Smartphones have revolutionized how we access information and services, putting the world quite literally at our fingertips.
With just a search, people can find answers to their questions or locate the products and services they need. However, a significant transformation is underway, shifting from traditional search methods to voice search and voice assistants.
This evolution is impossible for enterprise marketers to ignore, especially given the statistics:
- Nearly half (48.7%) of U.S. internet users are predicted to use voice assistants, according to an eMarketer forecast.
- 54% of consumers are inclined toward adopting voice technology in the future.
- 49% of U.S. consumers use voice-enabled searches to find local services.
For businesses, optimizing for voice search is no longer optional—it’s essential. However, enterprises face unique challenges due to the sheer volume of content assets they manage.
This guide outlines effective strategies and optimizations to enhance your voice search approach. Key areas of focus include schema markup, keyword research, site speed, FAQs, Google Actions, and more.
Let’s explore how enterprises can successfully optimize for voice search and stay ahead in this growing digital landscape.
Voice Optimization 101
Establish Content and Voice Search Guidelines
Voice search marketing teams should collaborate with content teams to develop or distribute guidelines that emphasize the importance of voice search optimization. These guidelines should include the integration of relevant keywords and best practices to ensure content is optimized for voice search SEO.
Update SEO Governance for Voice Search
While most enterprises already have AI and Voice search trends 2025 governance in place, it’s crucial to update these protocols to account for AI and voice search marketing. This might involve creating dedicated sections focused on voice search optimization.
Why This is Essential
Content creation is a dynamic process, and even the most skilled teams can make mistakes. To prevent these, your protocols should include detailed content reviews to catch potential issues before publication.
Steps to Enhance Your Process
- Comprehensive Content Review
Ensure all content undergoes a thorough review process before it’s posted to confirm it aligns with voice search optimization standards. - Optimization Assessment
Conduct optimization checks to confirm content is tailored for AI and voice search, incorporating natural language and proper Schema markup for voice SEO. - Keyword and Question Comparison
Compare your content against researched keywords and frequently asked questions to ensure relevance to voice search queries.
The Role of Guidelines
Guidelines are a critical aspect of enterprise marketing, especially since team members frequently transition. Clear, consistent guidelines ensure that optimization efforts remain on track and prevent knowledge gaps from affecting the quality of content.
Redefine Your Keyword Research to Incorporate Long-Tail Keywords
Here’s some good news: voice assistants have become significantly smarter. Today’s voice technology can understand a person’s voice even in challenging conditions such as:
- Background noise
- Diverse accents
- Dialects
Hyper-personalization is now a major feature of voice assistants, which means they are better equipped to respond to users in a tailored way. As a result, enterprises must gather detailed data about their target audience and understand their needs more deeply than ever before.
To optimize for voice search, you need to go beyond basic keyword strategies. Voice queries are more conversational and complex, much like asking a friend for help, rather than simple search phrases.
How to Adjust Your Keyword Research
To stay ahead, you must prioritize long-tail keywords—a crucial area often overlooked by enterprises focusing on high-traffic, high-value keywords. While long-tail keywords tend to have lower search volumes, they are more relevant to the natural, conversational style of voice searches.
Voice searches are typically longer and more detailed than traditional one- or two-word queries. People tend to ask questions that reflect their specific needs, so your content must be designed to answer those queries directly—just like a featured snippet does.
Incorporate questions into your content, such as:
- How do I use [XYZ product]?
- How much do [XYZ products] cost?
- How do I fix [XYZ problem]?
- Where [can I find XYZ]?
- Who [is the best provider for XYZ]?
- What [is the best solution for XYZ]?
By optimizing for these longer, question-based queries, you can better align your content with the way people use voice assistants, improving your chances of being found in voice search results.
People are Asking Questions, and You Need to Answer Them
To succeed in today’s search landscape, it’s essential to redefine your keyword research process by incorporating more long-tail keywords and question-based keywords in Voice search optimization. These types of searches are becoming increasingly popular, especially as people use voice assistants and other search technologies to ask specific questions.
Establish Processes for SEO Teams
It’s crucial to create clear processes and procedures for both internal and external SEO teams. Ensure they understand the importance of integrating question-based keywords into your content creation workflow of Voice search trends 2025. This will help optimize your content to directly address the questions users are asking, enhancing its relevance for Scaling voice search and query-based results.
Multimodal Search Optimization and the Rise of Visual Search
Visual search isn’t exactly new. With tools like Google Lens, you can take a picture of an object, and Google will try to find a match for it. For example, if you spot an adorable dog bed at your friend’s house, you can snap a photo and search for the exact item online.
But in 2024, at the I/O Developer Conference, Google introduced a significant update to Google Lens:
Video Search with Interactive Questions
Now, users can shoot a video, ask questions within the video, and receive answers in real-time. For example, you could record a video of your broken toilet, ask why the flange is stuck, and what needs to be fixed—and Google will analyze the video and respond with relevant information.
This move towards multimodal search—combining video, images, and text-based search—is shaping the future of how users interact with search engines. As an enterprise, it’s crucial to consider how your content will perform across these different mediums and how to optimize for visual and video search in addition to traditional text-based queries.
Vision Language Models (VLMs) and Multimodal Search
As vision language models (VLMs) continue to advance, enterprises must broaden their focus to accommodate various multimodal search types, including:
- Text-to-image search
- Image-to-text search
- Image-to-image search
For example, envision an enterprise specializing in high-end luxury apparel. A user might upload an image of a floral pattern and add a query like, “Floral dress in this style but with blue roses.” With proper optimization, your product could appear as a search result.
To rank effectively for these types of multimodal visual searches, enterprises need to ensure they have clear, descriptive visuals paired with well-optimized content. This will help improve the chances of appearing in these advanced search results.
Optimize for Site Speed and Mobile Experience
Since most voice searches originate from mobile devices and voice assistants, it’s crucial for enterprises to prioritize mobile optimization.
Key areas for optimization include:
- Responsive design: Ensure your website adapts seamlessly to different screen sizes and devices.
- Fast site speeds: Load times directly impact user experience and SEO rankings.
- Regularly run Google PageSpeed Insights to identify issues that may be slowing down your site and make improvements accordingly.
With the rise of multimodal search, multimedia optimization is also becoming increasingly important. Some steps to improve the mobile experience include:
- Compressing images and videos: Ensure media files are optimized for faster load times without compromising quality.
- Implementing lazy loading: This technique delays loading images or videos until they are needed, speeding up initial page load times.
- Enabling browser caching: Store resources locally to reduce load times for repeat visitors.
By focusing on these strategies, you can provide a better user experience and improve your rankings across both traditional and multimodal search results.
Optimize for Local Search to Boost Business
Local and regional search optimizations are crucial for businesses that operate in specific geographic areas. With over 50% of people conducting voice searches to find local businesses, optimizing for local search is a powerful way to increase visibility and drive foot traffic.
Examples of Local Search Queries:
- “Where is the nearest Subway near me?”
- “What grocery stores are open nearby?”
- “Where is the closest pharmacy?”
Steps to Optimize for Local Search:
- Review Local Listings: Ensure your business is listed on Google My Business and other relevant local directories and also importance of review request in local SEO and customer services for local SEO optimization. These listings should be complete and up-to-date, including:
- Operating hours
- Brief descriptions of your business
- High-quality photos
- Use Accurate and Relevant Keywords: Ensure that your listings and content reflect common local search terms such as:
- “Near me” phrases
- More specific local terms, e.g., [car manufacturers in Detroit]
- Account for Regional Slang and Dialects: Research and understand local slang and dialects that might be used in searches. For example, people in different regions might refer to the same product or service by different names. Knowing these terms helps your content and listings appear for more local-specific queries.
Why It Matters:
By maintaining complete local busness listings, you make it easier for potential customers to find, contact, or visit your business, both online and in person. Local search optimization is especially important as it can drive foot traffic and boost overall business success, making it a vital part of your E-commerce voice search strategies.
For example, a search like “Where can I get the best soda in Boston?” may change to “Where can I get the best pop in Ohio?” due to regional slang variations.
How to Prepare for Regional Differences
To maximize local voice search for large businesses, internal teams should collaborate to identify and account for these regional differences in language before expanding into new markets. By understanding the local slang, dialects, and phrases used in each area, your content creation and SEO teams can craft more effective, locally-optimized content.
Voice Assistants Are Everywhere
Over the past few years, voice assistants have become nearly ubiquitous, from iPhones and Android devices to Alexa and other platforms. As these assistants grow in usage, they take personal preferences and location into account, making optimization for local searches even more important.
Types of Voice Searches:
- Discovery: “Find a plumber in Atlanta, Georgia”
- Direct: “Call Bill’s 24/7 Plumbing and Septic”
- Knowledge: “Why is my water turning brown in Atlanta?”
Each of these search types requires a different approach to optimization, especially when dealing with local queries. Conversational phrasing—the natural, question-based way people ask things through voice assistants—needs to be incorporated into your content strategy to capture the maximum amount of local search traffic.
Going Beyond Basic Local Listings
It’s essential for enterprises to do more than just claim and optimize their listings on platforms like Google Business Profile, Apple Business Connect, Yelp, and other local directories. To truly maximize local voice search visibility, businesses must focus on enhancing content with localized, conversational language and ensuring that their listings are tailored to the specific region, dialect, and preferences of the target market.
By considering these regional differences, enterprises can improve their chances of ranking for local voice searches and connect more effectively with their audience.
Focus on Long-Tail Keywords and Refine Your Keyword Research
To optimize effectively for Scaling voice search, it’s essential to focus on long-tail keywords and refine your keyword research by incorporating more context into your content. Long-tail keywords, which are more specific and conversational, tend to align with the way people ask questions through voice assistants.
Master Schema Markup to Add Content Context
One of the most powerful tools for boosting voice search optimization is schema markup. Schema helps search engines better understand the content on your site by providing additional context. For Enterprise voice search SEO, implementing Schema markup for voice SEO is crucial to improve visibility in voice search results.
Here are some tips to help you master schema markup:
- Use Google’s Speakable Schema (Beta): For content sections that are ideal for Google Assistant and voice search, start using Google’s Speakable Schema. This allows you to mark specific parts of your content that are particularly well-suited for scaling voice search, enhancing its chances of being read aloud by virtual assistants.
- Leverage Analytics: Use your analytics tools to identify the keywords and phrases your customers are using in search queries. This will help guide your schema optimization efforts by aligning your content with real-world voice search patterns.
- Find Speakable Snippets: Review both new and existing content to identify sections that could be turned into speakable snippets. These snippets are ideal for voice search, as they provide quick, concise answers to common queries.
- Think Conversationally: When creating content, think about how people speak rather than how they type. Incorporating conversational phrasing into your content can make it more likely to match voice search queries, improving its relevance for voice assistants.
By using Schema markup for voice SEO correctly, you add much-needed context to your content, making it easier for search engines to interpret and rank it, particularly for voice searches. When combined with a Voice SEO strategy focused on long-tail keywords and conversational content, schema can significantly boost your visibility and success in voice search.
Enhance Voice Search Optimization with Structured Data and Conversational Content
Add Speakable Structured data for voice search with JSON
To improve voice search visibility, enterprises can use Structured data for voice search and Enterprise voice search SEO to make their content more accessible to voice assistants. By leveraging JSON and adding speakable structured data, you can make your intro and summary sections more likely to be read aloud by voice assistants. This can be applied to any content section that suits your needs.
In addition to general content, enterprises can also see success by using structured data for:
- Product information
- Pricing
- Availability
A small bump of 1-2% in traffic from search can translate into significant revenue growth, making structured data a valuable tool. Schema.org offers examples for ecommerce using formats like microdata, RFDa, structured data, and JSON-LD to enhance voice search optimization.
Add FAQ Sections to Key Pages
When optimizing for voice search, it’s essential to add question-based content to your pages. A challenge enterprises face is integrating these questions without disrupting the natural flow of the content. The solution: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) sections.
FAQs provide a way to answer common customer queries directly, adding value and improving optimization for voice search. Here’s how you can incorporate them:
- Conduct a Content Audit: Review your website or blog to find pages that can benefit from FAQ sections.
- Identify High-Potential Pages: Focus on pages with high traffic or importance to your audience.
- Answer Questions Conversationally: Since voice searches often involve questions, ensure your answers are in a natural, conversational tone.
By doing this, you can create helpful, voice-search-friendly content that increases your chances of ranking in voice assistant responses.
Transition to Conversational Language
One of the key shifts when optimizing for voice search is the need to adopt a more conversational tone in your content. For years, businesses have emphasized the importance of “speaking the customer’s language,” or “Natural language processing in SEO” but with voice search, this takes on new significance.
Traditional business tone is often stiff and unnatural, while voice search queries are more casual and conversational. To make your content voice-search-friendly, follow these steps:
- Ensure Content Teams Are Aligned: Hold a meeting to reinforce the need for a conversational tone and update content briefs to reflect this shift.
- Editors Should Review Content: Editors should read content aloud to ensure it flows naturally and sounds like something a person would say to a voice assistant.
- Make Small, Conversational Adjustments: Adding natural spoken words, slang, and simple language can make your content sound more conversational.
Conclusion
As voice search continues to shape the future of online search behavior, enterprises must adapt their strategies to stay competitive. By focusing on conversational content, implementing speakable schema markup, and incorporating FAQ sections, businesses can enhance their voice search visibility and connect with customers more effectively. In addition, optimizing for local search and refining keyword research to include long-tail, question-based queries will help enterprises capture valuable traffic. Embrace the growing influence of voice search, and your business can reap the rewards of better customer engagement and increased online presence.