The results of voice searches, particularly those made using smart speakers, are quite competitive. Voice searches on smart speakers only return one result, known as “Position Zero,” in contrast to mobile or desktop results. If you’re not first in a smart speaker search, you’re last, to quote the great Ricky Bobby.
If you want to attract consumers of smart speakers, your business must be at the top of its SEO game in this winner-takes-all arena. The greatest content and SEO are required for your website; being good is not enough.
Fortunately, you’re off to a terrific start if you’ve already begun applying desktop and mobile SEO best practices. Three-fourths of voice search results on the desktop were among the top three results, according to Backlinko research on Google Home search ranking variables. This association shows that optimising your website for voice search requires elevating your current SEO approach rather than developing a brand-new one.
Here are five technical SEO tactics you can use (or improve upon) to aid you in your attempt and raise the position of your website in voice search results on smart speakers.
Make your backlink profile better
Major ranking variables for Google’s desktop and mobile search results include the amount and quality of backlinks (incoming links from other websites) that point to a particular website. Ahrefs created the Domain Authority measure to assess the quality of backlink profiles and gauge the chance that a website would rank well in search results based on links.
Backlinko determined that the average Domain Authority of a voice search result was 76.8 by examining the domain authority of the websites that appeared in Google Home results. Anyone who works in the SEO sector would understand that this is a very high DR.
Boost the speed of your website’s pages.
Page speed has been emphasised by search engines for a while, and Google has used it to influence desktop search ranks for some time. Page speed will also be a ranking consideration for mobile searches starting in July 2018, according to a Google announcement made earlier this year.
Google’s decision to extend its commitment to speed to voice search makes sense. Backlinko found that the average voice search result page loads substantially faster than the typical webpage for Google Home queries.
Protect your website with HTTPS
An internet protocol called Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) protects data sent between a user’s computer and a website. Back in 2014, Google began implementing “HTTPS everywhere” on the internet and began utilising it as a ranking indication.
According to Google, HTTPS provides three key layers of protection:
- Encryption – The data being sent is encrypted to prevent eavesdroppers from reading it. This implies that no one can “listen” in on a user’s chats while they are visiting a website, monitor their activity across different pages, or steal their information.
- Data integrity – It is impossible to alter or corrupt data during transmission, whether accidentally or not.
- Authentication – demonstrates that people are interacting with the appropriate website. It enhances user trust and defends against man-in-the-middle attacks, which have various commercial advantages.
Add structured data to your site
This is still a useful tactic for any form of search result, even if Backlinko’s analysis revealed very little association between structured data and voice search ranks. Including structured data on your website aids Google in comprehending the content, organising the data, and matching it to a searcher’s intent.
Bottom Line
Despite the fact that Backlinko’s study discovered very little association between structured data and voice search results, this is still a useful tactic for any kind of search result. By including structured data, you may help Google better comprehend the content of your website, organise it, and match it to the searcher’s intent.