For years, your Google Business Profile was a simple necessity, a digital phonebook entry to show your address and opening hours. But in 2025, its role has quietly changed. For a growing number of companies, their Google Business Profile is now their primary salesperson.
This shift isn’t because of a new feature you missed. It’s because of a fundamental change in customer behaviour. Instead of typing, your customers are asking. They're asking Siri, 'Where's a good coffee shop near me that's open now?' or telling Google Assistant, 'Find a printer that does same-day delivery.' And where do these AI assistants get their answers? More often than not, they pull them directly from the data in your Google Business Profile.
This creates a new, high-stakes reality for businesses. In a traditional screen search, you might be one of ten results. In a voice search, the AI assistant often provides only one definitive answer. If your business isn't optimised to be that single, trusted answer, you are completely invisible to this growing segment of customers. This guide will demystify voice search SEO. We'll break down why it's different from traditional SEO and give you a clear, step-by-step action plan to update your online presence, starting with that all-important Google Business Profile, to ensure your business is the one that gets recommended.
To win at voice search, you first need to understand that it operates on a different set of rules. The core difference can be broken down into three concepts. First, it’s a shift from keywords to questions. We type in fragmented phrases, but we speak in full sentences.
Typed Search: 'best prata upper thomson'
Voice Search: 'Where can I find the best prata near Upper Thomson that's open now?' Your content needs to be optimised to answer these longer, more conversational queries.
Second, voice searches are driven by intent and immediacy. They are often 'I want to know,' 'I want to go,' or 'I want to do' moments. The user is looking to take immediate action. When someone asks, 'What's the best 24-hour vet clinic near me?' they have an urgent need that your business can solve.
Finally, voice search is a winner-takes-all result. As mentioned, voice assistants like Siri and Google Assistant aim to provide a single, definitive answer. This makes ranking in what SEO professionals call 'Position Zero,' the featured snippet or the top result in the map pack, more critical than ever before.
For local queries that include phrases like 'near me' or 'in Tampines,' voice assistants rely heavily on one primary source of truth: your Google Business Profile (GBP). This free tool is the single most important asset for your voice search strategy. Getting it right is non-negotiable.
Here is a checklist to ensure your GBP is voice-search-ready:
NAPU Consistency: Your Name, Address, Phone Number, and website URL must be exactly the same everywhere online, from your website to your social media pages and other directories. Inconsistencies confuse search engines.
Hyper-Specific Categories: Don't just list yourself as a 'restaurant.' Be as specific as possible. Are you a 'Hainanese Chicken Rice Restaurant' or a 'Pet-Friendly Cafe'? The more specific your category, the better chance you have of matching with a specific voice query.
Meticulous Operating Hours: A huge number of voice searches are time-sensitive, like, 'Is [business name] open now?' Keep your hours updated religiously, especially for public holidays.
Leverage Google Reviews: A high quantity of recent, positive reviews is a massive trust signal for voice assistants. A business with a 4.7-star rating from 500 reviews will almost always be recommended over one with a 4.8-star rating from 20 reviews. Implement a strategy to encourage every happy customer to leave a review.
Use the Q&A Feature: Proactively use the Questions & Answers feature on your GBP listing. Add common questions your customers ask ('Do you have vegetarian options?' 'Is there wheelchair access?') and provide clear, concise answers yourself. This is a goldmine for directly matching voice search queries.
Once your GBP is in order, the next step is to ensure your website content is structured to answer questions.
The single most powerful on-site technique is to build a hyper-local FAQ page. Brainstorm every single question a customer could possibly ask, from the simple to the complex. Structure the page clearly, using the question as a heading (H2 or H3 tag) and providing a direct, concise answer immediately below it.
For a Singaporean retailer, these questions might include:
To give your website an extra boost, you should embrace Structured Data (Schema Markup). In simple terms, this is a vocabulary of code that you add to your website to help search engines understand the context of your information. It explicitly tells Google, 'This string of numbers is a phone number,' or 'This text is a review.' For local businesses, essential schema types include LocalBusiness, FAQPage, and Restaurant. While this may sound technical, many website platforms like WordPress and Shopify have simple plugins that can implement this for you.
Optimising for a Singaporean audience requires an understanding of local context.
Think in Landmarks, Not Just Postal Codes. People search by proximity to familiar places. A user is more likely to ask, 'find a printer near City Hall MRT' than to use a postal code. Weave these local landmarks into your address and directions page. Phrases like 'located opposite 313@Somerset' or 'a short walk from Tiong Bahru Market' are incredibly valuable.
Cater to Local Lingo & Events. While direct commands to Siri might use standard English, the content that voice assistants pull from can be local. A blog post titled 'Best Mala Xiang Guo Spots for a Rainy Day' might be the source for an answer about late-night food. Optimise content around major local events like the F1 Night Race or National Day.
Address Accessibility & Transportation. Include details that are highly relevant to life in Singapore. Mention if your location is wheelchair accessible, if you're connected via a sheltered walk from the MRT, or which bus routes service your location.
Master Your Google Business Profile (Today). This is your highest-impact first step. Go through the voice search-ready checklist and fix any inconsistencies or incomplete sections.
Create Your Master FAQ Page (This Week). Dedicate time to building a comprehensive FAQ page. Start with the top 10 questions your customers ask and build from there.
Systemise Your Review Generation (This Month). Implement a simple process to ask every satisfied customer for a Google review. This could be a QR code at the counter that links directly to your review page or a link included in a follow-up email.
The rise of voice search represents a fundamental shift in user behaviour. The goal of your SEO is no longer just to be one of ten blue links on a page, but to be the one and only answer. The good news is that optimising for voice isn't a separate, scary task. Double down on good local SEO practices and focus relentlessly on being as helpful as possible to your customers. It's about understanding their questions and providing the best, clearest, and most direct answers.
