How to Effectively Target Position 0 to Become the Top Voice Search Answer

Oftentimes, the answers given to voice searches are drawn from search engine results page snippets. The snippets that show up first are referred to as “position zero.” These blurbs of text are pulled directly from your website. Here are a few steps you can take to target position zero, brought to you by San Diego web design experts at Saba SEO.

Find Out What Keywords Are Being Used in Featured Snippets

At one time, increasing the odds of getting your website info selected for snippets meant using keyword phrases like “how to” in your content. Most voice searches are still questions, but there are now many search queries that involve more than just “how to” questions. Nearly 25 percent of featured snippets involve comparisons and close to 20 percent require prepositions.

To find out what specific keywords are being used in snippets, consider using keyword tools available from sources like Rank Ranger and SEMRush. You can get an organic report that excludes paid search terms by:

• Entering your domain
• Filtering results based on featured snippets
• Excluding branded terms
• Evaluating your data by date or specific periods

Explore Webpages Linked to Top Snippet Keywords

Find out what type of content is being presented on the pages linked to higher ranking snippet keywords. This will give you a better idea of what you can do with your website content to make it a reliable source of answers for voice searchers. Pay particular attention to details such as:

• Page layout
• How content is presented (e.g. bullet points, numeric lists)
• Use of visual content on high ranking pages
• The types of questions being answered within the content

Make Your Keyword List

If your content isn’t showing up prominently as featured snippets, a good place to make changes is your keyword list. Long-tail keywords, in particular, tend to work well as keywords for snippets. These are the key terms with related groups of keywords or phrases. Further organizing your keywords into buckets divided into three subgroups (questions, comparisons, and prepositions) will make it easier to produce appropriate content that uses those keywords.

Do a Competitor Analysis

As you determine how to use your keywords within your content, do a competitor analysis to see what’s already working for your competitors. Look at whether or not your competitor’s content is actually answering the questions being asked by searchers. If it’s not, this is an opportunity for you to step up and provide the information searchers are looking for, which can get you closer to position zero.

Make Appropriate Adjustments

Make changes to your content based on what you learned from your keyword research and competitor analysis. Using one or two keywords in your URLs can also make it easier for search engine crawlers to find your content and pull snippets from it. Finally, prepare content that naturally uses your keywords and answers frequently asked questions. You can make these adjustments by:

• Creating new landing pages
• Changing how your content is presented on existing pages
• Including a better mix of visual elements and text

Within the next few years, it’s predicted that half of all searches will be voice-based. Clearly, there is plenty of justification for optimizing your content to increase the odds that your snippets will be used more frequently. You should also keep the user experience in mind. Present relevant content in a way that appeals to anyone coming to your site, not just voice searchers.

Optimizing your content for search engines requires the best SEO services San Diego has to offer. At Saba SEO, we are a team of highly qualified and professionally trained SEO experts with several years of experience. For over ten years, we have created comprehensive digital marketing strategies for businesses all over the globe. As a BBB accredited organization, we provide reliable and quality-assured services. Whether you need minor changes to your existing marketing plan or a new strategy altogether, we are here to help. Call us at 858-951-1717 to schedule an appointment with one of our SEO Managers.