Voice Search: How to Optimize Your School’s Website for Siri and Alexa
With the advent of voice search, the question of “how do we optimize our website for people using Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant?” has become more prevalent. For example, someone typing “best restaurants near me” using traditional search may use a voice search term like “what are some good restaurants near me?” What do site owners need to know in order to show up for both of these types of searches?
Believe it or not, it’s possible the answer is...not much! At Little Foxes, we develop SEO strategies around good, quality content that answers user’s needs. Copy that’s written with natural language and hits on key elements and theme of the topic we’re looking to rank for will, ideally, have no issue ranking for both traditional and voice search.
Why? Because Google’s algorithm is built to understand and evolve to semantics, thanks to the 2013 Hummingbird core update. This rollout vastly improved Google’s ability to understand context and natural language, i.e. how “real” people talk.
That said, there are a few things that can be done to make sure all the boxes have been ticked to show up for voice search queries. Consider these steps below to optimize your EDU website for voice search:
Local Search
The application of this depends on the actual offering, but if you provide educational services to a particular area, it’s important to talk about the areas you serve in your content:
Use city & neighborhood terms, including any phrases people may use to describe the neighborhood
Incorporate “near me”-type terms into the copy, including title tags, meta descriptions, internal links, and anchor text if it feels appropriate to do so
Include any landmarks or names of local institutions that are relevant in your copy
All of these elements communicate to the user a familiarity with the area and provide context clues that you’re in a specific service area.
Write for Real People
Google rewards sites with good user experience with higher rankings. This means providing the info users are looking for quickly and in a way that’s intuitive to how they’re searching.
Write content using everyday language while using your authentic brand voice
Create content around commonly asked questions - people often use questions when making voice searches. Think about the who, what, where, why, and how. Writing content that addresses specific questions is an easy way to target these.
This often translates into going after more long-tail keywords, i.e. “what is a degree in computer science good for” vs. “degree in computer science”
Use Structured Data
Schema markup, also known as structured data, is info on the back end of a website that communicates to bots key facts, quickly. This is particularly useful for events, quick facts, statistics, and more. Google is known to reference structured data for rich snippets, the text/ratings that appear under SERPS or in Google Knowledge panels.
When users search for a local school, they’re often looking for the hours of operation, phone number, address, directions, or perhaps details about tonight’s basketball game. While these typically aren’t enrollment-related searches, providing a good experience to all of your site’s users will keep you in Google’s good graces. Schema markup can help deliver this information quickly and concisely to Google.
Optimize your GMB Listing
Claim, optimize, and manage your school’s Google My Business (GMB) listing. This is the easiest—and cheapest (spoiler it’s free!)—way to put your school’s information on Google. Not only is this extremely helpful for your traditional branded search strategy, but this info is also used to “answer direct spoken questions in Google Assistant and Google Home voice queries” (Wikipedia).
Ensure Mobile Friendliness
The majority of voice searches are done on mobile devices. Is your site mobile-friendly? Does it load quickly and cleanly on a phone, tablet, and other screened devices?
Further Reading
If you’re looking for more information on this topic, check out these additional resources: