As Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology rapidly advances, it’s becoming increasingly important that hoteliers optimise their websites for voice search to attract more guests.
NB: This is an article from 80 Days
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In this article, we’ll delve into the key Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) strategies to enhance your hotel’s visibility for voice-based searches.
What Are AI & Voice Search?
Before diving into optimisation strategies, let’s start with the basics.
AI (or Artificial Intelligence) refers to technology that mimics human intelligence. In the context of SEO, AI powers search engines to better understand user queries and predict search intent. Tools like natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning help search engines deliver more relevant results.
Voice search allows users to search by speaking into devices like smartphones or smart speakers (think Google Assistant, Siri, and Alexa). Naturally, it’s more conversational than more traditional, text-based search.
Key Differences Between Text & Voice Search
Understanding how voice search differs from traditional text search is the first step in reviewing your SEO strategy.
Query Length and Style
Voice searches are typically longer and more conversational. For example, a text search for “luxury travel destinations Europe” might become “What are the best luxury travel destinations in Europe?” in voice search.
Contextual Understanding
AI helps voice search to understand the context more effectively. For instance, it can recognise the intent behind a query based on previous interactions or even your location. This means the content you create should aim to answer these more context-driven queries.
How is AI Changing SEO?
AI is now a major part of SEO, and algorithms like Google’s BERT and RankBrain are vital in helping search engines interpret user intent. BERT processes queries by considering the relationship between words, leading to more accurate results for complex or conversational searches. Meanwhile, RankBrain improves results by learning from new and unfamiliar queries over time.
What does this mean for your SEO? It’s no longer just about keyword density. Content needs to be clear, contextually relevant and well-structured to match how AI evaluates and ranks it.
Optimising for Voice Search
Now that we know the landscape let’s talk about three actionable steps you can take to optimise your hotel website’s content for voice search.
