine Optimization, you can beat your local competition, in a major way. Here’s how to start:
Maintain Your Local Listings
Amazon Alexa is partnered with Yelp for local searches. Google is driven by Google Maps. Siri sources information from Apple Maps. The goal is to optimize your listings to make it into the Google local pack, and ideally into the Google OneBox.
Add Long-Tale Keywords To Your SEO Strategy
A text search for a close-by pizza place would probably look something like “best pizza near me” where a voice-based search would sound closer to something like “where can I get the best pizza near me?” Integrate the conversational phrases into your SEO that your target audience is likely to use.
Monitor Your Site Speed
Voice searches are looking for immediate results. If your mobile page takes more than 5 seconds to load the customer is 90% more likely to leave. Google requires mobile sites to respond in 3 seconds to be considered for voice searches. If you can’t make it, you may loose out.
Provide Answers
Voice searches are more likely to be questions. Google wants to provide the best answers it can in the blink of an eye. By default, Google will use a featured snippet, a short text box that appears at the top of Google’s search results page. If your metadata is well-optimized, the answer will come directly from there. An FAQ page is also a good place to provide questions and answers, and something that Google prefers to index and rank.