With the rise in popularity of devices like Google Home and Amazon Echo, researchers have begun to study how people are using these devices for internet searches — and how that affects businesses. Many of these findings can extend to law firms as well.
For Google Home, which is powered by Google Assistant, many of its responses come from basic Google search data.
Based on these findings, here are four ways your law firm can optimize its website to increase site returns on voice searches:
1. Security
Voice search results need to come from a HTTPS protocol website or you may face issues. A recent study discovered that over 70% of websites that returned voice results had already switched to HTTPS protocols. By comparison, those using HTTP protocols only returned 50%.
2. Size
The content on your website needs to walk a fine line. It should be extensive enough to demonstrate your firm’s knowledge, yet brief for search purposes. The study concluded that most responses average around 29 words. This number is reasonable since people are listening instead of reading and people are often less patient when listening to information. The overall average word count for websites was around 2,300 words.
3. Speed
Your firm’s website needs to load quickly or it won’t be compatible with devices like Google Home. The average load time for websites that work well with these devices is 0.54 seconds for the first byte and 4.6 seconds for a full-page.
4. Website Structure
Your law firm’s website needs to have a structure that makes sense if you want to get voice search returns. The best way to achieve this is by adding a FAQ page to your website because the study discovered that FAQ pages were responsible for 2.68% of voice results versus 1.54% of desktop results.
For more ideas on how to improve your website’s search results, continue browsing our blog.
