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Actionable Voice Search SEO Recommendations to Optimize for Position V with John Morabito

2@JohnMorabitoSEO |
Womensmarketing.com |
• 8+ Years in SEO and Digital Marketing, driving success
for clients including Everlane, Hain-Celestial, and
Drybar.
• Nominated for Best SEO Team 2017 by The Drum
Search Awards
• Women’s Marketing/Flying Point Digital is the leading
marketing and media services agency for high-growth
businesses. We’ve sparked growth for hundreds of
ambitious, independent brands in retail, beauty, health,
CPG, and food.
John Morabito is the SEO Director at
Women’s Marketing/Flying Point Digital. John
is a skilled and multifaceted marketer, speaker,
and writer with over 8 years of experience in
SEO, PPC, and performance marketing.
He specializes in technical and
off-site SEO, within the e-commerce vertical.
@JohnMorabitoSEO
Background

3@JohnMorabitoSEO |
Womensmarketing.com |
• Google has announced that 20% of
mobile Google searches are made
using voice search
• Of all Voice Searches:
– 22% are looking for local brick &
mortar businesses
– 21% are looking for fun &
entertainment
• 60.5 million people use voice search
• Alpine.AI estimates over 1 billion
voice searches occur per month
Why Marketers Should Care about Voice Search

4@JohnMorabitoSEO |
Womensmarketing.com |
• For those who say that the numbers for Voice Search are too small, think about how quick the rise of mobile
search was!
• In 2009, mobile search made up 0.7% of total web traffic. In only 9 years, this number increased to 52.2%!
Mobile local search volume surpassed desktop local search in 2015 and continues to increase every year!
Percentage of all global web pages served to mobile phones from 2009-2018
Via Statista Via Smart Insights
The Rise of Voice Search

5@JohnMorabitoSEO |
Womensmarketing.com |
Macro Trend: devices featuring voice assistants increased from 2M to 450M in 2 years,
and growing rapidly
From Alpine AI
“Consumers are going beyond
asking for Spotify and timers, and
starting to ask ‘What is the best
watch for scuba diving?’ and “Where
can I buy Estée Lauder foundation?”
– Adam Marchick, Alpine.AI

6@JohnMorabitoSEO |
Womensmarketing.com |
“Position V is the featured voice search result
read aloud by either Alexa, Google or any other
voice search assistant.”
– John Morabito
What is “Position V”?

7@JohnMorabitoSEO |
Womensmarketing.com |
• Optimizing for voice search is a lot like this poorly drawn
ancient Greek temple.
• At the foundation, you have traditional SERP rankings,
which will be what Google will present in voice search
queries when they have no “better” result to serve.
• Featured snippets get read aloud in voice search
devices, so optimizing for this type of result can be
hugely impactful to your voice search presence.
• Local 3-packs fuel all local-focused searches.
• Structured data, like “recipe,” provides rich results in
voice search as well as through the assistant app.
• Creating a voice search app, skill or action can help
discoverability though “implicit invocations”
Traditional SERP Rankings
Create a
Voice
Search
Action /
Skill
Featured
Snippets
Local
3-Pack
Rankings
Structured
Data
SERP
Features
Position V Rankings
How to Optimize for Position V

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Local Search

9@JohnMorabitoSEO |
Womensmarketing.com |
• Local listing optimization is critical to voice
search success for local brick and mortar
businesses.
Easy Wins:
• Utilize Yext or Moz Local to actively manage your
local listing presence
• Actively seek reviews from your happy
customers
• Build location pages for all of your locations and
link them to your Google My Business Profile
• Take advantage of new features (posts,
questions and answers, etc.)
Optimize Local Listings

10@JohnMorabitoSEO |
Womensmarketing.com |
Local 3 Pack Optimization Tips:
• Ensure accuracy and consistency of data everywhere your
business NAPW is listed.
• Select appropriate categories for your business.
– Pro Tip: Categories evolve, so be sure to check back
frequently if you do not find a category that you feel
succinctly represents your business offering!
• Build local focused links. For example, your local chamber of
commerce, or local charities.
• Fill out every aspect of your profile on Google My Business, and
make sure to fill out all the fields and sections on local listing sites
you publish your listing to.
https://business.google.com
Optimize Local Listings

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Featured Snippets

12@JohnMorabitoSEO |
Womensmarketing.com |
• Featured snippets are a relatively new type of
search result, where Google displays an answer to
the user’s query as the most prominent search result.
• While Quick Answers are not technically Knowledge
Graph results, they are part of the larger trend on
Google SERPs: additional information ranging from
stock quotes, to weather forecasts, to box scores, to
recipes, and more.
• Quick Answers can be seen as either a blessing or a
curse to sites trying to rank higher in organic search
– it all depends on how you choose to approach
them!
• Knowing how to influence these results is crucial to
success in today’s organic search landscape.
What Are Google Featured Snippets?

13@JohnMorabitoSEO |
Womensmarketing.com |
• Over the last 3 years featured snippets have seen an
approximately 60% increase
• Results with a rich answer of any kind, including
sidebars, have also risen about 60%
• This rise in direct answers strongly correlates to
increases in usage of voice and conversational
search.
Source: stonetemple.com
All results shown are based on 1.4M queries.
The Rise of Featured Snippets

14@JohnMorabitoSEO |
Womensmarketing.com |
• Step 1: Generate a list of 1000 or more industry
related questions. Use tools like
answerthepublic.com or other Google suggest
API tools.
• Step 2: Head to Ahrefs or Moz keyword explorer
tool and import your list of questions,
comparisons and prepositions. The overview will
tell you how many featured snippet keywords you
have in your list.
• Step 3: Download your keyword list. Set up filters
and then sort by “Featured Snippet”
• Step 4: Select the most relevant topics that have
multiple variants, decent volume and low enough
competition.
• Step 5: Develop a content strategy on a topic-by-
topic basis. You do NOT need a page for every
question. Think about building topic hubs.
How to Find Featured Snippet Opportunities

15@JohnMorabitoSEO |
Womensmarketing.com |
● Take a look at the result to the right and ask…does
this answer the query as best as it can possibly be
answered?
● If the answer is “no,” then that should be an easy
win!
● It is often not complicated to go after a quick
answer, our page just needs to have the most
clear and helpful answer to the query
“I know what you meant…or did I?” - Google
How To Spot An Easy Win

16@JohnMorabitoSEO |
Womensmarketing.com |
● Content for featured snippets doesn't need to
be long. Be concise and to the point in
answering the intent of the query.
● Use bullet lists, numbered lists, and tables.
● Use headings that feature the question in a
H1 or H2 tag.
● Using the example framework to the right is
a proven method of getting featured
snippets.
Writing For Featured Snippets

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Using Structured Data to Get Enhanced SERPs

18@JohnMorabitoSEO |
Womensmarketing.com |
• Structured data feeds many of the rich results Google provides in traditional natural SERPs.
• This same structured data is what influences content that ranks the one answer, or is provided in carousel format
by voice assistants
Optimize for Structured Data

19@JohnMorabitoSEO |
Womensmarketing.com |
• Google lists 6 different enhanced SERP features
including search box, bread crumbs and
carousels.
• Google also lists 17 content types that can be
marked up to be displayed with SERP
enhancements.
• Start by reading each guide and looking at
competitor sites for markup.
• Is there a type of markup that has an
enhancement that you are not using?
https://developers.google.com/search/docs/guides/intro-structured-data
Structured Data Types

20@JohnMorabitoSEO |
Womensmarketing.com |
THEY TOOK OUR
RANKINGS!
• While SERP enhancements can be your friend, at
times they can be indicative of an alarming trend.
The question is: do you evolve to meet the
landscape, or whine about it like this guy…
Just Look at What Happened to Jobs

21@JohnMorabitoSEO |
Womensmarketing.com |
• Google’s Gary Illyes stated this
year that Google shifted to showing
jobs results directly in search
because they had enough
widespread usage of job listing
structured data to pull it off.
• He encouraged marketers to look at
Schema.org, and not just focus on
what has SERP enhancements
today, but what might have
enhancements tomorrow.
But They Asked For It

22@JohnMorabitoSEO |
Womensmarketing.com |
http://schema.org/docs/releases.htmlSchema Markup Tips:
• Stay up on the latest releases. Anyone with a
tourist attraction just got some homework as of
8/14.
• Check out schema.org/docs/schemas.html to see
the full list of available structured data types.
• Dream Big and implement anything that you feel
might help Google better understand your content.
Schema.org

23@JohnMorabitoSEO |
Womensmarketing.com |
• Structured Data Markup Helper from Google is a
free tool that helps you to build structured data
based on simply highlighting content on your
page.
• TechnicalSEO.com also offers a similar tool to
help create structured data.
• Structured Data testing tool helps you to verify
your structured data, or do competitive analysis.
• https://www.google.com/webmasters/markup
-helper/
• https://technicalseo.com/seo-tools/schema-
markup-generator/
• https://search.google.com/structured-
data/testing-tool/
Other Structured Data Resources

24
Voice

25@JohnMorabitoSEO |
Womensmarketing.com |
• Actions and Skills are basically apps
designed specifically with voice
search assistants in mind.
• They enable these assistants to do
and know things they ordinarily
would not; similarly, Google doesn’t
“know” much without websites.
• These actions or skills result in a
more conversational experience for
users and can even be designed to
help people complete transactions
through.
https://assistant.google.com/explore/
What Are Actions and Skills

26@JohnMorabitoSEO |
Womensmarketing.com |
• Google, Amazon and Bing want
you to create Skills and Actions
for their assistants.
• The payoff for helping them
develop the space is an early
mover advantage in the
landscape.
• All 3 companies offer extensive
documentation, tools and free
offerings to help developers and
even non-developers get started.
Creating Actions and Skills

27@JohnMorabitoSEO |
Womensmarketing.com |
• Some apps miss the mark; others leave
entire prevalent keyword queries
unanswered, creating gaping holes in the
market.
• For example, if you search “Makeup” in the
Explore function of Google’s mobile
application, there are no skills/apps that
cater to queries about Makeup.
• For content creators and brands, NOW is
the time to start thinking about entering into
creating your own skills and apps for voice.
Search within Google Assistant App under “Explore”
The Incredibly lame “what's new on Netflix” action
Opportunity in The Landscape

28@JohnMorabitoSEO |
Womensmarketing.com |
• Publishers of news, recipes, and podcasts have a
unique opportunity to have Google do the work of
creating an action for their content.
• All you need to do is be using the right type of
markup, have AMP, and verify your site through
the Actions console.
• Google may even create these actions without
you submitting your site, in which case you can
claim the action.
https://developers.google.com/actions/content-actions/
Get Started Now With Auto-Generate Actions

29@JohnMorabitoSEO |
Womensmarketing.com |
• Explicit Invocation: People asking for your
action/skill by name.
• Implicit Invocation: Why marketers should care.
This is when someone asks for something they
want to learn about or do, and the assistant
provides a BRAND’S skill or action as the “answer.”
• These implicit invocations can be controlled by
stating action invocation phrases.
https://developers.google.com/actions/discovery/
Discoverability

30@JohnMorabitoSEO |
Womensmarketing.com |
• If you’re not excited by voice search and home assistants yet, consider this…
Non-brand queries can lead to brand conversations.
Wouldn’t you rather talk with your audience than at it?
Discoverability Simplified

31@JohnMorabitoSEO |
Womensmarketing.com |
• Create your own voice action, skill, or app for free through Dialogflow.com
• Basic FAQ, Quiz and other simple actions can be build, tested and submitted to Google and other assistants within a day.
Make Your Own Chatbot / Voice Action

32@JohnMorabitoSEO |
Womensmarketing.com |
• Each “intent” contains training
phrases. These training phrases
trigger pre-programed responses,
which can either be singular or
multiple. Each answer can be pulled
up based on the phrasing of the
training phrase.
Make Your Own Chatbot / Voice Action

33@JohnMorabitoSEO |
Womensmarketing.com |
Google, Amazon & Bing offer great tools to help non-developers create Actions and
Skills but if you don’t want to build them in-house, you have other options!
Don’t Want to Build an Action or Skill Yourself?

34
Get in Touch

35@JohnMorabitoSEO |
Womensmarketing.com |
Want to Partner With Us On Your Voice Search Optimization?
Email: jmorabito@flyingpt.com
Womensmarketing.com
Flyingpointdigital.com
Special Thanks:
Alpine.ai
Bonus: Email me and I’ll send you our voice search audit checklist!