Have you ever used Siri, Alexa, or Google to do a voice search? Using these tools to search the internet for something – like “accountants near me” – is becoming more and more common. Knowing this, it’s crucial as a tax and accounting practice owner to optimize your website for voice search. Here are some stats to prove it:

• 58% of consumers use voice search to find local businesses online. (Forbes)
• 72% of people who use voice search devices say they’re part of their daily routine. (Google)
• 61% of 25-64-year-olds say they’ll use their voice devices more in the future. (Review42)
• 80% of voice search results come from the top 3 web rankings results. (SEMRush)

This statistic alone should be enough to convince you to optimize for voice search ASAP: Google has reported that “____ near me now” searches have increased by 150% over the last two years. We all know that “accountant near me now”, “tax pro near me now”, or “bookkeeper near me now” are search terms that firms have been trying to dominate in their local markets for years. You want to stand out in local search and beat the competition in bringing in those leads. So, it’s important to keep up with the changing times and understand that prospects are often using voice search to find your services these days, and that trend will only continue to grow.

Reasons to Optimize for Voice Search

1. You need to be optimized for voice search in order to be accessible to leads online
2. Voice search improves the client experience during the acquisition stage
3. If you arent showing up in voice search, you are missing out on web traffic

How to Optimize for Voice Search

The technical aspects of voice search technology are complex. Here’s how one marketer summarized it:

“The technology has the capability to process and transcribe human text into speech and analyze text to detect commands and questions. Voice search devices can also connect to external data sources, such as search engines, to locate relevant information that meets the search query. Voice search technology then translates information into a simple and digestible format that aims to fulfill the user’s intent.”

It doesn’t have to be complex to optimize your website for voice search, however. Here are a few tips:

‍Learn about your clients What are they looking for? How can your services meet their demands? What are the demographics of your ideal client base and how are those prospects using voice search?

‍Research questions they may ask This is where you dive into finding out what your ideal clients might use voice search for. What questions would they be asking? Remember – 80% of voice search results come from the top 3 Google results, so you need to boost your rankings for the key queries if you have any hope of succeeding in voice search.

‍Target long-tail keywords The term “keywords” can make people think just one word is being used, but that is not the case. “Long-tail keywords” are essentially a phrase or a group of keywords. These are much more common in search in the current age – for example, are you more likely to search “cookie” or “gooey chocolate chip cookie recipe?" Optimizing your website for long-tail keywords can be especially beneficial for local search to help you rise above the competition.

‍Be conversational When people use voice search, they’re much more likely to use less formal, conversational language. Keep this in mind in your content: You want your copy to match their intent. Plus, it makes searchers feel like they’re being personally addressed in your answer.

‍Create a list of FAQs This is the simplest way to target the exact questions people are asking. Those questions you researched in step 2? Put them directly on a page on your website with the answer you’d want Google or Siri or Alexa to say to a prospect if they used voice search to ask that question. This can be a huge boost to your general SEO as well (i.e. featured snippets).

‍Set up your Google My Business (GMB) profile We talk about how crucial your GMB profile is all the time, and it’s no different when it comes to voice search. Having an up-to-date GMB listing makes it super simple for search engines to pull info on your business if someone uses voice search to look for someone offering your services (or if they search for your firm specifically).

How CountingWorks PRO Helps You Dominate Voice Search

There are many other ways to succeed in voice search, but you don't have to tackle it alone. CountingWorks PRO technology can optimize and syndicate all your data for voice search and cover all of these tactics for you. We submit your brand and all of its data to the main voice search directories – Alexa, Siri, Cortana, etc. – and optimize your information to make it compatible with voice search. You focus on providing the 5-star service, and we’ll take care of the rest. Contact us today at 1-800-442-2477 x3 or schedule a free demo of CountingWorks PRO. You can also try out our platform for free here.