The way people can look up information online has changed over the years and voice search is one of the most convenient ways to search for something on the internet. Voice search features and tools are typically interactive, where several rounds of back-and-forth interactions between the user and the system take place for clarification.
Voice search is not a replacement for typed search. It is instead another method of searching the internet. Voice search can give users a different experience than typed search does. With the growing use of voice search, <s digital marketing agency teams have focused on voice search SEO and how SEO strategies should be adjusted to accommodate voice search.
IS VOICE SEARCH GROWING?
Review42 presents several interesting statistics about voice search and its usage in 2020. Early predictions showed that 50% of all searches by 2020 would be voice-activated and by 2022, 55% of US households are expected to own a smart speaker. At present, close to 40 million Americans own a smart speaker.
In 2020, 20% of mobile queries were carried out using voice search. According to Review42, of persons who have used voice search, 58% wanted to find information about a local business. They add that 72% of persons who use voice search devices claim they have become part of their daily routine and that 43% of smart speaker owners use the technology to shop.
A statistic that will be of interest to any SEO marketing company is that 32% of marketing organizations use smart speakers like Alexa and Siri.
WHAT ARE THE AVAILABLE VOICE SEARCH TOOLS AND DEVICES?
Siri, which is developed by Apple, was released in 2011 and is one of the first names that comes to mind when talking about virtual assistants. Alexa is another virtual assistant many use to carry out voice searches.
Google Assistant was released in 2016 as part of Googleā€™s messaging app Allo and Cortana is Microsoftā€™s virtual assistant released in 2014.
These are the four commonly used virtual assistants and an SEO marketing company would study the latest features and updates of these tools when developing voice search SEO strategies for businesses and brands.
WHAT DO WE USE VOICE SEARCH FOR?
When developing SEO and digital marketing strategies, a social media marketing company will look at the current uses of relevant devices and programmes and the latest trends. This is important as it helps digital marketing services plan campaigns that are effective and successful.
Data on teens show at 43% use voice search to call someone, 38% use it to ask for directions, 31% use it to get help with homework, 30% use it to play a song, 20% use it to find out movie times, and 13% use it to check the time.
The uses of voice search are slightly different among adult users, with 40% using it to ask for directions, 39% using it to dictate texts, 31% using it to call someone, 11% using it to check the time, 11% using it to play a song, and 9% using it to find movie times.
WHAT IS VOICE SEARCH SEO?
According to voicebot.ai, voice-enabled shopping is expected to rise to $40 billion in the US by next year. In 2017, this amount was just $1.8 billion. While it is clear that the use of voice search will only continue to grow, a business may wonder how a digital marketing agency can bring up their website in web browser results for a voice search.
This can be done with voice search SEO, where content is optimized for voice searches using keywords people commonly use on voice search as opposed to typed search. There are several benefits to voice search SEO, starting with higher rankings.
According to BloggersPassion, roughly 75% of voice search results rank in the top three positions for a particular question on a desktop search. This means that content optimized for voice search will also rank high on typed search results.
Organic visibility will also increase if people can find your website through voice search and this, in turn, gives the website and the business more authority.
Voice search SEO can also increase a companyā€™s earnings, which is why digital marketing services focus heavily on relevant voice search SEO strategies. The increased earnings are a result of more customers or potential customers being directed to the companyā€™s website or e-commerce store from search engines.