Should I invest in SEO? Does it offer real value?
These are questions we hear from clients all the time. Is SEO important and will it make a difference to my business growth?
If you are intent on increasing visibility and providing value to your target audience, then you will find that SEO (search engine optimisation) has many benefits.
First, let’s explore the explosion of voice search queries and how to optimise your site for this.
Following that, we’ll discuss whether news sliders are worth adding to your site. Will they benefit your SEO?
Update your SEO for Voice Search
According to research, voice search is the future of online searches. With 71% of consumers preferring to ask a voice search query rather than type, it’s exciting to think your content could be picked up on a smart home device or smartphone.
How do you make sure it’s your website that a smart speaker – Alexa, Cortana, or Siri – shares with a room of people?
The great news is there are ways of optimising your SEO to include voice searches.
First, you must be clear that there is a difference between how people speak to a smart assistant on a smart speaker or on a smartphone. By focusing on how different devices are used, you can tailor your content accordingly.
Smartphones – voice searchers who need a quick answer typically use their phone, especially if they have an immediate problem which needs solving. This works well for location-based queries.
Smart speakers – people are generally in the comfort of their homes and will ask their speaker a question that requires a large, in-depth search.
Car speakers – these are used to satisfy a need, like offering directions, location of the nearest garage or supermarket.
So, now we can see it’s important to segment your audience based on where they make their voice search. Try to match your SEO strategy to the flexibility of your customers.
Here are some more tips for utilising the power of voice search to drive traffic to your website:
- Use conversational keywords
With voice search, use keywords that are long phrases and questions, like what is said in real human conversations. For example, “How often should I water my tomato plant?”
- Set up your Google Business Profile
Lots of voice search users are looking for local business information every day. Google Business Profile is the number 1 way to increase your chances at boosting local business. It’s a powerful SEO asset, so don’t hesitate to set it up.
- Be mobile friendly
20% of all voice searches are made through mobile phones. Make sure your site is well-optimised for mobile or visitors will move on quickly. Good mobile SEO requires responsive design, fast load times and easy readability.
- Engage on social media
Voice search is also used on social media. Voice search results can get lots of likes and shares on Facebook and Twitter so make sure your pages are active and engaging.
- Try to be Number 1!
Generally, voice search picks the top search result for the spoken question or query. This can make your SEO work quite a challenge! Basically, your website needs to be on Google’s first page, as close to the number one position as possible. Get cracking on your SEO efforts – contact us at Future Marketing and we can do this for you.
Voice search is here; your SEO needs to take it into consideration.
News Sliders – Good for SEO or not?
Should you add a news slider – sometimes called a homepage slider – and will it affect your SEO?
In case you’re a bit lost, some brands add a news slider to their homepage that can update every day with the latest news.
If you pull it off, a news slider can HELP your SEO. However, if it isn’t thought out properly it can cause problems for your website.
It all depends on how the news slider is coded. If the slider loads once the user has completed an action, then it might not be visible to a search engine. Search engines don’t see actions like clicking or scrolling, so they won’t see any content dependent on them.
Your developer should code all the content into the document object model (DOM) then it will be visible to search engines.
Legitimate developers will know how to do this but there are also many plugins that do it automatically.
This is the most important point to consider: most people don’t use news sliders. They may engage with the default slide but won’t click through to see what’s next.
A political or news site may get some benefit out of a news slider, but otherwise consider whether it’s worth your time or not.
In terms of how it will affect your SEO, as long all the slider content is loaded into the DOM, then you’re good to go!
Contact Future Marketing
As always, please contact us if you have SEO needs. We’re experts at improving our client’s sites to increase organic visibility. Send us a message at info@future-marketing.co.uk and let’s start optimising!
