Technology Tip
Dave Pelland has extensive experience covering the business use of technology, networking and communications tools by companies of all sizes. Dave's editorial and corporate experience includes more than 10 years editing an electronic technology and communications industry newsletter for a global professional services firm.

Enhancing Small Business Local Voice Search

Enhancing Small Business Local Voice Search

Optimizing your small business website for voice search can be a powerful way to be discovered by nearby consumers searching for the products and services you offer.

Estimates vary widely about the popularity of voice search, but there’s broad-based agreement among marketing professionals that voice-based searches are gaining momentum and need to be part of your SEO strategy.

And while thinking about voice-enabled SEO may seem like extra work for a busy small business owner, the effort also provides valuable benefits for traditional text-based SEO. Whatever effort you invest in improving voice search will boost your overall search engine results and, more importantly, drive additional traffic (in-person and online) to your small business.

Search Categories

Voice searches tend to fall into broad categories:

  • A discovery search looks for general information, such as "where is the nearest coffee shop?"
  • A direct query focuses on specific information, such as "what time does Christine’s Coffee Shop close?"

Within those categories, the most common searches include:

  • Looking for a specific address or directions
  • Looking for a phone number
  • Asking about opening hours

The most important ranking factors for getting the top result from a voice-based search are believed to be:

  • Proximity to the searcher’s location
  • Local and industry-specific directory listings
  • Overall positive reviews on local directories and review sites
  • Inbound links to the company site from other sources

Having a mobile-friendly website is another key to effective voice SEO, because so many searches are conducted by people on the go looking for businesses near them.

Local Directories Are Key

The fact that so much of the information highlighted in local voice searches is pulled from local directory listings highlights their importance to small business owners hoping to rank favorably in voice searches.

These directories and review sites provide basic information, such as your company’s name, address, phone number, and customer reviews. They also serve as the basic foundation for search engine results based on voice searches.

As a result, it is very important to claim and maintain your small business profile on all of the major search engines. Because each mobile operating system depends on different search engines to feed its results, small business owners have to pay attention to all of the leading local directories.

For instance, Google searches and Android devices rely on, naturally enough, your company’s Google My Business listing. Searches launched with Apple’s Siri digital assistant pull data from Apple Maps and Yelp reviews as well as Google searches. Microsoft and Amazon smart speakers rely on Bing search results, including Bing Places listings.

All of which means small business owners need to pay attention to their listings to make sure the information is accurate and up to date.

Encouraging customers to post online reviews will provide not only the direct benefit of people saying nice things about your business, they also generate activity and popularity that can boost your search engine rankings and performance.

Another effective way to improve your local search engine results is describing your community and your local connections on your website. You don’t want to use the name of your city or town indiscriminately, but appropriate local references can drive home the point that you serve a local market.

By paying attention to your local listings and optimizing your website for mobile access, you can improve your placement in locally focused voice searches.


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