How to Optimize Your Site and Products for Voice Search

It all started in 2010 when Apple released their voice assistant, Siri. Since then, voice search has become more and more popular, and has now changed the way that your potential customers look for products. This means it’s essential for e-commerce businesses to optimize their products and site content for voice search. 

Fortunately, voice search optimization is pretty straightforward once you understand more about your customers and how they use this feature. 

How Do People Use Voice Search to Shop?

In 2021, the most popular way to voice shop is by using either a smart home device (such as Alexa) or a smartphone. When using a smart home device, the biggest consideration to make is that the shopper can’t see what they’re purchasing. This means that the majority of the time, they’re buying their day-to-day essentials such as paper towels through their Alexa, and not something like clothing or jewelry. Therefore, most Shopify store owners will convert via smartphone rather than smart speaker as of right now. 

What Terms Do People Use for Voice Search?

People use search engines differently when using their voices versus typing. For example, while you might type in “grocery store” into a search bar, out loud you would likely ask, “Where is the nearest grocery store?” This is what SEOs call a “long-tail keyword,” meaning a keyword that is longer than three words.

You can identify how your target customers are searching by using a tool calledAnswer the Public. You can use it to identify the most commonly asked questions associated with your keyword. When you know what people are asking, you can add those questions into your site content, along with their answers. 

Getting a Featured Snippet

By adding your customers’ questions into your content, you are able to target voice search, and it can also be helpful for achieving a featured snippet. This is the “zero” placement on Google, where an answer is shown on the search page. By incorporating questions into your content, you may be able to get this coveted spot. 

There is no guaranteed way to become the featured snippet, but here are some considerations to make:

• Write a blog answering a question that you put in the title.
• Include the question in the slug. 
• Include the question in the meta description. 
• Use subheaders, which helps Google display content as bullet points. 
• Include keywords in the alt tag of the featured image. 

Focus on Local Search

Voice searches are three times as likely to be locally based. Therefore, when optimizing for search, you want to make sure your brick-and-mortar store is considered. Make sure to prominently display your location on your online store, and keep your Google Business profile up-to-date. 

Voice search has truly only begun to be important to Shopify store owners, so setting yourself up for success now by optimizing for voice search is key for the longevity of your business. Fortunately, by understanding what your customers are asking and incorporating the questions and answers into your content, you can easily optimize for voice search and get ahead of your competition.