Voice search

More and more, consumers are asking their smartphones and tablets for information instead of typing in their search. In fact, the number of voice searches nearly doubled between 2013 and 2014, with approximately 4 in 10 adults using it on a daily basis. This increase in voice search queries has a huge impact on healthcare.

If you’re a healthcare marketer, you may want to lend an ear. This e-newsletter offers tips to optimize your Web content so when your patients have a question, your content will answer.

Optimize for voice search

Here are four simple tips to optimize your digital content for voice search:

• Optimize for local-mobile: Be easily found with a mobile-friendly website that is optimized for local search. Include location data and an embedded Google® Map displaying your location on your website. A verified Google+® local listing can help you establish a strong local presence as well.
• Get reviewed and rated: Google Now and Siri® consider online reviews when building search engine result pages (SERPs). Encourage your clients to rate you on both healthcare-specific sites, such as Healthgrades®, RateMDs® and Vitals.com, as well as more general platforms, such as Google+, Yahoo® and Yelp®. Ask patients, vendors and anyone else you work closely with to post positive feedback about your staff or organization. Include links to rating sites in surveys and on your website. Get imprinted promotional products, such as Grab-N-Go First-Aid Kits, hot/cold packs or toothpaste squeezers, with the message “The best compliment we can get is a positive review. Tell us what you think here: <insert link>.” Hand these to patients, and thank those who took time to review you with a small token of gratitude, such as a logo’d travel mug or Cinch-It Packable Backpack.
• Focus on FAQs: Build your content by uncovering commonly asked questions on social media and online forums, such as Yahoo Answers. Incorporating FAQ or Q&A sections based on these questions can further help those using voice search find the answers they’re looking for within your site’s content.
• Be ready for the blunders: Healthcare terms and other industry jargon can be difficult for patients to pronounce and tricky for speech-recognition algorithms to interpret. Reduce the risk of being left out of relevant search results by incorporating phonetic spellings and frequent mispronunciations in your digital content.

Be sure your organization is the one to answer when you patients have a question. For more information on optimizing your digital content for voice search, check out our Blue Papers®.