1googleGoogle Voice Search doesn’t seem to be a dream of the future anymore, although it is clearly still in its infancy. In a few years, however, experts predict voice-based search will have revolutionized online user behavior fundamentally. So, seize your chance to ensure your presence in the ‘market of the future’ by taking appropriate SEO measures now. Get a head start, since there are still only a few retailers aligning their marketing strategy in this area.

Google confirmed an increasing acceptance of voice search that accounts already for 20% of searches in the mobile app and on Android devices worldwide. Apparently, it is only a matter of time before voice search trumps textual search, therefore consider the following tips:

  • Make SEO for ‘Voice Search’ your priority: Traders who want to succeed should use targeted SEO measures to give their voice the necessary power to stand out from the crowd and be clearly heard by Google. Keep in mind that knowing your own target group and their search behavior via voice function are the nuts and bolts of voice search SEO. By using mark-ups and declaring certain passages in the source code through an HTML tag, merchants specify which areas of their website should be read aloud by Google. Furthermore, always keep an eye on providing the right balance, since the customer could be overwhelmed by getting too much information and unsatisfied if it is too little. Be brief and informative, and make your website fit for the voice-controlled search. Only the most relevant result of the few dealers that make the top of Google’s list will be read aloud, but those that succeeded already manage to win numerous customers via this channel.
  • Increase the loading speed: Keep loading time as low as possible: Those who use voice search are usually in a hurry and need quick results. That's why slow websites are not just a no-go, but a significant sales brake. Experts recommend the speed of loading a page in Voice Search should not be more than 1.5 seconds.
  • Generate good readable content: In contrast to conventional SEO texts, the voice-based search engine optimization must guarantee the text has a natural language flow and isn’t created by keyword stuffing - as usually in SEO. Keyword density, headings and subtitles were relevant to traditional SEO, but users have a completely different search behavior for voice than text-based input. If users are brief in writing, they generally formulate complete sentences in voice search. So, when the customer was looking for "buying red shoes" in the past, today he asks the voice assistant instead: "Where can I buy red shoes for myself nearby?" "Traders need to create semantically natural and consistent passages of text, which means going from short to long tail keywords. Generally, featured snippets and outstanding content are crucial for a good positioning in the organic search results that Google likes to read aloud then.
  • Describe pictures in a target-group-oriented and appealing way: It is becoming more and more difficult for retailers to describe the products linguistically, as currently no pictures are created in the voice-based search. This requires a detailed description of what is displayed on photos or infographics in a target group-oriented way. Unfortunately, so far, Google Voice Search does not offer much help here.


It is also recommended to make a business listing on Google My Business and to pay attention to the reviews, since customers searching for a product will then receive directions from Google to the retailer, along with contact information.

By Daniela La Marca