The Future of Voice Search for Attorneys

On a whim, I booted up my Amazon Echo and asked Alexa to find a personal injury attorney. In a few seconds, she located one nearby. I told Alexa to call them, and voilà, after just 30 seconds I was already talking to an attorney. It is an indication of how far voice search services have changed over the past decade. We are now one step closer to interacting with computers just like in Star Trek. While there are still a lot of steps till the future, Google Trends shows how voice searches increased between 2008 and 2016 by a factor of 35. Furthermore, ComScore now reports that 40% of adults do at least one voice search every day. It is time your law firm took advantage of this trend to drive traffic to your site. To help you, we discuss five steps you need to take to optimize your site for voice search results.

Search Engine Optimization, Voice Search Optimization – What’s the Difference?

Here the first big question arises – what is the main difference between SEO and VSO? Do search engines process them differently? Are voice search queries that unique? Or maybe you can just do everything together using the same strategy?

While we did talk about specific voice search keywords the main secret is a bit different. When people use text in search engines they usually employ very specific words and phrases. But when people use voice search they speak in natural language, just how they would in everyday life. This almost becomes a conversation between a person and a search engine.

This is the key distinction: SEO relies on specific keywords, while VSO needs to use AI to analyze the person’s speech and give the best result. So you can’t just use the same strategy for them both, voice search and voice assistants need a specific plan.

What are the Five Steps Attorneys Can Take to Adapt Their Digital Marketing for Voice Search?

Set up a Google My Business Account
Focus on Long-Tail Keywords
Use Schema
Add Compelling Content to Your Blog
Optimize Your Website For Mobile

Now, let’s sort through each end every step and see how can we optimize for voice search.

Set up a Google My Business Account

The first thing you need to do is have an active Google local listing. You can set up an account through Google My Business. The listing helps prospective clients search for your business on the Google local listing as well as on a Google map.

Note: For consumers to find you, make sure you use the correct NAP information. NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone number, and you need a consistent NAP between your website, Google My Business page, and other listings to improve your results.

Therefore, if your firm goes by The Best Attorneys on the Web Ever, PC on Yelp, and Google My Business, do not use Da Best Attorneys on your website. It is natural to use the shorter name, but it could hurt your search rankings.

Focus on Long-Tail Keywords to Optimize For Voice Search SEO

Back in the day, companies used longtail keywords that did not make sense except for Google search algorithms. They gamed the system with these longtail keywords. That approach no longer works. Today, you need to focus on semantic search. Semantic search explores the intent behind a users’ search on Google.

When it comes to optimizing for voice search results the situation is reversed. The long inquiries they make have a specific meaning to the searcher. Often these searches are different than the ones we type in the text.

For example, when I type personal injury attorney into Google, my query looks like the following:

Longtail keywords

However, when using voice search for a personal injury attorney, I tend to get a bit wordy describing what I need in more detail. As you can see below, my query is longer and more specific to my needs. The additional information also helps Google provide me with more targeted results.

Google Voice Search Personal Injury Law Firm Chicago

The key to long-tail keywords today is to look for keywords that resonate with your target audience. Find out what they are thinking, and then incorporate those keywords into your content.

Use Schema To Better Voice Search Optimization For Law Firms

Additionally, your content should use schema markup language. When we said that longtail keywords were different than they were a few years ago, we left out a significant component: why? Longtail keywords today rely on Schema to improve the semantic search capabilities of your website.

Schema gives meaning to the content and keywords you use on your website by telling Google what the purpose of your content is. Attorneys even have their own schema format they can use to discuss their services.

Attorney Schema Markup

Add Compelling Content For Law Firm Voice Search

How do you create compelling content for voice searches? Simple, think about what your target market needs to know, and write content around those questions.

An excellent example of this dynamic content is an FAQ. The FAQ format matches how searchers look for content on Google. You could compare a voice search to asking a friend a question. You provide a relevant, helpful response to their query.

Therefore, you might want to dust off your old FAQs on your website and start writing some Q&As. Better yet, you could create multiple FAQ pages for different services.

FAQ Legal Division Website Page

Optimize Your Website For Mobile

You’ve probably heard a million companies tell you how you need a mobile site. Please make this 1,000,001. The vast majority of voice searches happen on mobile devices. Without a mobile website, you wasted the majority of your voice search traffic.

mobile website design

Final thoughts

Voice search is a brand-new world for firms. Just as attorneys become familiar with how to use pay-per-click campaigns and traditional search strategies, they need to learn voice search strategies today to stay competitive.

If you have a question on how to use voice search for your firm, contact us today for a free consultation.