Optimizing your Restaurant Website for a Voice Search

Voice searches on the internet are growing in popularity and it is becoming more and more crucial for websites to be voice search enabled. Why?

Well, with the increase and improvement in voice recognition technology, voice searches are becoming a preferred option for those looking for information on the go. 

Everything you need to know about voice search

Perhaps you are a little unfamiliar with the term or would like some more information on what devices are compatible with voice search technology, so here’s a summary of all the essential voice search information you must know:

A voice search allows the user to search the internet using spoken commands instead of typing. Once the microphone has been enabled the user can dictate a query or single words or phrases to start a search.

The voice search is one of the dominating SEO Trends and its option is compatible with most microphone enabled devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, and computers, making them a popular option for those on the move.

Other more recent voice-enabled devices would also include Google Home, smartwatches and Echo to name a few.

Voice searches are key for people that are in need of instant information but have their hands full or that are too busy to type a query and with more than 65% of 25-49-year-olds using a voice search at least once a day, the need for voice-enabled websites has boomed in recent years. 

What is being searched?

To make sure your users are getting the most out of your restaurant website it is essential to know what kind of searches are being made in your market. It is interesting to note that up to 43% of voice searches are made for shopping purposes.

But the most intriguing statistic of them all, with you the restaurant owner in mind is that a whopping 51% of consumers use voice search to search for local restaurants, they are statistically the most popular voice searched business.

So following the trend in the market, as you can see it is vital for your restaurant webpage to be voice search enabled, in order to keep up with the inevitable growing trend and need for voice search and their results.

How to optimize your website for voice searches

How to optimize a website for voice search? If optimizing your webpage for voice searches is a bit of a new concept for you, consider the few tips mentioned below in order to make sure you get set off on the right foot and make your website as appealing and lead pulling as possible.

Or perhaps your website has already been enabled, but you are looking for a few pointers on how to better your optimization. Whatever the case, have a look at the following information that will help you to get started optimizing your website, today!

Back to full sentences

While most typed searches in search engines contain keywords only, trends in voice searches have found that voice search users tend to speak more words and fuller sentences in a search.

To illustrate this point, an example of a popular typed search for a restaurant would be: “Mexican restaurant near me”, however the corresponding voice search for this same query would be dictated as: “Where is the nearest Mexican restaurant to me.” As you can see, both queries will retrieve the same results, but voice searches are generally longer than written searches. 

So, what does that mean for you? That means that you must optimize your SEO keywords to long-tail keywords due to the longer word count in voice searches.

Question words such as “how”, “who”, “what”, “when”, “where” and “why” which are almost always omitted when making a typed search are more likely to be included in voice searches, as people dictate commands to their devices as they would voice a query to a person; therefore these should also be included amongst your SEO keywords.

Include your location

Did you know that 50% of local mobile voice searches lead to the consumer visiting the store? That means a wide window of footfall opportunity is open when it comes to local voice searches. You can make the most of this by incorporating your restaurants’ location information into your SEO keywords. Include keywords such as “Near Me” or “Nearby” in your title tags and internal links.

You can also include the names of essential landmarks near your restaurant location into your SEO strategy. Or perhaps you are aware of the way that the area around your restaurant is often described by locals, include these names and the local information into your SEO strategy. 

Conclusion

So there you have it, two excellent tips to make sure you make your restaurant webpage enabled as soon as possible. To sum up, everything we have looked at, make sure that your SEO keyword strategy includes the following to ensure long term voice search success:

• Include long-tail keywords and question words in your SEO strategy. 
• Include location information, such as popular landmarks, street names, and the essential keywords: “Near me.”

Author Bio

Jeremy oversaw the digital marketing department of a multi-unit restaurant group for nearly eight years. He now enjoys spending time with his family writing for his blog Ktchndad.