Ahh, voice search. It was going to take over the globe back in 2019. The way everyone did SEO was going to cater to voice search – after all, 50% of all searches were going to be voice searches in 2020.
As it turns out, the stat that made the rounds in SEO circles was focused on China, and even so, highly optimistic. However, voice search is still a part of daily life for many Americans – and shouldn’t be ignored by law firms looking to optimize their SEO.
Here in the States, 55% of households are expected to own a smart speaker by 2022. And of the group that owns a smart speaker, 65% of the household residents ages 25-49 use their voice assistant at least once a day. That data doesn’t take into account the many users utilizing their phone’s assistant – Siri and Google Assistant being the leading players there.
So voice search isn’t yet dominating, but it’s still important. How can your law firm take advantage of voice search SEO in 2021 and beyond?
How Your Law Firm Can Own Voice Search
Law Firm Website Structure and Voice Search
Having a properly optimized website is always a best practice, but it matters for voice search as well. The first step is to have your title tags, meta description, and technical SEO elements optimized for your business and location.
In addition, schema markup will go a long way for voice search. Schema is essentially the language of search engines created from a collaboration between Google, Bing, Yahoo, and Yandex in 2011. Given that search engines created the markup for sites to adhere to, it’s safe to say that having it installed and correctly configured gives your site a leg up in search.
The voice search connection is seamless, as voice assistants will pull from this same criteria to answer queries. Law firm-specific markup on main pages and Q&A markup on associated pages will give your site a better chance of being found.
Law Firm Website Content and Voice Search
Website content goes right along with website structure and schema as must-haves in SEO for 2021 and beyond. And appropriately crafted website content also helps with voice search, much the same way as traditional search.
Just like Google and the other search engines crawl your site to determine rankings for keywords you are targeting, voice assistants will do the same to give the best answer to the question they are asked. How you align the content on your site will determine if you are found, as geo-targeted pages for specific practice areas can be found in local voice search. Similarly, general law firm questions may get pulled from a particular piece of content you wrote or even your Q&A page.
Law Firm Google My Business Page and Voice Search
Optimizing your Google My Business (GMB) page is vital to getting your business found in search. Your GMB page is essentially a mini version of your website and nearly as important to optimize.
Ensuring your information, location, hours, phone number, and other vital elements are correct will help a voice searcher find your law firm. They may have an immediate legal need they are asking about and will find your optimized GMB page, creating an immediate maps call to stop in person or generating your phone number to call you.
Voice search bleeds over to maps listings as people search for directions in their vehicles. Having the GMB page updated (in addition to Apple Maps and Bing Local listings) will get them to your location when they need you.
Law Firm Google Local Service Ads and Voice Search
A somewhat new feature that some law firms are still just starting to gravitate towards is Google Local Service Ads (LSAs). These LSAs are the ads you see at the top of the results page when typing something like “personal injury attorney near me.”
LSAs have been widely effective for law firms, but what’s not often known is that they will also help law firms get found in voice searches. If the search query resembles something like the above listed “personal injury attorney near me,” the Google Assistant will actually often use the top results for LSAs in its response. The Google Assistant may also ask the searcher more qualifying questions to ensure that the proper local service ad result is relevant for their need.
If you have more questions about voice search or need help optimizing your website for SEO, the Civille team is happy to assist. We’d love to have a quick call to discuss your strategy and give helpful advice.
