With the increase of voice searches, one question repeatedly comes up – is voice search the death of SEO? While voice is definitely changing the way we go about search engine optimization, SEO principles certainly aren’t going anywhere.
Now isn’t the time to push search engine marketing aside figuring it’s futile with voice users. Instead, it’s time to embrace the changes and move forward into the future. For those of you wondering what this means, here’s how voice search is changing the future of SEO.
How Natural Speech Patterns Will Affect SEO
One of the most notable ways that voice search is changing SEO is in the natural speech patterns of voice users. For example, it used to be that a local restaurant wanting to optimize their SEO would focus on keywords like “Best Mexican restaurant near me”. Today, voice searchers are more specific and using natural language in their queries. That same search query would probably look something like “Where is the best Mexican restaurant that serves empanadas in Smithville”. This is a very basic example, but it serves to illustrate that stark contrast between text and voice-based SEO.
Local SEO Growth
This can provide a huge boost to local businesses looking to get maximum impact from their SEO. Consumers are more likely to use voice search on mobile devices when they are out and about, looking for a local business. They’re also more likely to search out something very specific – be it a menu item, specific service or location. By optimizing content to meet their local customer’s needs, voice search actually gives an advantage to small businesses who often see unimpressive results from the high ranking keywords used by the “big guys”.
Optimizing Content to Answer Key Questions
We can look back at the above example to see that not only do voice searches resemble natural speech patterns and contain more words, they’re also often formatted in the style of a question. Think back to the last time you typed a search into Google. It was probably a flat, somewhat incoherent statement that contained only a few words. Voice search is completely different.
From a SEM perspective, it becomes important to optimize content so that it’s easy for search engines to identify common search queries in question form. For anyone who has ever created content and tried to figure out how to seamlessly integrate choppy keyword phrases, this comes as a nice relief.
Moving forward, SEO content should be built around answering the questions your customers have, including the natural language patterns they use when seeking out answers through
Partnering with an Experienced Voice Search Team
Voice isn’t the death of SEO, but it is changing it. Our digital marketing team offers a complete range of SEO services that will help you reach a growing number of voice search users. Contact us today to learn more about the future of voice for your business.
