Tag Archives: voice search

Top Voice Search Ranking Factors Analyzed

There are many factors that influence a sites ranking in voice search results. To figure out which factor is most important, Backlinko conducted an extensive analysis.

Here are the findings:

Page speed is crucial. Most of the results were from fast loading pages.
Domain authority is of absolute importance.
Content that ranks well on the desktop also ranks well on voice search.
Surprisingly, Schema is not that important factor as only 36% of sites that ranked well on voice search results were using schema.
41% of Voice search results came from featured snippets.
HTTPS is an absolute must.

This research debunked the myth that Schema is of absolute importance. The research also made it clear that page speed is CRUCIAL. All the results that listed well on voice search were almost 2 times faster than traditional pages.

Google’s reliance on domains with high authority for providing voice search results comes from the tendency that they “may” provide higher accuracy as compared to domain’s with less authority. But it is possible that they will come up with a more sophisticated approach for the same in near future.

The research also shed some light on the importance of long-form content. People speak more words that they type, so it’s natural that pages that use comprehensive content will reign supreme in this area.

However, you don’t have to specifically optimize your site’s content for voice search, writing in-depth content will suffice.

On a side note, virtual assistants are on the rise. So the marketers who are willing to offer their clients the latest digital marketing technology should take these platform seriously.

Google Has Published Guidelines on Google Assistant and Google Voice Search

Here’s what Google wrote —

“In the past we have received requests to see our evaluation guidelines from academics who are researching improvements in voice interactions, question answering, and voice-guided exploration. To facilitate their evaluations, we are publishing some of the first Google Assistant guidelines. It is our hope that making these guidelines public will help the research community build and evaluate their own systems.”

Google will be evaluating these dimensions for rating voice search responses.

Information Satisfaction: The content should not be irrelevant. It has to be similar to the requirements specified by the user.
Length: As far as the length is in question, the information should not be very little or too much. Unlike a web search, the users cannot scan the results and identify its usefulness, which is why it has to be sufficient enough to fulfill the user’s query.
Formulation: This simply means that the source (e.g. website), language, and of course the content produced should be grammatically sound and easy to understand by the user.
Elocution: Resources such as WaveNet and Tacotron 2 are rapidly simplifying the text-to-speech generation process thereby minimizing the need for human performance.

The full PDF of Google Voice Search Guidelines is available as a download here.

For more information on how people are using this new technology, check out this list by Adculture of 25 voice search statistics.

Start Optimizing Your Website For Voice Search

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Voice search is picking up the pace quickly. Google reported that more than 20% of the
searches are already being performed via voice search. And due to the increasing number of
Internet of things, experts are predicting that the number might go up to 50% by 2020.

Well, the prediction might seem a bit exaggerated, the growing trend is indicating that it
might be possible. Amazon Echo and Google Home are not only creating buzz but are also getting a lot of positive reviews. The Amazon Echo was the best selling product during the 2016 holiday sales! Also, now every smartphone comes with a personal assistant, which further escalates the possibilities of voice search becoming a big hit!

While many people may argue that the “Experts” have been predicting such things for quite
some time, without any success. Now people are more tech savvy and they
prefer convenience, and that’s exactly what voice searches provide. For seniors,
it’s really hard to type a long sentence into the search box. And then there are those with big
fingers, they struggle a lot to type just a single sentence. Also, if you have your hands dirty or are super busy trying to multitask, voice search is very reliable.

Voice search makes it easy for everyone to ask questions, without struggling with the tiny keys.
Also, the fact that humans can barely type 40 words in a minute but can speak up to 150 words
pushes the possibilities even further. Google has reported that their Voice search is now 95
percent accurate, a 20 percent improvement when compared to 2013.

The voice search may have tasted the limelight long ago, but because the AI was not so
good at getting the context, people were turned off. Now many people don’t use it
because of the poor past experience. However, things might change because of the high level of
accuracy that voice search now provides. In the near future, the AI will become more sophisticated in understanding the actual context of the queries. They will provide results based on the context rather than going with the literal meaning. And this will compel everybody out there to use voice search, because who doesn’t love convenience?

NOW IS THE TIME TO START OPTIMIZING YOUR SITE FOR VOICE SEARCH

A recent study revealed that people are starting to use voice search in public, because in
the past, most of the users were quite hesitant, and only felt comfortable at home or in private
space. But as the technology is advancing, they are getting used to it.

As a business owner, it’s better to keep an eye on the changing trends and this is exactly what
we are asking you to do. Until now, optimizing your content for voice search was mainly for
the B2C business, but since it has the potential to go mainstream, it’s better that you start
optimizing your site for the voice search immediately. It will not only put you ahead of the competition, but will also affect your overall SEO efforts because it’s not a separate initiative, but just an expansion of the existing SEO practices.

Here’s how you can be prepared for the B2B voice search.

It’s a no brainier that voice search will be performed using mobile devices, so mobile
optimization is crucial. If you start optimizing your website for voice search now you will be able to ride the first wave that other people didn’t catch.

As compared to text search, voice searches will be longer. So research long tail
keywords and use them in your content. Also, you might want to start giving your
language a natural /conversational tone so that the search engines find your website
relevant for the search queries.

Optimize for local. Voice search will mostly target nearby locations. So, it is critical that
your business is listed and verified in top tier local directories such as Google My Business,
Bing, Facebook, Yelp, etc. Terms that people use most often when performing a voice search for a local business are “Near Me”, “Around Me” and “Close To Me”.

Targeting featured snippet will help you get the position zero (equivalent to the page
one ranking).