Increasing the adoption of voice search technology had a significant impact on the world of digital marketing in recent years. It has changed the ways of how marketing professionals optimize websites to rank for certain keywords and queries.

Although voice search had a small share in the total searches worldwide up until recent years, now over 20% of mobile searches are already being done by using voice search and it has been predicted that in 2020 50% of the searches will be performed using voice search.

Voice Search Statistics of 2019:

• eMarketer predicts that over a third of the US population (111.8 million people) will use a voice assistant monthly in 2019, up 9.5% from 2018.
• ComScore predicts that by the year 2020, 50% of all online searches will be performed with voice search.
• A Gartner study predicts that 30% of all browsing sessions will include voice search by 2020.
• According to NRP and Edison Research, 1 in 6 Americans owned a smart speaker in 2018.
• 1 of every 4 American homes equipped with Wi-Fi owned a smart speaker in 2018, according to Nielsen.
• According to Google, 52% of smart speaker owners keep them in a common room such as a living room. 25% of these people keep them in their bedroom, while 22% keep a smart speaker assistant in their kitchen.
• A 2018 study from BrightLocal found that 58% of consumers used voice search to find a local business in 2017, and 46% of people using voice search daily are searching for local business.
• According to an Adobe Analytics survey, the most common voice searches on smart speakers are asking for music (70%) and the weather forecast (64%), followed by fun questions (53%), online search (47%), news (46%), and asking directions (34%).
  
  Source: Voice Search Statistics and Emerging Trends

All these developments are the result of rising usage of voice assistant devices such as Siri, Alexa and Google Home. Alexa is the most used one among these devices and it is followed by Siri and then Google Home.

These assistants integrate everyday life very easily as people can now use these assistants in their bedrooms, cars or kitchens. It provides convenience as it makes it a lot easier and quicker for people to find answers rather than typing a question using a mobile phone or computer.

What Is Voice Search and How It’s Different Than Normal Search?

Voice search is a product of voice recognition technology that enables the users to perform searches by speaking into a device such as either their smartphone or home assistant device. It introduces a completely new way of searching for information, products, and services allowing users to search via more conversational requests.

Consumers use a broader range of conversational keywords to conduct a search via their digital assistants. For example, a user may want to find out about an ingredient list for a recipe and put “Pad Thai Ingredients” while typing for search but instead when using a device assistant they would say “How to make Pad Thai at home”. Marketers are now required to learn more about this new era of search as it’s predicted that it will keep rising in the new decade.

Why is voice search marketing so important?

It’s crucial for businesses to stay ahead of the latest technology and understand these developments to be able to incorporate them into their digital marketing strategies.

The inevitable trend of voice search is going to have a direct effect on many businesses’ digital marketing strategies. And the result will be either positive or negative depending on how well a business can adapt its strategy to this new change in consumer behaviour.

There are many reasons for businesses to reassess how their current websites are built to adapt to these new user behaviours moving forward. Since the searches made via voice search are more conversational, marketers need to consider how to create and optimize their content for these types of queries. Otherwise, they risk being left behind and not having ranking in the voice search results.

What are the benefits of voice search for businesses?

While changing how SEO is done, voice search also contributes to improving customer experience. Providing a faster and more convenient solution to users, voice search improves the user experience of the search engines. And so if a business’ website content has been optimized for this type of search, it would be the first to be suggested by the voice assistant.

Now users want faster answers and they decide on their initial search by looking at the first result if they are satisfied with the answer or not. And if not satisfied, they change their inquiry and try a different search. So being the second or third in the rankings is no longer enough, let alone ranking on the first page.

Because how the nature of voice search challenges businesses to optimize their content, understanding exactly what and how consumers are searching is key to successfully draw organic traffic for their websites. By using voice search marketing strategy and optimizing their website content, businesses can prevent prospects from finding their competition too.

If you’re convinced to adapt your digital marketing strategy and repurpose your content for voice search, we can help you create a result-driven strategy that will increase your traffic.

Contact us today to take your business to the next level.

CONTACT US

About the Author

Hande is a multi-award-winning entrepreneur, Principal of WSI London, founder of Quattro Business Consulting, co-founder of Think Neuro and Buddy Performance. She is independent Board Member in verous companies and institutions. She has studied Industrial Engineering, has worked with 200 clients from different parts of the world and she has 20 years of consulting experience.