Do you own or operate a medical practice with an online presence? A medical writer can help you create authoritative content that resonates with your audience.
Why should you focus on providing quality content for your online readers?
At least 5% of all Google searches are related to healthcare. Search drives almost three times as many visitors to healthcare-related websites as non-search visitors. Over 60% of medical services consumers run online searches before booking an appointment.
Any form of misinformation in the medical industry can have a serious negative impact on various stakeholders in the healthcare sector, including patients, healthcare providers, and manufacturers.
When you hire a medical writer, you can ensure that your content needs are being handled by a qualified professional with a deep understanding of scientific and medical topics.
This article describes what a medical writer is and lists the main benefits of working with one.
What Is a Medical Writer?
A medical writer focuses on creating well-researched and authoritative content on health-related topics. These topics include everything from fitness and general wellness to medical research and more. Medical writers conduct extensive research to ensure they produce relevant and accurate content fit for public consumption.
While they are not doctors, medical writers usually have a medical background. They understand health, scientific, and medical concepts and terms. Healthcare content writers possess excellent research, analytical, writing, and communication skills. Most importantly, they have the technical writing skills needed to convert complex scientific information into accurate and easy-to-read content in various formats for different audiences.
What Does a Medical Content Writer Do?
Medical writers develop well-crafted and highly engaging educational, promotional, and marketing material. Their main goal is to use the right expression and tone to create relevant and useful content that matches the brand in question and the needs of the targeted readers. They also use their SEO skills to write content that will rank in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).
Healthcare writers create different types of content, including:
Web Content: Medical writers can write highly descriptive promotional material to be published on healthcare websites.
Blog Posts: These include long and short-form posts covering a variety of medical topics to provide helpful health and wellness information to readers.
Product Descriptions: Medical content writers can create accurate descriptions for the services and products provided by healthcare providers.
Newsletters and Press Releases: Promotional pieces that raise awareness of new developments by a practitioner or medical services provider.
Which Organizations Can Benefit from a Medical Writer?
Healthcare writers can be useful to a variety of medical organizations, including:
Hospitals
Clinics
Dentists
Chiropractors
Physical Therapists
Optometrists
Nursing Homes
Benefits of Hiring a Medical Content Writer
Some of the main reasons why you should hire a healthcare writer include:
1. Expertly Written Healthcare Content
Healthcare writers can consistently generate expertly written communications. These writers have a good understanding of both general and medical writing guidelines. They can produce well-researched and accurate content free from misleading facts, grammatical errors, and plagiarism.
Consistently publishing high-quality content can help you build topical authority in healthcare. Furthermore, you can reduce the bounce rate by using professionally written medical content. Your readers will likely spend more time on your website and may even become subscribers if you publish accurate and well-written content.
Communication is vital in the ever-changing world of healthcare. A specialist healthcare content writer can help close the gap between complicated health-related concepts and public audiences. With an experienced writer on the job, you can be sure critical information will be conveyed clearly and effectively.
Healthcare writers excel at breaking down complex technical information into plain terms without compromising accuracy. To create digestible content for various audiences, these professionals use different techniques, including real-world examples and simple terminology.
With the right expert, you can be sure that your healthcare content is accurate, logical, and easy to read and understand.
3. Collating Information
Medical writers generate impactful content for their clients. These experts have great research skills and can gather information from a variety of sources, such as expert interviews, medical journals, and trusted sites. This ensures a well-rounded view of the topic and cross-verification of information for reliability and accuracy.
Once they have all the facts at hand, healthcare writers use their acquired skills to interpret, structure, and present medical facts and data to create coherent, high-quality content. This approach results in useful content that presents information succinctly, addressing readers’ needs and questions.
4. Better Search Rankings
Seasoned medical writers have excellent SEO skills. They can use these skills to enhance the visibility of the generated content and the brand they represent. In addition to boosting online content marketing efforts, SEO also builds credibility and trust.
A medical content writer can use their SEO skills to identify opportunities for their clients to improve the performance of their content online. For instance, the writer can study and analyze competitor websites. This can help them develop ways of crafting better content and identifying healthcare topics to write about.
The following graph from Statista shows the importance of SEO on marketing performance.
Do you want to write quality medical content to build authority but don’t have the skills? Can you set enough time aside each week to create consistent medical articles? If not, you can benefit from hiring a professional medical writer.
Even if you enjoy crafting your content, it can be challenging to fit it into your day, especially if you own and operate your healthcare practice.
A healthcare content writer can help you meet the ever-growing content needs of your readers. These writers can create detailed, well-researched content that resonates with your target audience. This will free up your time, leaving you to focus on your medical practice or primary duties.
To make things better, you don’t have to give up control of your project. You can work closely with the writer to ensure the creation of content that matches your goals.
6. Wider Reach
Accurate, easy-to-read content that addresses the needs of the target audience is likely to attract a wide readership. SEO-optimized healthcare content is easily discoverable online. All these factors combine to grow your reach. A wider reach helps build your brand’s authority in the topics covered, elevating you and your organization to a level above your competitors.
Create Authority Healthcare Content
Professional healthcare writers have a scientific background. They understand the importance of using the right language and proven facts to create insightful content. Most importantly, they can convert complex scientific concepts into lay language.
Hiring a healthcare writer can help you save time, avoid costly mistakes, and ensure the job is done correctly the first time around.
Whether you are looking to build a loyal following, announce a new product or service, or populate your website with quality content, a medical writer can help ensure accuracy and relevance to your readers’ needs.
Are you looking to elevate your healthcare content to the next level? Check out our authority content services to learn how we can help.
Imagine your brand’s content so vivid that readers can feel the silica-white sand of Tulum Beach between their toes, or taste the rich, juicy flavor of the world’s rarest meat— the Japanese Kobe beef.
This kind of sensory magic can only be crafted by a writer with specialized skills — someone who can build enough excitement to compel readers to book experiences with your brand.
With realistic destination descriptions, timely travel advice, and a sneak peek into cultures worldwide, the right travel writer can make your brand the go-to for people seeking inspiration to embark on their next adventure.
Every travel brand needs such a master crafter. It’s time to learn what to look for when hiring a travel writer.
While the general description of a travel writer is someone who writes travel articles, a real travel writer focuses on capturing the essence of destinations, experiences, and cultures, enticing readers to explore.
Let’s face it, give any writer a travel topic and they’ll write it through general research. But, can they include a storytelling aspect describing the immersive experiences waiting to be explored?
Hand a true travel writer the same topic and you’ll notice a massive difference. They’ll dive into detail describing the rugged hiking terrains, the mouth-watering cuisine, and the cultural highlights of different destinations.
Because they’re focused on giving the most useful information, they also recommend upcoming events and even throw in tips on what to do or avoid.
As a polished travel writer, I’ve seen firsthand how capturing more than the basics transports readers to destinations so realistically that they can’t wait to book the next flight.
In a nutshell, here’s a recap of qualities that make up a true travel writer:
Depth in writing: They tackle topics expertly by giving credible information and unique perspectives beyond surface-level knowledge.
Storytelling:This is distinct from depth. How well can they paint a picture of landscapes, cultures, and other adventures with their storytelling skills?
Cultural sensitivity: A real travel writer honors other cultures by writing respectfully about their customs, no matter how different they are. After all, they were passed down to them through generations.
Adaptability: Travel is diverse. Expert travel writers switch their writing style seamlessly from rugged travel adventures to luxury experiences.
SEO practices: Savvy travel writers write with SEO in mind. How will readers learn about all those wonderful places if the content isn’t visible on search engines?
Why Quality Content Is a Must in a Competitive Travel Industry
Quality travel content is well-researched, valuable, easy-to-read, and engaging. It must meet the needs of your target audience, whether you’re in the airline, hotel, or cruise business.
Such content captures the essence of a destination or experience while providing practical information that motivates readers to plan a trip or book a service with your brand.
The travel industry is highly competitive. With over 42,700 travel agencies in the U.S. by the year 2023, customers are spoilt for choice as each travel agency vies for their attention. Each business must stand out with quality content to attract and retain customers.
Your content should provide readers with the accuracy needed to make informed decisions, nudging them to choose your services over your competitors.
Risks of Using Generic Content and Inexperienced Writers
Standing out in a competitive travel market is impossible with generic content and writers who don’t understand your niche.
Generic travel content is broad and superficial. It’s uninspiring and lacks new insights. Such content features vague descriptions of destinations without showing what sets them apart. It also lacks personal experiences and cultural context essential for attracting readers.
Additionally, generic content is often associated with plagiarism and keyword-stuffed articles that focus on search engine optimization without considering reader engagement.
Content generators can easily create this kind of content. While these tools can generate ideas, they’re superficial and can’t create a heartfelt sense of mystery, excitement, or longing.
Without that human touch, generic content fails miserably at capturing the reader’s attention and establishing credibility, making it ineffective in this highly competitive travel industry.
The Amazing Benefits of Hiring the Right Travel Writer
There are positive outcomes for your travel business if you hire the right travel writer. Having traveled to numerous destinations and read a lot about them, travel writers bring a wealth of experience.
I’ve traveled extensively in my lifetime, including to mysterious places like the mythical site of the Lost City of Atlantis in the Mediterranean.
I also read and watch a lot of travel books and documentaries. Exploration is my cup of tea, and that helps me write exact descriptions while adding other useful information I’ve learned.
Similarly, hiring travel writers who are excited about travel and understand your industry brings these benefits to your table:
Destination expertise: Their firsthand destination knowledge helps them provide readers with vivid descriptions of places that invoke wanderlust and inspire bookings.
Cultural insight: They have a deep knowledge of cultures, having mingled with many locals while exploring the world.
Accurate travel advice: They are up-to-date with health protocols, weather conditions, infrastructure, political changes, and environmental alerts essential for planning trips.
Sneak peek of unique gems: They often highlight exciting hidden locations, local festivals, markets, or authentic restaurants travelers might overlook.
Practical Tips: They provide readers with essential tips such as what to pack, places to avoid visiting alone, and even budget-saving ideas.
Such comprehensive information not only enhances your customer’s travel experiences but also elevates your brand as a credible source of information.
Experienced travel writers apply the best SEO tactics to ensure your content ranks high on search engines. After all, how will readers discover the amazing destinations begging to be explored if they can’t find your content?
At Express Writers, our travel subject matter experts will transform your brand’s content into narratives that captivate and convert. They are skilled at highlighting your business’s unique offerings with an intensity that evokes wanderlust in readers.
Our seasoned travel writers are more than captivating storytellers — they’re also SEO experts ready to boost your online presence, as demonstrated by our collaboration with Evan, a visionary leader at WorldVia Travel Network.
Evan passionately helps travel agents thrive in the competitive travel industry. Through AI-powered technology, a multi-faceted marketing approach, and a lead generation program, he motivates travel businesses to hone their skills and expand their client base.
He experienced firsthand the value of partnering with Express Writers’s travel writers to provide content that resonates with his clients. Now his clients engage more with his brand’s content, in turn empowering them to deliver greater value to their audiences.
If you’re ready to offer your audience inspiring travel content, partner with us today and hire knowledgeable travel writers to elevate your brand.
Finding the Perfect Travel Content Writer for Your Brand
To hire the ideal travel content writer, first define your needs. Do you need destination reviews, short blog posts, or comprehensive travel guides?
With a clear outline of your content needs, start the search. There are excellent freelance travel writers on freelance sites like Upwork, Fiverr, and job boards like ProBlogger.
However, navigating these platforms can be time-consuming as you scour through hundreds of writer portfolios to find one with the right skills. The process of communication and coordinating assignments takes even longer.
If you don’t have the patience, authority content writing agencies like Express Writers simplify the hiring process by utilizing a pre-vetted team of writers for every niche.
As a structured business, a content agency smoothly handles assignments, edits, and client communication, which might not be as easy as handling large projects with a freelance writer.
Hiring a travel writer at Express Writers is straightforward. Pick the content type you want, such as web pages, expert blogs, or email marketing copy from our content shop. Then, fill out a form telling us about your project. We’ll match you with the best travel writer and deliver content that delights your audience.
Everyone who spends much time around words develops pet peeves around specific misused phrases. One of my pet peeves is when writers interchange use and utilize. For those who aren’t sure the difference, you aren’t alone. It is so subtle most don’t even realize the two terms are different. One of the key differences is that it requires a strategic, practical use rather than simply putting an object into action.
Similarly, people can easily confuse content marketers and marketing content writers. Yet, one is more strategic, while the other has a more general use.
Let’s dive into those differences with practical tips you can utilize (yes, that was intentional) when hiring another team member for your marketing team.
What Role Does Each Writer Play in Your Marketing Strategy?
While our main objective is to compare content marketers with marketing content writers, let’s take a step back because several other key players can also contribute to your overall marketing strategy. Take a look at the entire lineup.
What Is a Copywriter?
A copywriter is the most general term for someone who writes copy. This includes:
Ad copy
Blog posts
Emails
Product descriptions
They understand the written word and how to use it to persuade and convince people. Copywriters are a crucial part of a content team that needs powerful words to move their strategies forward.
While most content marketers are also copywriters, not all copywriters are content marketers, as that requires additional skills and writing superpowers.
What Is a Content Strategist?
A content strategist is a term I have seen floating around with variable meanings from someone who analyzes data to a strategic content writer.
What differentiates a content strategist from a content marketer is that their focus is on the planning and strategy behind content. Content strategists may or may not be copywriters. In many industries, especially freelancers, content strategists do have copywriting skills. However, their primary marketing point is understanding the numbers behind copywriting.
For instance, a content strategist understands the ins and outs of SEO. They research the best times of day for publishing content. They are experts on each platform and can list where you’ll most likely reach your audience.
Strategists are great members to have on your team to ensure your content has a plan and purpose, and they can pinpoint the results from your content so each investment has the most significant impact.
What Is a Marketing Content Writer?
Now, we are getting into the more complicated terms that will sound very similar. A marketing content writer is a copywriter who has skills specific to marketing.
When you hire a copywriter, you are hiring a broad skill set. However, when you hire a marketing content writer, they have experience in marketing-specific writing, such as conversion emails, newsletters, press releases, and ad copy.
They can craft content built around marketing concepts to ensure each project you complete moves you closer to your marketing goals.
What Is a Content Marketer?
The simplest definition of a content marketer is they are all of the above.
A marketer understands the strategy and can create compelling marketing content. They are the whole package from start to finish, ensuring you have the most powerful results from every asset you publish.
While 90% of marketers use blogs, that is only one of many marketing channels content marketers work with. Other common channels content marketers monitor and manage content creation for include:
Emails
Social media
Ads
Press releases
Whitepapers and eBooks
Guest posts
Content marketers also work with more than the written word. They also craft images, videos, and even audio content.
4 Primary Differences Between a Content Marketer vs. Content Writer
Are you still feeling confused? Don’t worry. We are about to take a much closer look at those last two because the subtle distinction is worth noting.
1. Experience Level
Content marketers tend to have more experience than marketing content writers. They understand the deeper intricacies of the marketing world and can use that knowledge to craft insightful content.
Many content marketers start as marketing content writers or even perform marketing writing in their current role. Others operate exclusively in a managerial role while they hire marketing writers to perform the writing portion of content marketing. Through that role, they can gain more first-hand experience with all parts of marketing beyond crafting content, helping them always see content in the bigger picture.
B2C and B2B content marketing writers have the most experience with content creation. They know enough about marketing to craft well-rounded marketing content, but they haven’t always had that first-hand experience in marketing roles outside of copywriting.
2. Role in the Team
Content writers create written content for marketing purposes, while content marketers use that content for marketing purposes.
For example, a marketing writer will create email campaigns while the content marketer schedules and automates the email campaigns the writer crafted.
Even though there is a distinction between the two, the terms are often used interchangeably because the two roles may overlap. Businesses with smaller marketing teams may have the content marketer as the marketing writer.
When that happens, the content marketer is responsible for:
Planning and strategizing
Creating content
Distributing the content
Monitoring results
That’s quite the workload for one person!
That’s why if you hire a content marketer, you should consider outsourcing help for marketing writing or an entire content marketing team with someone for each role in the process.
3. Access to Resources
This third difference does not apply to all marketing teams but is a common differentiating factor. Often, the writer acts in a silo apart from the rest of the marketing team. They may be a marketing writer crafting content for a specific marketing goal, but they don’t always have the same access to data as other team members.
Picture marketing writers like that trust game in elementary school. One child had a blindfold, while the other led them around an obstacle course. That is how many marketing writers operate, relying on the data the content marketers and strategists pass on to the writer. This can lead to inaccurate data or missing information that would have helped the content achieve its goals more effectively.
The solution isn’t always having the content marketer act as the writer, which risks burning out your marketer.
The best strategy is building a transparent team, allowing everyone to access the same data. At Express Writers, we offer strategy and writing services where writers receive the same data your content marketers receive to ensure there are no siloes in the content creation process.
4. Creation of Different Media Types
When you hear content, words might be the first concept that comes to mind. Blog posts, emails, and other written content are a large part of content marketing. However, they aren’t the only content format available.
Short-form video marketing was one of the top media formats marketers used in 2024. Graphics and audio are also marketing formats that you will use quite frequently, especially on social media or interactive websites.
A marketing writer works primarily with written content and copy for those marketing formats. They can write video scripts and copy for infographics. However, a content marketer must design or hire a graphic designer for the rest of the content.
If you need to streamline this process, consider outsourcing a content marketing agency like Express Writers with in-house graphic designers who can help with every stage of the content creation process.
Which Type of Marketing Content Writer Should You Hire?
Do you need a copywriter, strategist, content marketing writer, or content marketer?
Start by closely examining your team and seeing what skills you could benefit most from, whether it be strong writing skills, strategy, or marketing insights.
We often use a combination of terms when referring to Express Writers because we have a little of each. We have trained writers but also strategists and marketers who understand data and can get you the results you need.
We believe in providing more than just writing services. We want you to have the whole deal, so you don’t have to pick and choose between a copywriter, strategist, or marketer. Our services ensure every project you receive has insights and experience infused in every word.
When making a sales pitch, you want to sound eager but not desperate, but you also don’t want to sound too indifferent. Keyword placement for SEO in content requires a similar careful balance between too many, too few, or not being placed carefully enough to show a connection to a topic.
It’s a strategic dance with Google’s search algorithm. You want to be obvious enough with your keyword placement to improve your Google indexing but not too eager for Google to assume you are spam.
Here are ten tips for where to put keywords that yield the best results in Google.
Why Does Keyword Placement Matter?
In Google Search’s infancy, keyword placement was very straightforward. When a content creator used a word or phrase repeatedly in content, Google would naturally assume that was the topic’s theme and pull that content in relevant searches.
Imagine you sell shoes. You might repeatedly use phrases like “shoes for sale” or “cheap shoes” to attract your audience. The more often you use it, the higher your chances of Google ranking you.
Here was the issue. Spammers caught on to the algorithm and began keyword stuffing or placing keywords in every nook and cranny, hoping to increase their search engine ranking for that topic.
The problem was most of that content wasn’t that helpful or well-written. It would also sometimes be on a completely different topic.
That’s why Google shifted from keywords being the king of SEO to quality content being at the forefront. SEO content cannot rank without being well-written and demonstrating authority and personal experience.
However, keywords still play a valuable role because Google still needs to know what your content is about. The phrases you use in your content help the algorithm know (because it’s a computer, not a human that can use deductive reasoning). Since you are dealing with an algorithm, you need to be clear about your content’s theme by choosing keywords or search phrases your audience uses in Google search throughout your content in strategic spots that will stand out.
How Many Keywords Can You Use?
Can an article only rank for one keyword?
We often see our content ranking in several different searches. Google won’t only pull your content for the keyword you select. It can list your content for related searches, too.
However, trying to rank for too many keywords is like mastering several sports simultaneously. You may be able to rank in more searches, but you won’t master one. You would see much better results by having a laser focus and putting all your effort into ranking for a single phrase and related keywords in each blog post.
The related keywords appear one or two times each throughout the content, while the focus keyword has the spots of honor. By using synonymous and related keywords, you not only decrease your chances of Google seeing you as keyword stuffing but also read more naturally to readers because you aren’t repeating the exact phrase.
10 Places to Place Your Keywords
Learn where to put SEO keywords to see the best results and tips for sprinkling those secondary keywords around the focus keyword.
1. Blog Title
Your blog title is the H1 that appears at the top of your blog post. This is one of the most important spots for search engine keyword placement as it quite literally tells readers and Google what your content is about.
Try to include it naturally in the title, correcting grammar errors and using stop words when necessary. Stop words are words like a, and, your, and the that doesn’t change your keyword’s meaning – only make it more natural.
For instance, if your keyword is “best marketing tools,” your blog title might be “7 Best Marketing Tools Transforming Businesses in 2024.”
2. Introduction Paragraph
Your blog’s first section before the first sub-heading is your introduction. This section should be 200 words or less. It’s only a sneak peek at your content and doesn’t need to hold any essential information. However, it does need to contain your focus keyword.
Some marketers take this a step further and aim to have their focus keyword in the first paragraph. No significant data shows a difference between the first or last paragraph in the intro. You have this area covered as long as you hit on that keyword at some point while introducing the topic.
3. One or More Sub-Headers
While the title is the most important header for your keyword, you will want to include it in at least one sub-header. These are your H2s, H3s, H4s, etc.
What you want to avoid is adding your focus keyword in every single header.
Instead, switch up your focus keyword with synonymous keywords.
If your focus keyword is “financial services for doctors,” you might also use the phrases “medical financial services” and “healthcare financial services” in your H2s and H3s to avoid keyword stuffing and just sounding annoyingly repetitive.
4. Throughout the Body
The number of times a keyword appears in the text has no official rule, and the number of opinions on keyword distribution is as many as the number of SEO strategists.
However, one generally accepted concept is the 1% rule, or using keywords no more than once every 100 words, no matter how long your blog post is. Notice, I said KEYWORDS, not FOCUS KEYWORD. That’s because you want your focus keyword distribution to be much less dense. That ratio is for all your keywords.
Would you enjoy reading a sentence that sounded like this:
“When choosing the best smartphone repair near you, you want your smartphone repair service to match your smartphone repair cost.”
That’s not a sentence. That’s a string of keywords patched together.
Disperse all keywords once every 100 words unless they naturally fit closer together. Your focus keyword should only appear once every 400-500 words. You can even get away with it appearing less often if it’s very distinct and doesn’t fit naturally throughout. Instead, opt to use synonyms.
5. Meta Title
Your meta title is the blog post title that appears in search engine results pages. Usually, it will be the same as your blog title, especially when your writers create blog titles with the meta title in mind. However, there are times when you may need to change it up.
Your title should not be too long because Google’s search results pages (SERPs) have limited space. Ideally, it should fall between 50 and 60 characters with spaces, which comes out to 10-11 words.
Even if you keep your meta title within those parameters, there’s a chance people’s different devices may still cut your meta title short in SERPs. Keep that in mind when you are placing your keyword. If it’s at the end of your meta title, there’s a chance it won’t show. While Google will still be able to read it, your audience won’t, and that’s the part that tells them the content’s topic.
A common meta title tactic is placing the keyword before a colon.
For example, you might have titled your blog “A Modern Marketer’s Comprehensive Guide to Email Campaigns.” While that falls right at 58 characters with spaces, you are worried the keyword email campaign won’t show in all users’ SERPs because it’s cutting the spacing relatively close. Therefore, you switch around the meta title to “Email Campaigns: A Modern Marketers Comprehensive Guide.” That way, the primary topic remains front and center in search results pages.
You may have noticed when you perform a Google search that Google will mark the search phrase or keyword in the meta descriptions of the search results. This emphasizes how important it is to have a keyword in this space to appear in search results.
Image from Google
The meta description, like the meta title, has limited visible space. Only 120 to 160 characters of your meta description with spaces will show in SERPs. This is around 920 pixels. However, many SERPs will cut off meta descriptions greater than 155 characters, so you will use a strategy similar to the one you used with the meta title.
Try to place your keyword closer to the start of the meta description so that if it is cut off, at least the keyword remains in full view.
7. Image Alt-Text
Image alt-text appears when images don’t load or if someone uses text-to-speech software when browsing digital content. Google also scans image alt-text when ascertaining a content’s topic.
Adding a keyword to at least one image alt-text improves your search engine ranking potential.
8. Page URL
Your page URL is the digital pathway to your content. Often, you will use your blog title in the page URL. If you do, congrats. You are already optimized because your title will contain your keyword.
However, if you have a shortened title for the URL, be sure the shortened version of your content includes the focus keyword of the content.
9. Anchor Text
Anchor text is the text that links to another page. When you have links within your content, try to place a link on at least one keyword (focus or secondary keyword). This shows Google that’s a key statement or phrase.
As you create your other blog posts, add an internal link back to previous blog posts, and place that link on the focus or secondary keywords. However, just be sure to switch up the keywords you use for internal links. If you use the exact match keyword for all internal links, Google will see them as potential spam links (remember, Google often sees repetitive patterns as spam). Instead, switch between synonyms and related keywords for your anchor text.
10. Snippet/Google Questions
Google often pulls or summarizes text from digital content for the search result’s pages. This information can appear in:
AI Overview
Google snippets
People also ask questions
A part of optimizing for Google search is creating snippet-worthy sections in your content. These are short sections Google could easily pull for SERPs. You can use lists or one or two-sentence punchy answers to common questions to create snippet-worthy content.
Even more important is using your keyword or a related keyword in the snippet to improve the chances of it appearing in the right searches.
Mastering Your Keyword Placement
Are you feeling overwhelmed with all the rules for where to put keywords for SEO? We can help you out. Our SEO-trained writers help you hit all the best places for keyword placement so you can enjoy fully optimized content.
Not sure what keyword would rank best? Start with a content strategy service to learn what areas within your niche would bring in the most traffic.
Hey Siri, how much has voice assistant usage grown in the past few years?
Having a personal assistant ready to respond quickly is convenient for all your tasks, from texting your best friend to setting timers. It allows you to multi-task or receive answers to questions without having to pick up your phone and interrupt what you’re doing.
Are you in the middle of a board game and want to know when the game came out? Just ask Google Assistant. Are you exercising and curious how many calories 30 minutes on a treadmill burns? Ask Siri.
The convenience of voice assistance is beginning to impact SEO directly. The very foundation of SEO starts with targeting search phrases people use. But if people use voice assistants to search and consume content, how might SEO look different due to changing search phrases?
Here are a few predictions for voice search SEO based on trends we already see and what we know about content consumption from our years of content marketing experience.
The Growth of Voice Search
Voice assistants have come and gone (goodbye, Cortana). Today, three contestants stand as the most popular voice assistants:
Google Assistant
Apple’s Siri
Amazon’s Alexa
You will also come across lesser-known or more niche voice assistants built for individual brands or apps.
Voice assistants are everywhere, helping people live more device hands-free without losing their connection to limitless information.
In 2024, there were nearly 149.1 million voice assistant users in the US alone. That number is expected to grow to 162.7 million by 2027. This number includes voice assistants on smartphones, smart TVs, connected cars, and smart speakers.
About 45% of Americans use voice assistants for information discovery. Whenever someone asks their voice assistant a question, it pulls that information directly from the web and reads it back to the user.
On smartphones, voice assistants often offer links so users can read the topic further (Yay web traffic!).
This rise in voice assistants will impact SEO content marketing because people search for information on Google and consume the content from search results pages, whether knowingly or not.
When people search through a voice assistant, they begin with a question. That’s different from most typed searches that often use scattered or disjointed phrases.
For example, if you want to know how to fix a leak in your bathroom sink, you might type “bathroom sink leak” or “how to fix bathroom sink leak.” However, when you talk to a voice assistant, you ask complete questions using your natural language patterns, like “Hey Alexa, how do you fix a leak in your bathroom sink?”
The voice assistant pulls the answer directly from a search engine like Google. Most responses come directly from a web source, with only a few pre-programmed responses, like when you ask Siri to tell you a joke.
Search queries will also subtly change with the increased use of voice search and how people consume those answers. Rather than only reading results, more people will use voice assistants to read out results or sections of your content.
Is your content optimized for voice assistants pulling out quick answers?
5 Steps Marketers Can Take When Performing Voice Search SEO
Use these five steps to help you create high-ranking content and optimize for voice search.
1. Target Long-Tail Keywords
You rarely hear someone talk to their Google assistant using half-baked sentences. Your voice search audience is often using complete sentences and very specific questions.
That’s good news for you because those specific questions are often far less competitive SEO keywords than the one or two-word keywords.
You’ll find most of those questions through your SEO tools or in Google’s People Also Ask section. In SEMrush, you can see a breakdown of keywords into groups that include keyword ideas and questions.
Mixing in those long-tail keywords helps you gain that voice assistant traffic. You can use them as either blog post titles or supporting keywords throughout your content and website.
As you write your content, especially when targeting long-tail keywords that will attract voice assistants, consider how your content will sound read aloud.
You always have a chance of someone reading your content aloud, which should be a constant consideration. Reading your content aloud during editing is a good rule, but it is almost essential when optimizing for a voice assistant.
You will want your content to flow easily and sound natural. Try to aim for a conversational style that is engaging to read but still offers value with every sentence. If your sentence is too convoluted that a reader needs to see it on paper to understand its meaning, it’s probably not a good fit for voice assistant responses.
You will also want to be conscious of periods and paragraph breaks. This signals the voice assistant, just like it does for a reader, to take a breath so your content doesn’t sound like a long-winded speaker.
3. Take Advantage of Text to Voice
Voice assistants do more than just read words on a page. They can interpret everything going on with your content.
This is especially important to keep in mind when researching how to optimize a website for voice search as you will need users to be able to navigate pages using voice assistants, not just read straight text.
Think back to the last time you watched a movie with subtitles. Remember how the subtitles didn’t just transcribe conversations. It also transcribed sounds like horse hooves, wind, and the actor’s sighs.
Voice assistants act similarly. They don’t just tell people what words say. They can also scan and describe specific images, buttons, or even videos.
Since smart technology is often anything but smart, you don’t want to leave media descriptions up to chance. Instead, optimize your alt-text. This is a good habit for accommodating voice assistants and aiding those using text-to-speech or whose images won’t load.
When you optimize your alt-text, describe the image clearly yet succinctly. You may also add a keyword in your descriptions to help with SEO, both from voice assistants and traditional SEO.
4. Create Snippet-Worthy Responses
If you ask your voice assistant who the third king of England was, it most likely will not read the entire Wikipedia article that appears at the top of your search results pages. It will pull just the most crucial information and provide a quick response, such as “The third king of England was Edward III.”
The average voice assistant response uses 29 words to answer your questions fully. That is the exact length of the paragraph you are reading now, which isn’t very long.
Voice search and SEO strategies you already use go hand-in-hand. As you create your content, write with those short snippets in mind. About 40.7% of voice assistant responses are pulled from Google snippets, so optimizing for short snippets is a win-win for traditional and voice-centered SEO.
When creating snippet-worthy content, a good rule is to have one or two separate sentences under each main heading, especially question headings, answering the question in a quick, clear response. This snippet is convenient for voice assistants to respond to any voice-generated queries.
5. Optimize Voice Assistant Sources
Up until now, we have only talked about Google search results pages when discussing how to optimize for voice search. That is because it is the most popular search engine for voice assistants. However, it’s not the only source that might pop up in voice assistant searches.
While Apple and Google products pull from Google, Amazon’s Alexa uses Bing. In addition, voice assistants will also pull listings from Maps, Google My Business, and Yelp.
Making sure you optimize those key sources puts you at an advantage in voice assistant searches.
Next time someone is driving and asks where a laptop repair shop is near them, your business could show up, as long as you are listing it in the prime spots that voice assistants pull from.
Has your latest content strategy included voice searches?
You will want to tap into those millions of monthly searches by optimizing for voice assistants. With the right strategy in place, you can equally target those who find your content on computers, smartphones, tablets, and voice assistants.
Learn more about our content strategy services and how we can help adjust your strategy for SEO voice search.
