Hey You! That’s right, I’m back but instead of SEO, I’m talking about voice and local search. Do you frequently talk to Siri? Maybe you’re more of a Google or Cortana person. Whoever you love best, you know the coined phrase “Hey___”, hence the beginning of this blog “Hey you”. Well, voice search is on the rise, so read on to find out more about voice and local search.

What is Voice Search?

Voice search is exactly what it says; completing a search using your voice. Every time you search using your digital assistant (Siri, Cortana, Google), you are participating in using voice search, and now, more than ever, people are searching with their voice.

Have you ever told Siri to search for you when you’re driving? As much as I hate to admit it, I have done this, and I am guessing you have too. All these things are a part of using voice search, and by 2023, it’s predicted that 8 billion voice assistants will be used. That’s a lot of voice searches!

Why is it Important?

Voice search is important because of the number of people that use it. If you think about it, voice search is the type of search that people should use. This convenient, hands-free solution to asking a question works for all different types of people. Little kids can now learn the answers to their questions and older adults can search things like never before. The necessity to optimize your website for voice search is not something to be ignored. I often find myself asking Siri to look up answers to questions that I have. She also sends messages, makes phone calls, and looks up directions for me too.

Optimizing Your Website For Voice Search

You should optimize your website for voice search using Search Engine Watch’s six easy steps to optimize your website for voice search.

1. Featured snippets: Featured snippets are selected search results that are featured on top of Google’s organic results below the ads in a box. These are important to voice search optimization because 30% of 1.4 million tested Google queries contain them and voice assistants pull their answers from there.

2. User intent: Tells us the actual reason a person typed their query into a search engine.

3. Long tail keywords & questions: Helps optimizing both VSO and SEO. Key phrases that contain more than two keywords face less difficulty and provide higher chances to rank at the top.

4. Page speed: If your page doesn’t load fast, people will not have patience to wait for it.

5. Structured data: Helps search engines crawl and quickly read the content on your website. Local SEO: Most people use VSO for finding local businesses, so having effective information about local businesses will increase the likelihood of your website being seen.

What is Local Search?

Local search marketing is “anything you do on the web to promote a physical business that makes face-to-face contact with customers. It applies to both single-location small and medium businesses, national enterprise brands, and chains.”

Local Search’s Importance

Local search is important because it is SEO that focuses solely on local businesses. It’s important because:

• 50% of people who searched a store actually went to a physical store.

• 18% of local mobile searches lead to a sale within one day

• 60% of American adults conducted searches for local services or product information on tablets and smartphones

• 50% of searchers on their mobile phones who conduct local searches are looking for things LIKE a local business

• 97% of consumers looked online for local business in 2017, 12% look online every day

How To Optimize for Local Search

Local search is conducted by optimizing your website for its users. HubSpot’s blog walks through the steps that explain how to optimize your website for local search.

1. Optimize for Google My Business: This is an important first step because Google My Business is the TOP of local search. It allows your business to meet Google’s needs, so it is verified.

2. Improve your internal linking structure: Internal linking supports website navigation. It also assists with information architecture and website hierarchy. It also distributes page authority and website hierarchy.

3. Optimize URL, title tags, headers, meta description, and content: This is important because it makes it more likely that search engines will optimize the content on your website.

4. Add location pages to your website: Provide readers with critical information about your business.

5. Create local content: Local authority for your industry by promoting local industry.

6. Ensure your website is mobile friendly: If your website is not mobile friendly, it will not be functional to consumers.

7. Ensure name, address, and phone number are consistent online: This is where you NAP. You should ensure that your name, address, and phone number are always up to date.

8. Optimize online directories and citations: If Google can’t verify your information, it will not show your business is available and real.

9. Get inbound links with relevance and authority: This helps boost your local SEO which allows search engines to explain to consumers that you are real.

10. Engage on social media and add posts to Google My Business: Share your Google My Business page on social media so that people know about your business.

Conclusion

Voice and local search are frequently used search methods. Every day people use their voice search assistants to answer their questions and search for local businesses and restaurants. Understanding the importance of optimizing your website for voice and local search will greatly increase the visibility of your website. As we wrap up search engine week, it is important to understand the extreme importance of search engines because a lack of understanding them will lead to poor visibility for your business. Stay tuned for my next blog and see what we’ll be learning next about digital marketing!