From the SMX East Conference in New York City, September 27-29, 2016. SESSION: Optimizing Content For Voice Search & Virtual Assistants. PRESENTATION: Optimizing Content For Voice Search & Virtual Assistants - Given by Tony Edward, @tonyenyc - Elite SEM, Senior SEO Manager. #SMX #32A

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Tony Edward – Sr. SEO Manager, NYU Adjunct Instructor
Optimizing
Content For Voice
Search & Virtual
Assistants

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• Conversational search consists of phrases, questions and
sentences not single keywords.
• This is directly integrated into Google’s Direct Answers/Rich
Results
• Devices such as Amazon Echo, Siri, Google Voice Search are
training users to search in a conversational way
How Humans Speak

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How Humans Speak

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ü Build in-depth content that answers commonly asked questions
around your brand, services, products etc. Who, What, When,
Where, Why, and How.
ü Leverage Structured Data Mark up depending on the content
type. Schema Article, Person, Organization, Product, Recipe etc.
ü If you’re not already an online entity, begin the process to get to
this position. Having a brand Knowledge Graph is helpful.
How To Optimize For Voice Search

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• Customer Service – Start data mining commonly asked
questions from customers via call centers, email and live chat.
This includes brand and generic questions.
• Third Party Tools – Leverage tools that aggregate search engine
auto search suggestion topics.
§ Answerthepublic.com
§ Ubersuggest.io
Content Ideation

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Content Ideation

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Content Structure
• Ensure content is structured well using headers, bulleted or
numbered lists etc. if possible

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• Schema Markup is very important to make your content more
crawlable and increase the potential for rich snippets and rich
cards to be generated.
• Article content marked up with Schema Article, News or
BlogPosts have the potential to appear in Google Content
Carousels
Structured Data

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• Being an online Entity and having a brand Knowledge Graph
definitely helps your chances of appearing in direct answers/rich
results.
Online Entity

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CASE STUDIES

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Plex.tv
The Problem
• Media Server Software/Application
• There is another company also named Plex in
the technology industry
• Wanted to distinguish itself from the other
company
• They were not an online entity. No Knowledge
Graph

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Plex.tv
The Solution
• Launched a campaign to help the client become an online
entity
• Expanded their existing Wikidata.org profile
• Implemented Organization Schema Markup highlighting their
Wikipedia profile, Wikidata profile, Site URL, Site Name, Social
Profile links etc.

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Plex.tv
The Results

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Plex.tv
The Results

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Plex.tv
The Results

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Plex.tv
Conversational Content Expansion
• Helped Plex integrate content topics that answers commonly
asked questions into their content calendar
• Provided guidelines for structuring content with headers,
bulleted lists etc.
• Provided recommendations to leverage Schema Article
Markup

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TimberTech
The Problem
• Develops outdoor living products such as
decking, railing etc.
• Has resellers and third party sites that carry its
products such as Home Depot, Lowes etc.
• Wants to own all brand related searches and
appear for questions around its product types.
• Not currently an online entity

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TimberTech
The Solution
• Launched a campaign to help the client become an online
entity
• Created Wikidata.org profile & implemented Organization
Schema Markup.
• Began developing content around commonly asked questions
about the brand, outdoor living, decking, railing etc.
Leveraging Schema Article Markup as well.

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TimberTech
The Results so far

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LEARN MORE: UPCOMING @SMX EVENTS
THANK YOU!
SEE YOU AT THE NEXT #SMX