For many people, a shift has happened from text-based search to voice-based search, especially when looking for healthcare services like chiropractic care. When someone is in need of chiropractic care, they are likely going to grab their phone and find a provider to call. People do not want to wait until they can get on the computer, but they rather want the instant information available on a phone.
This shift is clearly seen in recent smart device statistics. In 2024, 145 million Americans are using voice assistants, and 55% of people use voice search to ask questions when looking for a service provider. As a result, being visible on voice search matters, especially for small businesses, like local chiropractors, who are in a competitive market.
To reach these visitors, your website needs to be one that the voice search providers choose to show. If your website is optimized for voice search, you will potentially reach more of those searchers. Voice SEO techniques will help drive that traffic to your site and, hopefully, to your clinic.
What Is Voice SEO and How Is It Different Than Traditional SEO?
Voice SEO involves optimizing a site for the types of search strands people use when they voice their search terms. While the idea is the same, the words and strategies you use to optimize your site for voice search will vary.
Different Search Intent
When someone is searching using voice, especially when searching for chiropractic care or other health services, chances are high that they are in need of care. These are highly qualified leads, not just people looking for basic information about local businesses. As such, their intent is to book an appointment and find a chiropractor to provide service. These are the leads you want to draw to your site because they are the most likely to become paying customers.
Different Voice Search Terms
When people search using voice, they phrase their search queries differently, and thus, your keywords have to adjust. In general, voice search queries are more conversational than those done by text. On the computer, someone might search “Kansas City chiropractors.”
They’ll say search phrases such as, “What are some good chiropractors in Kansas City?” or even “What chiropractors are near me and open right now?” These longer, more conversational ones require the search engines to understand searcher intent, but you can grab some of that traffic by focusing on long-tale or question-based keywords.
Fewer Results = More Competition
Another common issue with voice search is competitiveness. The search engines show fewer results for voice searches as compared to text-based searches. Typically, they will show about three results for every search. Thus, your voice search SEO strategies for chiropractic clinics need to be solid, or you will not get those results.
How to Target Voice Search for Chiropractors
Voice search is here to stay, so your chiropractic clinic needs to adjust to reach voice searchers. Thankfully, there are not a large number of changes needed to adjust for voice search, but you do need to be aware of what changes are necessary.
Focus on the Right Keywords
Long-tail keywords or keywords in the form of a question are more effective for voice search than small keyword phrases. Long-tail keywords are those with three or more words in them, and question keywords are just what they sound like, keyword phrases shaped like a question. These often start with “who,” “what,” “when,” “where,” and “how.” A good way to get some of these onto your website is with FAQs.
As you make this adjustment, you will find that the number of search queries you get goes down, but your conversion rate goes up. Longer, question-based keywords have a higher conversion rate than those with just a word or two, even though the short keyword phrases may generate more searches a month.
If you are struggling to come up with keywords, consider using Google itself to research. GO to the search bar and enter your basic search term, like “chiropractic care in Kansas City.” See what comes up under the “People Also Ask” section. This is a great starting place to build some question-based longtail keywords to focus your voice search. Pull some of those questions, which Google gets from its search histories, and create keywords and content from them.
Be Conversational
Make the language of your website and blog as conversational as possible. Don’t shy away from first- and second-person pronouns. Try to strike a balance between conversational wording and professionalism, which is necessary for a chiropractic clinic. Doing so may also help you come across as more authentic to your audience.
What is conversational language? Conversational language mirrors the way people speak. This grabs voice text traffic because people are speaking their search queries into their phone or to their assistant device.
Go Local
Local SEO for chiropractors also translates well into voice SEO. Both draw similar traffic and search terms. The more local terminology you can weave into your writing, the better. Even if someone doesn’t use a local search word in their query, the search engines award sites that appear locally relevant when people are searching on a mobile device.
Factors that impact your local SEO include:
- Having strong, matching business profiles
- Having a good Google Business Profile
- Targeting local keywords in website pages and blog posts
- Using local images when possible
Work on all of these strategies, and your local SEO will improve. This, in turn, will improve your voice SEO.
Make It Mobile Friendly
Another factor in voice search is the prevalence of mobile search. People who are searching using their voice are searching on mobile devices. In fact, as many as 27% of mobile searchers use voice search on a phone to find what they need. If your clinic’s site is going to show up, it needs to be mobile-friendly. Make sure it loads quickly and displays well on a mobile website, and you are more likely to get ranked for voice search.
Add Schema Markup
Schema markup helps with voice SEO as well as typed search SEO. This invisible code tells the search engine bots important information about your business, your website, and your content. It improves visibility in all types of search, including voice search. It shows the search engines that your site is relevant to what a person is searching for and that relevancy improves your rank.
Focus on Technical SEO
Technical SEO is the process of making your site more accessible to search engine bots. It involves site mapping, alt text, and mobile responsiveness, all working together to help search engines crawl and index your site. If your site is easier to crawl and has the other features of mobile-friendly design, you are more likely to show up on mobile search results.
Include a Snippet
On every page, include a snippet that can be the result read to a voice search query. This snippet can incorporate some of your keywords, tell a little about your clinic, and encourage people to make an appointment. It should not be highly marketing in nature, though, but rather informative, as that is the type of result Google likes to reward.
How Surefire Local Helps with Voice SEO for Chiropractors
As you look for options to improve your voice SEO, the right marketing tool can make a huge difference. Many chiropractic clinics benefit from an all-in-one program that puts their marketing tools, including voice SEO tools, in one place. Surefire Local is one such tool.
Surefire Local provides a comprehensive marketing toolbox for chiropractors and other small businesses, with everything located in one convenient place. You can monitor your search results, plan and create content, and respond to comments and questions all from the same dashboard. This helps you save time and effort without hurting your results. When small businesses use Surefire Local’s tools they see a 34% increase in SEO-based traffic, including traffic from voice SEO.
In addition to SEO tools, Surefire Local’s all-in-one platform offers:
- Digital advertising tools
- Social media tools
- Text marketing tools
- Online review management
- Easy-to-understand analytics
- Lead generation tools
With Surefire Local, you can see all of these tools at a glance, without having to log into different platforms and marketing tools. The platform also provides AI-assisted strategies to improve your results, which you can implement to improve your overall marketing efforts, including your voice SEO results.
If you are curious to see what Surefire Local can do for you, schedule a demo to see this comprehensive system for yourself.