How to optimize your website for Voice Search and Video
The internet has changed a lot in the past decade. It is not solely about keyword search and a search engine coming up with results or the information you seek. There have been major developments and things are not as they used to be.
Now, we have more than just search engines to surf the internet. One of those things is voice assistants. You ask a question to it and it pulls up relevant results.
Cool, ain’t it? Straight out of a movie, it would seem. It can even read out what it thinks you are searching for. Really amazing. Who wouldn’t give it a try?
If not to look cool, people would still use it for convenience. Smartphones do have small screens after all. Typing could be hard for some people. So, voice search makes things easier for them.
In addition to this, videos are now a great part of the internet. Words, plain texts are now considered boring and people don’t make the effort to read a whole page filled with textual information. They would prefer watching videos that contain information they are seeking.
Videos are visually fulfilling and have the information people require. Voice search and video search have become things in it. For voice, there are voice assistants like Alexa. And, for videos alone, there is the internet giant, YouTube.
In this new age of internet browsing where you don’t even have to use your hands to get an answer, how are you going to optimize your website to remain significant?
SEO has always been an answer to optimization. But, this requires something more than the regular SEO.
Voice Search Optimization
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Keywords
Keywords have been a major aspect of internet browsing for a long time now. You have to type in keywords in a search engine (for example, Google). Then, it would pull up results that it considers relevant to the keywords used.
Keywords are a simple string of words. For them to be connected semantically was never an issue. But, with the advent of voice search, the use of keywords has changed.
Usually, while browsing, people use a minimum number of keywords that are essential to getting the results they seek. SEO is tailored according to the keyword input. And, a change in the way people use keywords demands a change in SEO.
People do not use keywords in a search engine the same way they would talk to other people. Long-tailed keywords were frowned upon in the past. But, it is what the future demands. People while using voice search, feel the need to use a conversational tone.
People are not quite accustomed to saying a few words that are loosely connected and getting a reply. While speaking, it does not matter to what, people tend to use a conversational tone. This renders the normal SEO useless.
Short keywords are what normally SEO specializes in. For voice search, your website must be optimized in accordance with long-tail keywords. Keywords in a conversational tone are longer than keywords used in search engines.
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Search Pattern
It is also good to know the search pattern of people. Do people use voice search often? What do most people usually search for? You must be able to generalize whatever you can. This makes it easier for optimization.
People do use voice search often. There are a lot of people using voice search as people have indeed bought a whole lot of voice assistants. I doubt they’d be using it for anything else.
What do people usually search for when using voice search? It is most likely a local business. Whenever you hear a person using voice search, it usually ends in “near me”. Of course, that’s the case. People are always searching for restaurants near them, shops that sell a particular thing near them and ‘what not’ near them.
Making your business popular locally would be a great way to attract these kinds of people. Popularisation has to be online if they are to find you. They are using the internet to find you after all. How do you do this?
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Google My Business
Google is most definitely the most used search engine. And, when they give you an opportunity to make yourself popular locally, take it.
I’m speaking of ‘Google My Business. Make a profile with them and keep it updated if required. This will help in your business popping up when people ask Google to find them a ‘whatever your business is’ near them. Pretty neat, right?
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Mobile optimization
Which do you think people sue more for voice searches – computers or smartphones? Smartphones, of course. I don’t think people would be carrying a computer with them, much less talk to it. Voice assistants like Cortana do exist, but, people use smartphones more than computers for voice search.
It is very important to optimize your website for mobile. You will be getting a lot of traffic to your website if your keywords are to pop up during a search. And, most of that traffic is going to be mobile users.
With voice search, there is another important thing that must be noted. Your ranking in the SERP (Search Engine Results Pages) does not matter. Long-tail keywords have a disadvantage in SERP rankings, but, voice search overlooks rankings and might pill up your website or keywords during a voice search.
The same is the case with Google snippets. When a user types in keywords pertaining to something that can be answered in a few sentences or words, Google will have a small window that provides just that using the keywords. This does not require you to be highly ranked in the SERP.
Only the keywords matter. And, voice search results are often going to be these snippets. So, make sure to use SEO accordingly for voice search.
Video Search Optimisation
You might already know the advantage videos can provide to your business. Videos significantly reduce bounce rates which in itself is amazing. But, it is only the tip of the iceberg. We are here to speak of optimization. So, the whole thing about video is elsewhere.
What matters the most in video optimization? How do you get ranked in video search? It is quite easy to get ranked in videos only SERP, but, for videos to pop up along with the main page is quite an ordeal, but not impossible.
The good name and popularity of the company have to do with the video ending up on the main SERP. This is not the case for the video only SERP. So, you might want to focus on that if you’re new to this video optimization.
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The platform
Where do you start if you want to get ranked higher in video search? Should you go with your own website or a platform? Most definitely a platform. When you search up something on Google, what comes up in the video search? More often than not, a YouTube video will be ranked the highest.
So, uploading your video on a platform and promoting it is a good way to go. YouTube and Vimeo are two sites that usually pop up in the video SERP.
Talking about the platform, make sure that you do not upload in two places and make it compete against each other for rankings. It’s the same video. Focus on one. You might want to look at platforms that are kind of closed off. We wouldn’t want our clients drifting off to other companies with the YouTube recommendations.
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Your Best Video
When your webpage has multiple videos, make sure that your best video is at the top. When searching using the same set of keywords, only one video per enterprise will usually show up in the video SERP. And, this will be the video at the top.
So, make sure that this video is your best-performing one. This is to boost views and draw in more potential clients.
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The Looks (Title, Description, and Thumbnail)
Looks matter, especially in Video SERP. Make sure that your video title conveys what you want and is what a client is looking for. The description also plays a role in optimization. It helps to add keywords.
The most important part of looks in a video is the thumbnail. The thumbnail has to capture the audience. Don’t let some random part of the video appear as the thumbnail. Make a custom one. It isn’t too hard to make a thumbnail.
Also, make sure that the thumbnail is in accordance with the contents of the video. People do not take kindly to click-baits. Clients should never feel cheated. It can affect your business adversely.
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Transcript
Subtitles… Subtitles are important not only in the entertainment industry. People appreciate subtitles on all kinds of videos. A video on Facebook or YouTube should be considered as something that requires a subtitle like a movie or a series.
People will definitely love this addition. Why? Subtitles make it easier, especially for non-natives, to get your point across.
More than client comfort, it is a way to add more keywords. Transcripts are basically textual forms of a video and they will be used when indexing and ranking videos according to the keyword. So, make sure you have made subtitles for the video that you wish to promote.
Voice and Video optimization are different from normal optimization. But, thankfully, the process is the same. Meaning, it is not entirely different from what we’ve been doing up until now. Care must be taken to optimize accordingly. That is all.
Looking for someone who can do the optimization regardless of what you want to promote? We at TGI Technologies, one of the best digital marketing companies in Kerala can do it for you. We can optimize your website for whichever medium you require. The best digital marketing company in Kochi is more than glad to help your business grow.