How does SEO optimization changes with the advent of voice search? What are the impacts on search results and rankings?
In the beginning, it was Ok, Google. Launched by Google in 2009 as a voice interpreter to return search results, today it is experiencing its most excellent diffusion. Devices like the Amazon Echo and Google Home were the most frequent gifts for Christmas 2018.
These devices allow you to use voice search at home or in the office, with new and futuristic home automation applications. In fact, through simple voice commands, the smart speakers allow you to turn on the lights, turn off the heating or lower the shutters.
As per Nova SEO Services and voice commands, there is voice search, which opens the new frontier of SEO. People use smart speakers and mobile devices to research recipes, event information, shop, or compare product prices. In addition, you can ask Siri to find a friend’s phone number and send them a message while driving, making mobile searches much easier and faster.
The fields of voice search applications are many: imagine navigating within e-commerce simply by voice, asking the voice assistant what we are looking for, without using search filters. It would be nice, wouldn’t it? With voice search, you can!
Voice search data
During the last keynote, the CEO of Google Sunder Pichai announced that 20% of the total searches were voice searches. According to ComScore, by 2020, this proportion will increase, reaching 50% of voice searches and 30% of web sessions without using the screen and keys. Let’s find out more about this revolution, which is already underway.
What is voice search?
Voice search is the speech recognition technology that allows users to search using a voice command. Google offers us the possibility to express ourselves freely, informal, and with a human language. The search engine manages all types of queries, taking on the burden of deconstructing them and interpreting the user intent to return the best possible answer.
How voice search works
On a technical level, voice search services use artificial intelligence to interpret language through multi-level speech analysis:
- phonetics and intonation,
- morphology,
- syntax,
- semantics,
- logical concatenation and reasoning.
The query of the voice search is very different from those that you type on a keyboard. They include a smaller number of single words favoring keywords and long-tail phrases, more like spoken language.
Best practices for voice search optimization
The way you search is changing, devices change, and SEO optimization strategies change. The main things to watch out for are:
- Readability of the contents, since they will be read aloud due to the search, it is good to provide concise and readable content. According to a Backlinko report, the average length of a voice search result is 29 words;
- use of Schema.org markup, it is essential to communicate to search engines what information the voice assistant will have to read;
• Focus on speed, and voice search results must load much faster than standard web pages. A further report from Backlinko shows that the Time to First Byte is 0.54 seconds for sites that rank in voice search, compared to 2.1 seconds for a web page. Similarly, the overall loading time of voice search results pages is 4.6 seconds, while it usually is 8.8 seconds for a web page; - fluid content strategy, it is necessary to abandon the “one topic = one-page” paradigm in favor of a more integrated information structure, which goes beyond the logic of a subdivision by watertight compartments because we will respond less and less to a limited question;
- Domain authority, the site’s authority comes first, to obtain excellent results on the voice search side and for all other search methods. Positive reviews and mentions from reliable sources are factors that can help improve authority.
Better query categories and assistants
In recent years, all AI has made significant progress in understanding language. If Google Assistant has always been in first place for performing, however, if (with 100% of queries included) and percentage of correct answers (88%), Siri is the one that has made the best progress, coming in the second position (with 74.6% of correct answers).
However, there is a surprise on the query categories: Assistant is particularly effective in shopping questions, curious considering that Alexa is the most prominent e-commerce assistant globally. By the way, do you know what AMP Pages are and how they work?
Conclusion:
From the comparison, it is evident that each assistant has their strengths. Siri on HomePod is unbeatable in commands: “Remind, For example, me to call Julius at 2 pm today “, perfect for forgetfulness.
While both Assistant and Siri are powerful in local searches like “Where’s the nearest bar? “Or navigation, for example,” How do I get to the center by bus?”, Being able to take advantage of the cartographic services of Google Maps and Apple Maps.
Voice search, what is it, and what are the opportunities for SEO?
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