The following guest post was written by Libby Teager. Libby is a social media addict, who turned it into her profession. She loves her role as an account manager and researcher at Speechless Web Design.

Search engine optimization is constantly changing and evolving. And while it is changing, it is becoming more challenging for SEO professionals to keep track of.

With the ever changing trends in SEO, it is important to always have your eyes peeled for potential movements in the industry. This way, you can keep on top of your SEO strategy and become more of a threat to your competitors.

The Increasing Trend of Voice Search

One current trend in the SEO industry that we face today is the movement towards mobile SEO. Whilst mobile has steadily been climbing the mountain for the number one device of choice for internet usage for a while, it has recently came close to taking over desktop as the number one source of search.

According to Hitwise, searches which take place on a mobile device now accord for sixty percent of the overall searches on the web. Such trend has resulted in the increasing trends towards locational searches and voice searches performed on mobile devices.

In fact, Google has recently stated that twenty percent of searches made on mobile devices were in fact voice searches. With the introduction of Siri and Google assistant, this has all become possible.

It is pretty clear that SEO is changing and will continue to do some in years to come, so it is in our own interests to scrap traditional approaches of SEO, and consider such movements by optimizing for current trends like voice search.

Here we will discuss just how to do that....

Takeover of Mobile Devices

Mobile devices have come a long way in such a short amount of time. A month can’t go by without us hearing about another mobile update, or a new model of phone coming out. But as new mobile devices are hitting the market place, they won’t want to disappoint. Hence why we can now do things like speak to our mobile phones.

Whilst it sounds bizarre, speaking to our mobile devices has ultimately taken over the nature of the way we search and browse the web.

With the built in mobile features of Siri, and Google assistant, people would be silly not to ask their mobile phone to search for something on the web. At the end of the day it saves a lot of time, when compared to typing out a search query on such a small screen.

This changes everything with regards to SEO. And as a result, SEO professionals need to rethink their SEO strategies according to what and how their potential customers are searching.

How to Optimize For Voice Search

Since twenty percent of searches are made through voice search, it means that the nature of search has changed. Currently, most websites are optimized for traditional SEO, that being short tail keywords which are searched for by using a keyboard on a desktop. However, voice search means that websites will need to be optimized to fit the modern form of search.

Voice search allows for not only a more natural voice, but a more conversational voice too. This is because you have the chance to search using the words you would use in a normal conversation with another party. In this case, searches get longer, and so do the keywords which are worth optimizing for.

Not only does siri want to provide an accurate web search result for it’s users, but it will also want to provide the user with a result which is straight to the point, rather than not. Most voice searches will require a simple answer, whether that be the answer to a simple question, or a location based answer.

When creating content for your website, it is important to consider optimizing it for longtail keywords, rather than short tail. Longtail keywords might not have the highest search volume or traffic, but they are certainly the keywords which are the most targeted to a specific search. As well as that, they come with less competition because most websites are too focused on optimizing for short tail keywords. There are various tools which help with finding long tail keywords. One in particular is Ahrefs, a great tool for keyword research.

What Are Customers Searching For?

With an estimated twenty two percent of people searching for informative and local content, online and local businesses need to optimize with this in mind.

A great way of finding exactly what your customers are searching for is by taking down a list of questions and statements which your customers commonly ask you as an industry expert. This could be face-to-face, or via the phone. Once you have taken note of the sort of things your customers want to know and learn, you can start to produce content which they would find of value and use to them.

Similarly, it is great to focus on FAQ’s. By producing content which answers the questions of those who are seeking solutions to specific questions in the industry, you are putting yourself in front of the eyes of your ideal audience by providing them with content that they WANT to see.

SEO professionals need to take into account the constant developments of SEO. From the movement towards a mobile only world, to producing content which is geared towards the way users are searching, and what they are searching - it is important to properly optimize your website in a way that puts you ahead of your competitors.