Such is the evolution that search engine optimization has undergone that you can never run out of strategies to employ in order to take advantage of its myriad facets.
One prime example of this is semantic SEO, which is practically being touted as the new face of search engine optimization worthy of changing the usual way in which people perceive the field as a whole.
What is Semantic Search?
Semantic search can be considered as SEO’s big step going forward as its ultimate goal is for Google, as the apex search engine, to serve the best content possible to searchers.
This is because semantic search engine optimization is all feeding search engines with information to better interpret and answer a definite search query. The exact term for this kind of data is entities.
These entities are similar to information that we get as we read a book or article. In an SEO context, entities are web pages that are usually derived through structured data.
Oftentimes, this is done through Schema.org. Once you’ve transformed your web pages into entities, you are basically helping them become prioritized by search engines simply because you are rendering them in a vocabulary that the former can easily read and understand.
Semantic search, in short, removes the ambiguity that usually arises between what a person intended with his query and how a machine usually interprets it. Thanks to the conception of RankBrain, which is technically a self-learning system that Google already has, this is fast becoming a reality.
Voice Search and Ongoing Improvements
Another rising trend in SEO, which is closely tied to semantic search, is voice search. One fact that can be readily derived from the development of voice search is that search engine users prioritize convenience above everything else. It is a mode of searching that not only makes it easier for us to search information in minutes but it is also more attuned with our natural speech patterns.
A more accurate inference is what voice search eventually improves on. And this is the same fact that links it to semantic search. More often than not, we don’t speak the way we type our queries.
A lot of people often just input keywords that are, one way or another, easy for a robot to understand. This isn’t something that developers at Google would settle for. In short, better semantic search inevitably leads to better voice search.
As of this writing, Google is already working regarding it. The advent of voice search only ever entails that smartphones are becoming more relevant, if not important.
In fact, on-going upgrades in these devices are already including features that serve voice search. There’s only the question of when these will actually become the norm. If we’re going to consider the rate in which Google is introducing innovations, it’s safe to say that this won’t belong.
Why It’s Better for Searchers
The rise in semantic SEO, as said above, only ever means that searchers would always be served with content that is highly relevant to their respective queries. This, ultimately, is a big step towards the eventual goal of most search engines. It also makes it possible for them to perform searches that are more human and not robotic.
Voice search, on the other hand, efficiently removes the need to type search queries, which only save more time for searchers. This technology effectively halves the time it takes for users to get to the information, which is nothing short of a necessity in plenty of workplaces and everyday situations in these modern times.
It erases the need for humans to adjust to a machine’s level of comprehending a specific search term. This, in itself, is already a milestone improvement that heralds the start of something more exciting in the field of online search and the way the Internet is used by people on a normal basis.
Why It’s Better for Optimizers
Semantic search engine optimization and voice search can be capitalized on by optimizers by making sure that their content is flexible to more natural ways in which humans tend to ask questions and make queries. This requires paying close attention to your on-page seo. This is also why if you haven’t prioritized structured data before, now may be the best time to make sure that your web pages are included into the Semantic Web by using Schema.
Google has been proven to use a Knowledge Graph that serves as a sort of collection of information that allows it to improve the search results that it serves with the help of semantics. In the end, this proves search engines are headed towards a state wherein they should be able to understand queries as humanly as possible. Without a doubt, this is a step towards the right direction.
You can expect to have different guidelines when it comes to optimizing for voice search as well. It’s important to know what exactly it is that people search for when they opt to use voice search. It has been found that people have a propensity to utilize it when they’re doing local searches or Near Me’ searches that puts proximity at the forefront.
This is why local business owners should certainly be the first ones to find out ways and strategies to make the most out of semantic search and voice search.
This is ultimately beneficial to them as it opens up a completely new and different avenue is search engine optimization which carries with it a lot of golden opportunities to reach out to potential customers and increase profits. If you don't know how to do that or don't have time for that, you can hire an SEO specialist to promote your brand online and successfully grow your business.
Since voice search emphasizes speech over typewritten words, it’s also wise to shift the focus to keywords that are not just static terms but are more conversational in tone and structure.
This is also very beneficial to optimizers since this entails changing their approach to content-making, in such a way that they’ll never have to mind whether they’ve included the right amount of keywords in the text and other useless things like keyword ratios, among others.
