Voice search
Voice search is speech recognition technology that allows users to perform searches using voice rather than typing. Often interactive, these searches involve rounds of interactions that allow the software to clarify the user request.
Top 6 voice search devices
- Google Home
- Amazon Echo/Alexa
- Google Assistant
- Siri/iPhone
- Android Phones And Devices
- Microsoft Cortana
Voice search is growing at a significant pace. More and more businesses are optimizing for voice search.
Here are 30 telling trends on voice search. And 7 steps to take.
30 telling trends
- 94% of all smart speakers in use are from Google and Amazon.
- 93% of consumers are satisfied with their voice assistants.
- 82% of Amazon Echo smart speaker owners subscribe to Amazon Prime.
- 76% of smart speaker users perform local voice searches at least weekly. 46% of users perform voice searches to look for information on local businesses on a daily basis.
- 72% of people who own voice-activated speakers say that their devices are used as part of their daily routines
- 65% of people who own an Amazon Echo or Google Home can’t imagine going back to the days before they had a smart speaker.
- 65% of 25-49-year-olds speak to their voice-enabled devices at least once per day.
- 61% of 25-64-year-olds say they’ll use their voice devices more in the future.
- 58% of consumers use voice search to find local business information.
- 55% of households are expected to own smart speaker devices by 2022.
- 52% of people keep their voice-activated speakers in their living rooms. 25% keep them in their bedrooms, while 22% keep them in their kitchens.
- 52% of smart speaker owners are interested in receiving info about deals, sales, and promotions from brands.
- 51% of those who shop via voice use it to research products. 22% of those consumers make purchases directly through a voice search for eCommerce and 17% have used it to reorder items.
- 51% of consumers use voice search to research restaurants.
- 50% of all online searches will be voice searches by 2020.
- Up to 43% of voice-enabled device owners use their device to shop.
- 41% of people who own a voice-activated speaker say it feels like talking to a friend or another person.
- 34% of people who do not own a voice assistant are interested in purchasing one.
- 30% of web browsing will be screenless by 2020.
- Callers convert 30% faster than web leads.
- 28% of consumers go on to call the business their voice searched for. This is the most common action following a voice search.
- Caller retention rate is 28% higher than the web lead retention rate.
- Phone calls convert to 10-15x more revenue than web leads.
- 25% of searches conducted on Windows 10 taskbar are voice search.
- Nearly 20% of all voice search queries are triggered by a set of 25 keywords. These consist mainly of question words like “how” or “what” and adjectives like “best” or “easy.”
- Grocery shopping accounted for 20% of voice shopping in 2017. This compared to clothes shopping, which accounted for just 8%..
- 12% of smart speaker owners make purchases by voice monthly. This equals nearly 5.5 million US adults.
- 3. 5% of consumers use voice shopping, but that number could reach 50% by 2022.
- Mobile voice-related searches are 3X more likely to be local-based than text-related searches
- There will be an estimated 21.4 million smart speakers in the US by 2020.
7 voice search steps to take
- Optimize content for long-tail keywords and queries likely to be spoken aloud.
- Use natural, conversational language for search terms. If you are a local business, consider adding “near me” at the end of your search term.
- Adhere to SEO best practices to ensure you rank high. Remember the same SEO principles still apply.
- Pay attention to mobile. Mobile easily beats other devices when it comes to voice search queries because most verbal questions are being asked on mobile.
- Make sure your site loading time is quick. 40% of mobile users abandon sites that take over 3 seconds to load. And they are probably not coming back.
- Mine calls to your business for the questions consumers ask before buying. Add them to your website to improve SEO and CRO, maybe add an FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section.
- Leverage Google My Business Listings. A Google My Business listing is a way to let Google know that your business is located at a particular place. When someone asks Google to display similar businesses in that area, your business could rank for that query.
Do these 30 facts and 7 steps help explain voice search to you and what to do about it?
