How to optimise for voice search

How to optimise for voice search

Author: Natalie Banks - Digital Marketing Specialist

With smart devices such as the Google Nest and the Amazon Echo Dot becoming more and more popular in homes across the country, the way we request information has certainly changed.

We no longer have to reach for our smartphone or laptop to search for something on Google, we can just ask our smart device for the answer.

How voice search can help car dealers

You might be thinking, ‘well, how do these voice search trends affect me?’. It’s quite simple really. Whenever a consumer asks a question using voice search through a smart device, this information is taken from Google results. Knowing that consumers use voice search to ask questions, such as ‘where is my nearest Ford dealer’ or ‘what time does [car dealership] open’ it’s important that your website and business listings are optimised to answer these questions.

In most instances, Alexa, Siri or Google Assistant will take this information from Google my Business, so having this data as correct as possible will provide a better experience for these potential customers.

Similar to organic listings, to ensure you appear at the top of the rankings, you need to have optimised content so this information can easily located and communicated back to the smart device.

How many times have you made a voice search, perhaps looking for an address or a business and your smart device says those dreaded words, ‘sorry, I cannot find any results for you’. Not only is this frustrating for the consumer, but it could also mean you have lost business, simply because your website or business listing was not optimised for voice search.

How to optimise your content for voice search

A lot of people make the mistake of writing questions into their content and then answering them in the style of a Q&A. This isn’t the best way to optimise content as often semantics can decide in what instance your content should be shown.

Bad example

Do you offer vehicle servicing?

Yes we do, please call us for a quote.

Good example

Vehicle servicing in [location]

If you are looking to book your car in for a service, here at [car dealer], we can service all makes and models with pricing starting from just £120. We offer Interim, Minor or Major service options to suit your requirements.

By writing your content for search engines, rather than just the human eye, you have a much better chance to rank your content on the likes of Google so it can be found via voice search.

How does content make a difference to voice search results?

These examples above aren’t unique to voice search, but rather SEO in general. Content should be written so it can be crawled and understood clearly by search engines.

The first example we see doesn’t provide the search engine with any valuable information to communicate back to the consumer – it would only be digestible by a human reading this content.

The second example allows the search engine to take multiple bits of information from this content, whether someone asks, ‘where can I get my car serviced locally’ or ‘how much is car servicing near me’.

When it comes to writing your on-page content, it should be written to answer questions, but without listing the questions themselves. Go for longer tail keywords that are likely to be asked as a question.

Q&As are great for rankings, if done correctly, and where appropriate, but take a look at the examples above as to how best to generate this content for SEO and voice search results.

Google my Business is one of your best tools

Whether you actively optimise your Google my Business listing on a regular basis or you have just set one up and let it sit, it’s important to ensure it’s optimised for voice search.

This should be relatively straightforward as there are certain sections that need to be completed to provide Google with as much information about your business as possible.

Business information

Business Name – this should only be your business name, do not stuff keywords into this as your listing can be flagged or removed.

Telephone – you have the opportunity to add a primary and a secondary telephone number to your listing.

Website Address – this is the website/webpage you want to direct visitors to. The homepage may suffice, but if you have several franchises in different locations, the franchise page would likely convert users better.

Physical Address – This should be your exact location, so potential customers can find you using your address and their preferred map app or satellite navigation.

Opening Times – This will often be one of the most popular voice searches, so its important these are updated as your business evolves. You also have the option to add special hours, so if you are closed on Christmas Day, or bank holidays, you can state this.

Service Areas – this is simply the areas you serve from your physical location. You can list multiple towns and villages which appear near to your dealership.

Offerings

Services – Google my Business will generate potential services you can select, or you can create a custom service, such as car finance or car servicing.

Description – here is your opportunity to write a bit about your business and what you do/offer. This will be similar to your welcome message on your website and your opportunity to sell your business.

Once this information is live, voice assistants can communicate this information back to the consumer. If any information is missing, the voice assistant will have trouble passing this information back.

If you need any assistance with optimising your website content or Google my Business listing for voice search, we can arrange a quick call with our marketing team who would be happy to analyse your website and see how you fare.