Your business in Kelowna needs strong marketing to create a buzz in the market. Savvy SEO services experts should be ready to embrace aspects like voice search to ensure that they are able to thrive in the present and in the future. After all, voice search is fast reshaping how your customers find and interact with your business.
As we move through 2024, optimizing for voice search has become more crucial than ever for Kelowna businesses. With this strategy, you can maintain and improve your online visibility.
The digital marketing trend of voice search is increasingly driven by the adoption of smart speakers. Even virtual assistants and voice-enabled devices have influenced buying decisions online. It would not be wrong to say that your potential customers are using voice commands a lot more than we may like to think. They use it to search for local services, products, and information. This shift in search behaviour presents both challenges and opportunities for your business.
You should be at the forefront of adapting to voice search trends. This way, you can position your company at the forefront of this digital revolution.
In this guide, we will explore seven essential strategies in this space. It will help you strengthen your online presence for voice search in 2024. These tactics will help you capture more voice-driven traffic. Such voice search optimization for website will go a long way in catapulting your local search rankings and, ultimately, connecting with more customers in Kelowna and beyond.
Let us look into this innovative digital marketing strategy with the help of a Kelowna SEO expert.
1- How does voice search optimization work?
As an SEO agency, you need to effectively optimize your site and business for voice search. To do this, you need to understand how your customers use this technology. Voice queries differ significantly from traditional text-based searches. When using voice search, people tend to use more natural, conversational language.
Backlinko says that the average voice search result is written in natural language. The readability aligns with the 9th grade reading level.
Let us take an example. In text search, you may type ‘best coffee Kelowna.’ But it is different for voice search. Here, they might ask, ‘Where can I get the best coffee near me in Kelowna?’
Voice searches often fall into three main categories
- local,
- informational, and
- transactional.
For your Kelowna business, local searches are particularly important. Many voice queries include phrases like ‘near me’ or ‘in Kelowna.’ They present a prime opportunity for your local business to appear in results.
Stats show that nearly half (45 per cent) of Americans have used voice search on their smartphones.
Understanding these behaviours helps your brand. You get to customize your content and SEO strategy to match how your prospective customers are searching. Your business will make a smart move by aligning your online presence with voice search patterns. This way, you get to increase your chances of being the answer when someone in Kelowna asks their device a question related to your business.
Now, we look at some actionable tactics that are bound to deliver good results for your voice search optimization goal.
1.1- Strategy 1 - Optimize for Natural Language and Conversational Queries
It is crucial to align your content with the way people naturally speak. This is the starting point in effectively optimizing for voice search. Unlike typed queries, voice searches tend to be longer. They tend to be more conversational. Your white label SEO strategy should adapt to this shift in user behaviour.
You can implement this strategy by incorporating long-tail keywords and question phrases into your content. Do not focus solely on short, fragmented keywords. Rather, you need to think about the full questions your Kelowna customers might ask.
For example, it will not be feasible to target ‘pizza delivery Kelowna.’ Instead, you may consider phrases like ‘Where can I order the best pizza for delivery in downtown Kelowna?’
Creating a detailed FAQ section on your website is an excellent way to address these conversational queries. Think about the questions your customers frequently ask and provide clear, concise answers. This helps with voice search optimization. Plus, it improves your overall user experience. These are some reasons why your business needs SEO services. They will also help you adopt a more conversational tone. They will write as if you’re speaking directly to your customer. This approach aligns well with voice search patterns. Furthermore, it makes your content more engaging and relatable.
We suggest using natural language throughout your site. This would include your meta descriptions, headers, and alt text. These steps will help you mimic the way people speak in your content. This way, you strengthen your chances of matching voice queries and appearing in voice search results.
Implementing this strategy will help your Kelowna business become more visible in voice search results. The result is that you would be able to connect with more potential customers using this technology to find local services and information.
1.2- Strategy 2 - Optimize for Local SEO for Voice Search
For your Kelowna-based business, local SEO is crucial when optimizing for voice search. Many voice queries are location-based. Users frequently use phrases like ‘near me’ or ‘in Kelowna.’ You would need to adapt to this style of text when infusing keywords in the content. This will sharpen your focus on local SEO. This way, you can substantially grow your chances of appearing in these voice search results.
A good point to begin would be to claim and optimize your Google My Business listing. Here, you need to keep the most recent information. Some key details here include
- your business name,
- address,
- phone number,
- hours of operation, and
- category.
You should update this information from time to time. Also, add photos to keep your listing fresh and engaging.
You can also develop location-specific content to create the buzz on your website. Make pages or blog posts that discuss local events or topics relevant to Kelowna. This helps establish your local authority and relevance.
You should encourage customers to leave reviews on your Google My Business listing. Positive reviews boost your local SEO. It also provides valuable social proof when your business appears in voice search results.
Ensure your NAP data is consistent across all online platforms. This consistency in name, address, and phone number is vital. It helps search engines verify your business information. This helps in improving your local search rankings.
When you use these local SEO strategies, you can improve your visibility in voice searches. This makes it easier for likely customers in Kelowna to discover and choose your business. This leads to a sharp surge in your ability to boost your revenue.
1.3- Strategy 3 - Implement Structured Data Markup
The schema markup provides Google bots a way to make sense of the many pages within a site. Hence, it becomes a powerful way to enhance your website’s visibility in voice search results. This technique lets search engines better understand your content. Thus, they find it easier to provide accurate answers to voice queries about your Kelowna business.
Structured data provides context to your content by telling search engines exactly what different elements on your page represent. For your business, key schema types to focus on include-
- LocalBusiness,
- Product,
- Service, and
- FAQ Page.
These schemas help you clearly communicate important details about your business and its offerings.
For example, with the Local Business schema, you can markup your business name, address, phone number, and operating hours. As a result, voice assistants know which data to pull up your information when someone asks, ‘What are the hours for (Your Business Name) in Kelowna?’
You can go for Structured Data Markup Helper by Google for this task. If you are using a platform like WordPress, then there are many plugins available as well. After integrating the markup, you should use Google’s Rich Results Test. Doing so will help ensure that your markup is correctly applied. Moreover, you get assurance that the markup is free of any mistakes.
At this point, let us remind you – structured data doesn’t directly impact your rankings. But it does make your content more likely to appear in rich results and featured snippets. These components often come in handy when answering voice search queries.
By effectively using structured data, you’re essentially speaking the language of search engines. This way, the search results pages can match your Kelowna business with relevant voice queries. This will help you reap benefits of voice search optimization. As a result, capturing more voice search traffic becomes easier for your brand.
1.4- Strategy 4 - Create and Optimize Google Actions and Alexa Skills
This factor is crucial if you want to truly excel in voice search optimization. In this stage, you would think about building custom voice apps for popular voice assistants. Google Actions and Alexa Skills allow you to develop unique, interactive experiences. You need to tailor it specifically for users of Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa devices. By creating these apps, you are optimizing deeply for voice search. Furthermore, you are actively participating in the voice ecosystem.
For your Kelowna business, a custom voice app could provide immense value. For instance, if you run a local tour company, you could create a skill that offers daily Kelowna weather updates. It may also present local event information or even a guided audio tour of the city. A restaurant could develop an action to let customers reserve tables or hear the daily specials.
To create these apps, you can use the Actions on Google. For Apple devices, you can go for Alexa Skills Kit developer platforms. Initially, this may seem daunting. But there are user-friendly tools and templates available to simplify the process a lot.
Once you’ve created your action or skill, you should optimize it for discovery. For this, you can use relevant keywords in your app’s name and description. Encourage your customers to use and review your app, as positive reviews can boost its visibility.
The key to a successful voice app is providing genuine value to your users. Think about how you can solve problems or enhance experiences for your Kelowna customers via voice interactions.
1.5- Strategy 5 - Develop a Voice Search Content Strategy
You may already have a text search strategy in place for text content. However, you need to focus on a content strategy tailored to voice queries for voice search. Such voice search optimization strategy will help you excel in voice search optimization. This means creating content that not only answers specific questions but also aligns with the conversational nature of voice search.
You can start by conducting thorough keyword research focused on long-tail, conversational phrases. Here, you can take the help of tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs. They will help you identify voice search-friendly keywords relevant to your Kelowna business. You need to pay special attention to question-based queries. They usually start with-
- ‘who,’
- ‘what,’
- ‘where,’
- ‘when,’
- ‘why,’ and
- ‘how.’
When creating content, you need to adopt a conversational tone that we use in everyday speaking. Write as if you are naturally speaking directly to your customer. This approach aligns with voice search patterns. It helps a lot in making your content more engaging and relatable.
You can do this in local guides or FAQs about your products or services. It should also be reflected in the content that answers common questions about your industry in the context of Kelowna.
In addition to text content, you can also leverage the power of audio and video content. You can optimize these for voice search as well. You need to keep your content concise and to the point. Voice search users typically want quick, direct answers to their questions. Hence, concise content will drive amazing results for your voice search endeavours.
2- To conclude
You need to know that voice search is different from text search. Users ask Siri or Alexa using voice commands. They do so in a way that is different from typing a search query. Hence, you need to fine-tune your marketing for this particular type of search. This blog showed many ways in which you can enhance your site for voice search with the help of SEO outsourcing.
If you need skilled experts to deliver stellar outcomes on this front, then you can connect with us at SEO Resellers Canada. Our team excels at deploying future-ready marketing strategies that deliver long-term value to our clients.
