In the last couple of weeks, we’ve had a lot to say about voice search. That’s hardly surprising: Amazon’s Alexa, Microsoft’s Cortana, Apple’s Siri, Google’s Voice Search – every major tech brand is looking to make voice search a big deal.

We’ve already covered why voice search isn’t going to cripple SEO methodologies, and in that article I pointed out that some websites would be more affected than others by this new approach, but usually only in a positive way.

Today, I’m going to look at what websites will be affected by voice search, and why that’s actually a good thing.

Once we’ve identified the website types that can seize this opportunity, I’ll also give you a quick overview of how you can make sure you’re making the most of your site’s interaction with voice search, through some voice search SEO basics.

How People Use Voice Search

I’ve touched on this before but it’s worth remembering: people use voice search differently to how they use other search features. In fact, voice search seems to be the answer to the kind of questions people don’t normally ask when using a search engine.

Voice Search is used for different intent and purpose compared to typed search.

Voice search is used for a lot of applications that bear no relationship to the function of most sites. That’s why I told you not to panic in my last article.

That said, for certain sites, voice search can actually be a hugely useful resource.

Remember, one of the key things voice search is used for is direct questions with definite answers, including facts, conversions and definitions.

If you want to, you can leverage this and utilize voice search benefits to generate some key effects for your site:

1. Increase Traffic – if you can provide quick answers to questions related to your niche, these will be picked up by voice search and the source link will be displayed when the answer is presented, meaning users can click through for further information.
2. Point Customers Your Way – If you have a physical location, being optimized for voice search means the software will point users to your location when they make a relevant request. For instance, let’s say, “Where’s the nearest hardware store?”
3. Increase Authority – If you website is used as a source for answers by voice search, you’ll not only be mentioned as the source (increasing your brand recognition) but increase your perceived authority (which will help your rankings). For example, voice search would say “According to SEOPressor, voice search won’t destroy SEO.”
4. Help Customers Make Decisions – If a customer decides to ask voice search about your company, the top review you have can help them make the decision to trust your business with their hard-earned money.

PhoneBuff has created a great video that is aimed at voice search users, giving them cool ways to interact with the new technology and get the best from it.

I’ve looked at this information from the other end, and have subsequently identified 23 types of websites that can benefit from these kinds of user interaction.

If you run one of these types of websites, then you’ll find some useful information on voice search optimization based on the opportunities available, and get the best from this new kind of interaction.

Equally, you may be able to find inspiration for how you can adapt your existing site to be more voice search friendly.

The 23 Types Of Site That Can Utilize Voice Search

Local Businesses

Local Businesses unsurprisingly benefit a lot from voice search, given the amount of local queries done via voice search.

1. Restaurant Websites

Restaurants can benefit by listing their opening hours and their location data, to take advantage of searches like “places to eat near me” and “food places that are still open“.

2. Supermarkets

By listing item availability online, individuals searching for “Shops selling X near me” will be connected with your store.

3. Cinemas & Theatres

Cinemas and theatres can benefit by listing their show times and ticket prices online to get connected to customers through queries like “When is Spider-man showing?” and “Cheapest theatre shows near me”.

Review Websites

Voice Search user asks a lot about the place they’re about to go. Review websites will have a lot of chance to appear as a result from these queries.

4. Travel Sites

Travel sites can get listed by voice search by answering direct questions about travel, everything from “cheapest flights to Spain”, “where to go in Italy” to “best food in Mexico” will help you be the resource Voice Search turns to in order to answer user questions.

5. Food Review Sites

If you run a food review site, then include question terms in your review to get listed in voice search results. If someone asks “How good is the pizza at Marconi’s?”, you can provide that answer.

6. Movie Review Sites

Similarly, if you publish movie reviews, you stand to benefit from including questions like “is Spider-Man: Homecoming worth watching?” in your review, as that’s what people will be asking their phones, and their phones will lead them to you for the answer.

Information Websites

Websites providing short definition and answers to common questions will also be featured a lot through voice search.

7. Weather Forecast Sites

You can benefit from contextualizing your data into answers to questions like “will it be raining tomorrow?”, before offering the chances of rain or the times it is most likely to rain.

8. Local Time

When you ask things like “what time is it in Paris?” Google uses local time websites to provide the answer.

9. Definition Sites

Dictionaries are not the only sites that can make use of definitions. Industry specific jargon often needs describing and defining, as do niche terms and even slang used by specific sub-cultures. Adding definitions to your site is a great way to build traffic.

10. Entertainment Sites

If you run an entertainment site, some of the most popular voice searches are for celebrity trivia, including ages, spouses, children, film roles and more. By creating database of these facts you can answer these questions and build your brand visibility.

11. Statistic Sites

Statistics are a common subject of curiosity and something people will definitely use Voice Search to ask about. “How many cases of… per year” “chance of winning the lottery” and even broader things like “climate change facts” all benefit from statistics.

12. News Sites

Voice search is commonly used for queries like “what are today’s headlines?”, getting more specific like “what’s new in technology today?” will help you get listed more highly for industry specific news.

13. Stock Tracking Sites

A common query seen in voice search is the current value of a given stock price, so including the question terminology on your stock tracker pages will help you get listed.

14. Traffic Alert Site

People will often ask for traffic updates via voice search, so you can provide people with up to the minute incident reports for things like “accidents on the highway” or “congestion on my road”.

15. Sports Results And Schedules

If you can answer questions like “what’s the score of last night’s game?” or “when do the Patriots play the Falcons?” then you’ll get listed.

16. Flight Schedule Sites

Knowing the answer to “when is the next flight to LA?” will be very helpful to voice searchers, and you have that information.

Calculator Sites

Websites that provide aid in calculating everyday things is also in demand from voice search users.

17. Tip Calculator

A common voice search is “how much is a 12% tip for $124 bill?” so you can clean up by being able to provide the answer.

18. Currency Exchange Converter

Similarly, in an increasingly globalized world, people are always looking to see how much their currency is worth internationally. “How much is X dollars in pounds?” is a common voice search.

19. Cooking Sites

As well as being useful for recipes “how do I make a beef wellington?” you can also be useful in unit conversion “how many grams of rice is a cup?”

20. Health Food Sites

Many calorie conscious people will look to find out the answer to things like “How many calories in 100g of steak vs 100g of tuna” in order to decide what to eat. You can help them make that decision.

21. Holiday Site

If you carry information on holidays like Easter, Christmas, Eid, Kwanza, Passover and more, then you can answer queries like, “How many days until Christmas?”

Media Streaming Sites

22. Audio and Video Sites

One of the most common voice searches is “play *song* or *video*”, and being set up for voice search an enable you to be the platform chosen to play it from.

Language Sites

Voice search also make use of language sites to get contextually accurate translation of foreign languages.

23. Translation Sites

People commonly use voice search to ask for common phrases phrases in other languages, for instance, “What does Daijobu mean in English?” (it means ‘fine’ by the way).

How To (Easily) Optimize For Voice Search

Optimizing for voice search is mostly similar to what you’re already doing for desktop and mobile search, but with more focus on natural language keywords.

So, now you have a good idea of the kind of sites that can benefit from voice search and how they can start to do so.

Now, I’m going take you through the single most important thing you can do to take advantage of voice search.

Ready?

The most fundamental advantage you can get in harnessing the power of voice search is getting listed on Google Quick Answers.

In order to do so, there are three things you can do:

1. Use Schema Markup
   Using the right markups to label the right things is the surest way to be chosen as a quick answer. If it’s a recipe, make sure it’s marked up as a recipe.

   Mark up products as products, places as places. You have to help the machine learning get the information it needs as quickly and easily as possible.

   Make sure you include the appropriate attributes. Make sure you incorporate your XML sitemaps and microdata into this approach. If this just confused the hell out of you, SEOPressor got you covered with our built-in Schema Creator.

2. Identify and groom the part of your content to be used as answer
   The best way to get featured as an answer is to give a great answer. That means being clear, concise and written in a way that answers the question asked.

   If someone asks “What is negative SEO?” then an answer written “Negative SEO is…” will have a better shot. Even more so if it’s a short summary, with the option to find out more.

3. Use Lists
   Most of the answers that get featured in quick answers are presented in lists. It stands to reason that using lists is a great way to break down any answer which has multiple steps or processes involved.

   This is true of recipes, but it’s also true of technical procedures and many more.

   Make sure you’re using a list whenever it’s appropriate. Lists also help you break information down and keep the individual steps short.

If you want more information on optimizing for voice search, Joanne has written a great brief on the subject that will give you plenty to use to get started.

Do you have any other recommendations for how to optimize for voice search, or do you run a website that has benefitted from the introduction of voice search already? If so, we’d love to know more. Drop your experiences in the comments section below for the benefit of our community.

Equally, if you have any questions about what I’ve covered here, the answers may be in the comments!

Updated: 20 November 2024

About Vivian

Vivian is an anthropologist lost in the world of digital marketing. She has an interest in learning about the science of marketing and the creativity that businesses use to transform themselves into purple cows.