Optimize for Alexa, Siri and other digital assistants
“Siri, what time is sunset today?” “Alexa, how do I get red wine out of the carpet?” “OK, Google …”
A whopping 50% of all searches will be voice search by 2020, according to comScore. So writers need to optimize pages, posts and other pieces for voice search.
How voice search affects SEO
To optimize for voice, writers should:
- Answer questions: People tend to pose voice searches as questions. Find out what your audience is asking via Answer the Public, FAQ Fox, Google Suggest and Keyword Tool. Then create pages, posts and other pieces with a popular question as the title and its answer as the content.
- Explain how to: The number of how-to searches increased by 70% between 2014 and 2015. Search for “How to [your topic]” and choose the subjects your audience seeks help with. Use “How to [your topic]” for the headline, page title and page description.
- Use conversational keywords. People write more formally, but they speak more conversationally. Keep word length to an average of 5 characters, readability at 7th grade or lower.
- Make copy scannable. The more easily Google can parse your content into distinct sections, the higher you’re likely to rank on SERPs.
Finally, make sure your webmasters have optimized your site for mobile. That alone will make a big difference in your SEO.
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