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Almost immediately on the heels of Google’s Basic Core Update came the news of another adjustment: the Google Site Diversity Change.

What is the Site Diversity change? How might it impact your business and what do we foresee as the opportunities and threats to our customers?

The Google Site Diversity Change: What You Need to Know

Unlike the Basic Core Update, which Google considers a major update to its algorithm that determines how websites are displayed in response to a search engine query, the Site Diversity Change isn’t considered to be a major update. Instead, it’s a simple “change” or tweak to the results.

According to a Google tweet, “This site diversity change means that you usually won’t see more than two listings from the same site in our top results. However, we may still show more than two in cases where our systems determine it’s especially relevant to do so for a particular search….”

In plain language, this means that Google will no longer show more than two results from the same website in search engine results. Businesses who relied on domination over the first page of the SERPS by flooding their sites with content optimized around the same keyword phrase may find their traffic dropping as this change takes effect.

The Dashboard Interactive Perspective: Opportunity for Small Businesses

Some site owners expressed concern over the change but many see this as an opportunity and a potential benefit. It levels the playing field between big companies who can easily fill their sites with average quality, heavily optimized content or smaller or medium sized companies with solid SEO support and small businesses who produce only one or two exceptionally high-quality web pages on the same topic. Quality, not quantity, is the watchword for this Google change.

We also view this as a fun challenge for SEO firms and internal SEO departments. This change may separate the good from the average as there will be fewer organic positions to vie for and many will be pushed off page one for targeted keyword phrases.

In the past, being positioned on the lower half of page one for targeted keyword phrases may have led to new sales leads or sales opportunities, but now with the change, businesses that were once on the lower half of page one, may move up or they could find themselves on page 2. This change may require allocating additional marketing dollars to stay competitive or require that your digital marketing firm or marketing department, elevate their game to achieve the same results. As a result, companies may consider changing vendors or adjusting their digital marketing strategy.

With Google, change is a constant when it comes to how they find, index, and return pages in search engine results. The one thing that has always remained the same is relevance: ensuring the web pages are highly relevant to the keyword phrase used to describe the page contents.

Google is going to continue to change how their search engine returns results. It’s just a matter of time before they make further tweaks and changes. They are in the business of relevancy and of ensuring that searchers find what they are seeking quickly.

Small businesses looking to maximize their potential with both organic and paid search marketing would be wise to keep this in mind every time a Google update rolls out. It’s nothing to panic about – if your SEO firm has the knowledge and takes the time to consistently work on both the on-page and off-page SEO factors that help a site rank well.

Attention to detail matters when it comes to search engine marketing. It’s not just the keywords you choose. It’s how your site is built, hosted, created, managed, updated and marketed online and off.

If you’re interested in learning more, contact us today at 763-242-2454 or at 800-807-1854. We work with small and medium sized businesses and agencies and are here to help.

The popularity of video as a marketing tool keeps growing and growing. YouTube, the world’s most famous online video sharing site, boasts 1 billion viewers or about one-third of all internet users. For a company just celebrating its 14th birthday, that’s amazing.

But video marketing goes beyond YouTube to using videos for content marketing, product demonstrations, blogging, and more. Let’s take a look at the popularity of video as a marketing tool and talk about how your company can use this strong and growing marketing channel for brand awareness and lead generation.

Video Marketing by the Numbers

Videos reach everyone, both old and young, consumers and executives. They watch videos to learn more about products or services, tackle how-to projects, and engage with their favorite vloggers (video bloggers) about their thoughts on the latest topics.

Video offers excellent pass-along marketing, too, which results in more people watching and engaging with video content than with many other types of content.

1. 45% of people who watch YouTube watch one hour of videos or more each week.
   According to WordStream, YouTube fans watch at least an hour of the site’s content each week. That’s a lot of people watching one website and underscores the popularity of the video sharing site. Remember, not all YouTube videos are home movies of kids or pets doing funny things. Brands and companies also create and share channels, like television channels, on YouTube. There’s a big audience out there using one site which you can use to share your content, too.
2. 70% of consumers say they’ve shared a brand’s video.
   The Content Marketing Institute states that 27 million marketing pieces are shared daily. With that much content released to the world, you need something that not only stands out but gets passed along to others, thus amplifying the audience reach. This turns watchers into brand evangelists for your company, tapping into each customers’ circle of friends and family and greatly expanding how many potential viewers – and sales or leads – you’ll get from each video.
3. 72% of companies claim that videos improved their conversion rate.
   Conversion rate refers to the number of leads that turn into sales. According to this statistic, 72% of companies say that video helps convince potential buyers to complete their purchase. More leads will close as sales with videos included on a company’s website.
4. 52% of consumers say that videos help them feel confident about their decision to buy.
   Impact BnD cites an Invodo article in which consumers report that videos help them feel more confident about their purchasing decision. Do you sell something new to the market or something that costs a bit more than your competitors? If so, a video may help increase consumer confidence during the buying process. You can use video to showcase how a new-to-the-market product works, demonstrating the proper use of it or creative uses for it. Or, you can explain how a more expensive product offers a better value than the competitor’s products. Both examples help uncertain customers feel confident in their decision to complete the checkout process and buy a product.
5. 65% of executives visit a company’s website, and 39% call them after viewing a video.
   Forbes Insights states that among the executives they surveyed, 65% visited a company’s site after watching their video. B2B sellers are also part of the rising popularity of video for marketing purposes. Companies selling exclusively to other businesses report great success using video marketing, too.

Getting Started the Right Way with Video Marketing

Before you rush to pick up your smartphone or video camera and create your first video marketing piece, read this next part. It’s critical to make professional quality videos to market your business.

Just because we all have access to video cameras on our phones doesn’t make us good at it. Poor quality video can derail your video marketing efforts just as poorly written content can derail your blogging efforts.

Video marketing, like most online marketing, also relies heavily upon keyword-based titles, tags, and other attributes. These keywords help sites like YouTube and Google find and share your content with people looking for it online.

A professional internet marketing agency such as Dashboard Interactive understands how to make the most out of your video marketing budget. At Dashboard, we know that you can write one video script and use it for several content marketing projects and social media posts, or film one long video and extract many useful, shareable bits from it. We understand why it’s essential to upload an exclusive video to Facebook and why it’s essential to use the right keywords on your video. And, we keep you free from tangling in copyright snares by ensuring that all work is original or licensed appropriately from the creators of the music or images used in the piece.

There’s a particular look, feel, and production value to professionally produced video that you can’t get from a shaky handheld camera and your nephew’s editing work. People do judge a book by its cover, and they will judge – and leave – a poorly produced video. By contrast, they also love and share well-produced content.

Video marketing starts with a plan that includes a strategy for your entire web presence. Talk to Dashboard Interactive today to learn more about video marketing and to start your new internet marketing strategy.

Think about the people you trust. What makes them trustworthy?

Chances are you answered with one or more of the following statements:

• They keep their word.
• They show up when they say they will.
• I can depend on them – I know what to expect.

Local search marketing is a lot like building trust in a person. It’s about showing up where you’re expected and creating a consistent appearance. Let’s take a look at what this means for your business and how it builds enough trust with search engines so that they display your business at the top of the local search section of the results page, which in turn generates new clicks, leads, and sales for your company.

The Importance of Local Search

Just how important is local search? Consider the following:

50% of all people who do a local search on their smartphone visit the location the same day.
If your business traffic depends on local search, you need a multi-pronged approach to search marketing. Your site must be mobile-friendly and load quickly without taking up precious data space on a smartphone. Local search marketing, along with advertising, will also help push the results to the top of the page and encourage more people to visit. And, if the stats are correct, half of those who search for a business like yours locally will visit it the same day!

60% of American adults use a smartphone or tablet for local search.
This is another great reason to make sure that your site is set up appropriately for local search. Restaurants, plumbers, handymen, contractors, lawyers, doctors, dentists, accountants, store owners and more all rely on local clients. Make sure people can find you easily and quickly online.

30% of all searches include location.
A growing number of people tag their search queries with location information to ensure results appear in their local area. It’s another motivation to beef up your local search marketing efforts.

46% of all local searches are completed using Google.
Google remains an essential player in the search engine marketing world for both local and global searches. Optimizing your website for Google searches ensures that you’re seen and ranked by this top search engine.

Local Search Citation Sources

If you’re ready to work on your local search engine listings, the first step is to update and check local search citation sources. Like learning to trust certain people in your family or circle of friends, search engines have learned to trust specific websites for business listings. These sites provide accurate and reliable information so that search engines have learned over time to trust what they provide.

If you are serious about performing well in the local search market, you need a listing on each of the following seven directories (in no particular order):

1. Yelp
2. Acxiom
3. Neustar Localeze
4. Factual
5. Facebook
6. Infogroup
7. yp.com

According to Kristen Eichmann, Dashboard Interactive’s local search marketing expert, “The key is not to just be on these directories, but to have a consistent business name, address and phone number (NAP). If more than one listing exists for your business, you should contact them and ask them to remove the listing or merge it with your main listing (with the most accurate info).”

Kristen also points out that a listing on some of the major directories and syndicates will push your business information into smaller listings, spreading the information far and wide. This is another reason to ensure both accuracy and consistency.

“These are some of the major directories that syndicate your business info to other smaller directories. If data is inconsistent across these directories, this increases the chances of Google creating a duplicate Google My Business (GMB) listing for it. Duplicate GMB listings hurt your positioning in Google local because the two (or three+) listings compete with one another. Any duplicate listings then need to be closed, which is something we can assist with.”

Get Started with Local Search Today

Dashboard Interactive specializes in working with small and mid-sized businesses. Many of our clients have found they need help with local search marketing. They need assistance consolidating their listings, updating outdated information, or forming a plan of action on their search marketing.

That’s where we can help. We have a team of experienced marketing professionals including folks like Kristen who are experts at local search marketing. We also have professional web designers, SEO experts, copywriters, and more who can tackle local search projects for you. This frees your time up so that you can work on what you do best – your business – while we handle the marketing side of things.

If you’re ready to push the bar higher on your local search marketing efforts and showcase your business on Google and other search engines, give us a call today.

Right now, just a little over 7% of people say they prefer to search using voice-activated technology. The overwhelming majority prefer good old-fashioned text. They want to type a query into a browser on their computer or phone and read the results.

Does this mean that voice-activated search will never take off? It’s already taking off, and growing!

The Future of Voice Search Looks Bright

comScore predicts that 50% of all searches will be made by voice by 2020, while Gartner estimates that 30% of searches in the future won’t even need a screen.

Just because people prefer to use old-fashioned typing for search doesn’t mean they are opposed to using voice search. Preferences shift as technology becomes more affordable and intuitive. There’s always a delay between the introduction of new technology and the widespread adoption of that technology.

Back in the early 1990s, a good friend of mine, a salesperson for a pharmaceutical company, had an enormous cellphone the size of a shoebox with an antenna as big as her head. Today, we have watches that can double as smartphones. What seemed like something out of a James Bond movie is now ubiquitous.

Cellphones have evolved from bulky, heavy, limited objects to sleek, streamlined gadgets that make our lives easier. The same may be said for voice-activated search. What began as a lark, a cool toy to have in our homes to queue up our favorite music for a party or turn off the lights in the garage from the kitchen has started to become a necessary and accepted part of our lives.

Who Uses Voice Search?

Let’s dig a little deeper into who uses voice search, all preferences aside. The demographic information is invaluable for marketers looking to gain an edge on their search marketing, especially local search.

1. 65% of 25-49-year-olds use voice search. Over 57% of 50+ use it, too.
   This is the prime demographic for many local search opportunities, including restaurants, salons, childcare needs, home repair, and entertainment. If most of your customers come from this demographic, you must pay attention to voice search as part of your search engine optimization strategy, or you may miss a significant opportunity.
2. 58% use voice search to find a local business.
   Finding a local plumber, a restaurant that’s open late at night, or a pharmacy open 24/7 are all tasks for local search. If you cater to a local market, more than half of your local customers are using voice search to find recommendations. It pays to be at the head of the line.
3. 35.6 million Americans used voice-activated devices at least once a month in 2017, two years ago. That figure, however, represents a year-over-year increase of 128.9%

If you still think that voice search is struggling for widespread adoption, think again. More people every year jump on the voice search bandwagon, purchasing unique devices such as Alexa or using voice search assistants already embedded in existing devices, such as Siri in Mac products. Each year, the number of people turning to voice search increases—whether they prefer it or not.

Tapping into the Voice Activated Search Market

To tap into the voice-activated search market, you must have a website that is voice search optimized. What does that mean? It means a site that is:

• Fast: Speed is essential to good search rankings, but it is imperative for voice-activated search. Common code errors, big images, and other issues can slow a site down. A good SEO firm can help you find those problems and fix them.
• Specific: Keyword phrases continue to be necessary for search engine optimization whether voice or text-activated. When optimizing for the local market, it’s important to think like you’re the one using a mobile or other voice activated device and incorporate appropriate request phrases. Including phrases related to your location may help push your site ahead of the other local competitors as well.
• Secure: Google and all search engines put a premium on security. If you do not have an SSL certificate and a secure infrastructure to your website, think again. You may wish to find a provider to run a security audit on your site and suggest ways to improve.

Voice search continues to grow among all demographics thanks to necessity. Cellphones grew in popularity out of necessity. Those who drove long distances liked the security of having a phone handy in case of emergency. As time went by and cellphones could do more, they became indispensable for all types of communication.

The same may be said for voice search—it is rapidly becoming indispensable. It’s time to make sure your site is voice-ready. Call today for an assessment.

Love them or hate them, social media ads are here to stay. And social media itself has grown to the point of being part of the fabric of our daily lives.

The Pew Internet Research Center reports the following from 2018:

• Three-quarters of Facebook users log into the site more than once a day.
• Six in 10 Snapchat and Instagram users log into these sites daily.
• Pinterest remains substantially more popular with women (41% of whom say they use the site) than with men (16%).
• The average person uses three out of 8 popular platforms, with Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram the most popular.

Each social media platform offers unique ways for users to consume, post, and interact with the platforms’ content. Some are better for quick, casual video and photo posts between friends, and others encourage a more polished and produced collection of visuals. Some, like Facebook, try to offer a wide variety of uses with posts that are intended to be more conversational with a mix of text, images, and video sharing options. And others are topic-based visual curation sites where users collect and save ideas and information.

All offer an opportunity to reach the audiences that use them via social media advertising. If you’re new to social media advertising, it can seem daunting to set up and manage a campaign.

Social Media Strategy First, Tactics Second

As with all marketing, the strategy comes first. Knowing your audience is key to a successful social media advertising campaign, according to Robyn Flach, Social Media Marketing team leader at Dashboard Interactive.

“Ad strategy should be well planned with tactics that measure for specific objectives, so you know from the start what each campaign’s goal will be and optimize your advertising dollars for that,” Robyn said.

Most social media platforms provide a wealth of demographic information especially from paid advertising campaigns so that advertisers know who responds to their ads, when, and how. It’s up to an organization’s internal resources or an agency with expertise in social media advertising to leverage that information for successful campaigns.

A New World of Advertising Awaits: Social Media Ads

Social media advertising offers many opportunities for targeting. To give you some idea of the many choices that face you as a marketer, consider the following lists showing just some of the options, each with unique creative requirements and each ideal for specific circumstances and objectives:

As you can see, there are a lot of choices to make when creating your social media advertising campaign. Each option should be determined by what your campaign strategy, audience knowledge, data on past social media and advertising performance, and best practices to achieve your marketing campaign goals.

A marketing agency can work with you to create a realistic social media advertising strategy that works in tandem with other marketing and social media activities and recommend a working budget, keeping the company’s overall goals in mind.

Social Media Advertising: Best Practices and Tips

If you’re ready to jump into social media advertising, our experts have some tips for you to keep in mind.

• Understanding placement options is important. Business owners may decide they don’t want their ads to appear to be associated with certain types of content. For instance, short video ads are sometimes placed as un-skippable mid-roll ads that are positioned in the middle of a longer video belonging to another company. Some business owners may not want their video ad to appear in the middle of a politically charged video, or another video around topics not aligned with their company values. (We can help you with placement issues to avoid conflicts of interest or the appearance of endorsing topics that do not align with your company values).
• Leverage audience actions and results data to create new audiences and campaigns that build off of past successes.

Dashboard Interactive: Social Media Marketing Experts

Creating just the right tone, mood, and message to achieve your social media marketing campaign goals is essential. You need a partner who understands how social media fits into your big-picture marketing goals. Count on Dashboard Interactive to understand your business, develop a goal-focused marketing campaign, and deliver measurable results.

A revenue generator that’s right for many local service businesses.

Have you noticed the Google Guaranteed badge on some Google search pages? If so, have you wondered what this is or if it’s right for your business? If you own a local service business, Google Local Services Ads (LSA’s) and the Google Guarantee program may be worth considering.

With Local Services Ads, you have the ability to advertise your business on Google and receive leads directly from potential customers. These ads appear at the top of Google search engine results pages and you only pay for qualified leads.

How Local Services Ads work

Local Services Ads are shown at the top of Google Search results pages when people search for the services you offer in your area. Potential customers can click on your ad to either call you or send you a message. You’ll receive a notification from Google. It’s then up to you to nurture the lead.

Searchers will also see the green checkmark alongside the “Google Guarantee.” In addition to catching users’ attention, this enables businesses to benefit from Google’s endorsement. Every ad includes customer ratings and reviews and Local Services Ads ensure your reviews appear on the SERP. You automatically apply for the Google guarantee when you sign up for LSA’s and there is an approval process to qualify.

Additional benefits:

• Connect with potential customers who are searching for services you provide and are most likely to book.
• Additional visibility on key search pages. If you’re already generating organic, paid or Google MyBusiness visibility, your business is more likely to generate sales opportunities with the additional listing.
• Differentiate your business from competitors.
• Increase the likelihood of your business being mentioned for voice activated search. Local Service Ads are one of the few ways you can increase the likelihood that you’re found on devices powered by Google Assistant.
• Pay only for leads related to your business and the services you offer.
• Customers choose you: You only hear from customers who have specifically selected your profile out of all the rest.

Costs are based on the business type. Businesses in the following categories are currently eligible to participate in the program in Minnesota, with more categories being added:

The below additional business categories are included in other states:

In order to qualify, businesses are required to complete a screening process. This includes meeting relevant insurance and licensing requirements and criminal background checks for employees. Guidelines are needed as Google is guaranteeing the work, which is an additional incentive for potential new customers to contact service providers who are enrolled in the program. This is also a great selling point for service providers.

Once approved, it’s important to optimize your profile and your business. Google calculates your LSA rank based on a number of factors including:

• Your proximity to potential customers’ locations
• Your review score and the number of reviews you receive
• Your responsiveness to customer inquiries and requests
• Your business hours
• Whether or not we’ve received serious or repeated complaints about your business

If you’re a local service business that falls under the above-mentioned categories, Local Search Ads may be worth testing. Not only are they highly visible, they are also measurable and can be very cost effective. LSA’s are not for every business, yet can be an important part of an overall Digital Marketing strategy. For additional information on Local Search Ads or to see if Local Search Ads are right for you, please contact Dashboard Interactive at 763-242-2454 or send us a message.

Nearly 77% of adults in the United States go online at least once a day, and 26% admit they’re almost always online. When they’re online, they’re checking email, social media, and researching items to buy, things to do, and places to see.

That’s where content marketing enters the picture. Content marketing uses informative written, audio, and visual storytelling to educate customers as they move through the buying cycle. A well-executed content marketing strategy generates excellent results over time. But it takes dedication, consistency, and teamwork to yield such results.

Content Marketing: Engage, Educate, Inform

Content marketing depends upon the strategic flow of materials, called ‘content,’ to a niche market. Good content marketing utilizes many channels to educate and inform customers. Content marketing does not explicitly sell; rather it stimulates interest in a product or service.

A good example of content marketing in action is for someone we’ll call Ken. Ken sells socks and footcare products for diabetics. He runs an e-commerce site and a small storefront. Ken uses content marketing through videos, his company’s blog, and several free booklets he has produced and shares online.

In his videos, he doesn’t sell socks or footcare products. Instead, he interviews doctors about the dangers diabetes poses to the feet and how diabetics can avoid infections and other foot problems. His booklets offer great footcare tips and are approved by a podiatrist. His blog offers inspiring stories of diabetic athletes, recipes and tips to manage diabetes.

You’ll notice something missing from this content: a hard sell. Ken doesn’t pitch his socks or other products directly. Instead, he shares plenty of information to help people live a healthier life. The doctor interviewed in the videos describes the importance of good circulation to the feet, but not once are Ken’s brand of socks mentioned.

Instead, Ken is educating diabetics (his target, niche audience) on the importance of good footcare. Through this series of content pieces, Ken educates and informs his target audience so that they turn to him as their expert on diabetic footcare products… and yes, they buy the socks!

The Effectiveness of Content Marketing

Content marketing requires expert writers, graphic designers, and videographers who can tell a compelling story. It takes time to generate content and build an audience. Are the results worth it?

1. High quality content produces 7.8 times more site traffic.

   It pays to invest in the best content you can afford. According to the Content Marketing Institute, content leaders produce 7.8 times more website traffic than advertising alone. Once you get people to your website, the site’s contents can convert them into leads or buyers.

2. Content marketing costs 67% less than inbound ads and keeps people engaged for 37 seconds.

   Content marketing costs, on average, much less than running an inbound advertising campaign alone. Perhaps more importantly, it keeps people’s attention much longer. According to some experts, over 200 million people have ad-blocking software on their computers. This reduces the number of people who view your paid ads, but not your content. Consider this when developing your marketing campaign.

3. Content offers shareable materials – which increases reach and brand exposure.

   People love sharing informative infographics, videos, articles and more with their friends and colleagues. They almost never share advertisements. Blog content remains the most shared, so a blog for your website should be the cornerstone of your content marketing campaign.

4. Younger audiences love podcasting. 45% of people ages 18-34 listen to podcasts once a week or more.

   Podcasting offers a great method of content marketing for younger audiences. If you sell products or services to the 18-34 age group, podcasting may be the cornerstone of your campaign rather than blogging. Services such as Podbean, Blog Talk Radio and many others offer the ability to quickly establish a podcasting channel. Syndication through Google, Apple products and others quickly increases audience reach for many podcasters.

5. YouTube reaches 2 billion people globally. More than 500 million hours of videos are watched on YouTube each day.

   Do your products or services lend themselves to video storytelling? YouTube reaches one in three people worldwide. If you produce videos, consider uploading a separate version to Facebook. The Facebook platform prioritizes direct uploads over shared YouTube links, so you’ll get more views.

These are just a few statistics on content marketing. Marketers worldwide continue to embrace content marketing as an effective way to reach customers without hyping their products. Customers continue to respond well to content marketing, making the investment in quality content great for long-term value. Adding content marketing to your overall strategy may be a win-win.

Considering content marketing? Dashboard Interactive offers video storytelling, professionally written content including blog posts, expert graphic design and more to build your content marketing strategy.

1.0 Billion Voice Searches a Month and Growing

You’re probably familiar with search engine optimization (SEO), but have you heard of voice search optimization? Voice search optimization is the optimization of keywords and keyword phrases for searches using voice assistants. When you make a voice command on Siri, Alexa, etc. and receive a response with the information you requested, you’ve completed a voice search and voice search optimization may have played a role in the answer that you received.

Voice search isn’t new and if you aren’t optimizing for voice activated search, you are probably already losing ground in the battle to gain customers. When it comes to voice search, the result that is served provides the featured organization with a significant competitive advantage. It’s time to focus on voice activated search as an important marketing strategy, especially if your organization provides products or services to a local audience.

It’s important to note that by 2021, brands that redesign their websites to support visual and voice search will increase digital commerce revenue by 30%. According to Gartner, one of the world’s leading research and advisory companies, these early responders will see an increase in conversions, revenues, new customers and customer retention; and as of January, there are over 1 billion voice searches completed per month.

Consider all the potential places where people may use voice search. About 45 million home voice activated speakers were shipped out last year, and in 2018 the number of smartphone users in the US reached 257.3M. Voice search popularity continues to grow, and we are only just seeing the start of the adoption of home voice activated systems.

Why Should Local Business Owners Pay Attention to Voice Search Optimization?

You may think that voice activated search is only for large companies, but the statistics paint a different picture. Local businesses may benefit the most from voice search:

• 58% of consumers are using voice activated search to find a local business
• 46% of voice search users look for a local business a daily basis
• 27% of consumers surveyed said they would visit the website of a local business after conducting a voice search
• 88% of “Near Me” searches are done on mobile
• 63% of people ages 35 – 54 use voice searches

Key Ranking Factors for Voice Activated Search

As with non-voice search optimization, it’s important for your organization to be found and some of the key ranking factors for voice activated search mirror those for other types of search in some respect. There are also key differences. Below are a few tips.

Refresh the Basics

Start to optimize for voice search with the basics. For all the sophistication of Google, Apple, and others, if basic facts about your business such as the street address, store hours, and phone number are inconsistent on profiles across the internet, the search engine may have trouble crawling your content or skip it entirely in the voice search results.

Focus on Long-Tail Keyword Phrases Related to Local Search

Optimizing around long-tail keywords also makes sense for both search engine optimization and voice optimization. People don’t say “bakery Glen Oaks.” They give commands like, “Find a bakery in Glen Oaks that’s open until 8:00 P.M.” Use phrases naturally in the text, and don’t hide them in the image data.

Include Questions and Answers in Your Text

Most people ask a question when they use voice activated search. They want to know “where is the nearest urgent care facility?” or “which Chinese food restaurant is open now?” Use questions and answers in your web copy to help improve voice activated search results.

Use Structured Data Markup and Voice Schema

Structured data, or the coding found in the HTML of your site, helps make your site more easily searched and recognized by search engines. It also improves the accuracy with which sites are matched to queries.

Aim for Featured Snippets

Considering the fact that over 40% of voice search answers stem from a featured snippet, owning this coveted spot in search results can improve your chances of voice activated search results.

Test and Improve Site Speed

Speed to load matters, especially when it comes to voice activated search. Research indicates that 53% of people leave mobile sites if they don’t load in 3 seconds or less.

These are just a few tips that scratch the surface of optimizing for voice activated search. It’s a complicated subject that’s evolving constantly and the time for voice optimization is now. If you’d like to know more, give Dashboard a call. We’re here to help separate you from your competition.