Checking out Google’s classic search page, there is now a little microphone in the search box. Do you know what that’s for? Try this as a test: Click the microphone and speak a search term. That’s right. Just tell Google what to search for.
That’s Google’s voice-to-text search feature. I’ll say it works pretty well. I’ve done a few tests myself.
So the big question is, if you are an SEO or concerned about search engine optimization at all, is this: How do you optimize a website for voice-to-text? And here’s the answer: The same way you’d optimize for text-only search.
The best that I can tell, the search results for voice-to-text and text-only are the same. So what Google has done is taken its search index and converted it to voice-to-text so that people who can’t type or who have physical or mental handicaps preventing them from making a text-only search can still enjoy the search experience. The overall index is the same.
This is a great feature for accessibility purposes. Some countries have laws that require websites online to meet accessibility requirements. That may be why Google introduced this feature in the first place.
SEO is SEO. You don’t have to try to figure out how to do it for handicapped persons. For the most part, their needs are the same as yours. You can, however, spend a little additional time and resource to make your website accessible and the best time to do that is in the design planning stage. Implement a good website design that is accessible to everyone and you’ll increase your searchability as well.
You’ll hear website designers often refer to W3C standards. But what does that mean, exactly? What is W3C and is it necessary?
W3C stands for World Wide Web Consortium. It is an organization committed to establishing consistent standards for web design and other technical aspects of the Web in order to ensure that everyone anywhere can access the Web and participate in its powerful communication qualities. Their goal is worthy and honorable.
However, building a website that is not compliant with W3C standards will not result in any penalties or degradation in search engine rankings. You do not have to build a site that is W3C compliant in order to be successful, earn you money or grow in popularity.
That said, there are several reasons why you might want to build your website to be compliant with W3C standards.
- If your site validates with W3C then it will be seen as more credible in the eyes of many Internet users.
- By validating your site with W3C you show that you are sensitive to the needs of handicapped Web users.
- You can often find egregious errors in your code through the W3C validation process.
- If you are converting your website from one rendering technology to another (for instance, from HTML to XML or from Web browser technology to mobile browser) then W3C can assist in that process.
The most important thing to understand about W3C is that it will not give you any advantage in the search engines to have your site validated. Non-validated sites can outrank you for your keywords. They can outperform you in PPC. They could get a higher PageRank or receive other benefits that your site does not. But it wouldn’t hurt you to learn more about the standards that make the Web a better place.
