Why Voice Search is Growing

2 MIN READ
Alex Farr

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2020 is expected to be the year of voice search.

Once people realize the benefits of speaking vs. typing, it’s hard to go back. People are using voice to run search engine queries, find local businesses, make purchase decisions, and more. 

The appearance of voice assistants in our homes, cars, and workplaces might be a relatively new phenomenon, but people have been using voice search for some time. Google introduced voice search to the Google Mobile App on iPhones way back in 2008.

Though of course it’s the rise of intelligent assistants that has caused voice search to skyrocket - it’s grown 35x since 2008!

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Voice assistants are changing just about everything and we’re becoming more accustomed to conversing with them to accomplish an increasing number of tasks - naturally, that includes search. 

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72% of people have used voice search through a digital assistant and there’s three reasons why it’s becoming everyone’s favored form of search:

Speed

Searching via voice is over 3x faster than using a keyboard and answers are read back to users in seconds. When Stone Temple asked consumers why they like using voice commands, “It’s fast,” was indeed the number one reason cited.

And as Amazon, Google, Microsoft and others are continuously improving the speed at which their assistants are able to process user queries, voice search is only going to get faster.

The challenge for brands without a Voice App is how to create concise content that’s effective on both web and voice. Get started on optimizing content for voice search

Convenience

AdobeStock_245570327“Hey Google, how long does it take to boil an egg?”

You don’t have to stop what you’re doing to perform a voice search - whether cooking breakfast, driving a car, or doing something else on another device. A study found that 45% of millennials use voice assistants to ask questions while shopping in store or online, to look up products, services and brand reviews.

Brands should be thinking about how they can create customer journeys on voice to increase conversions online or in-store. First, they need to claim their voice domain.

Ease

A survey from PWC revealed that 90% of people believe voice has made searching for something online easier. Most users are using voice search via mobile and voice is definitely a lot easier than typing on smartphones.

For people with particular accessibility challenges, being able to search without using a screen or keyboard has been revolutionary. See how Zammo and Our Ability teamed up to empower job seekers on voice here

Voice assistants are expected to reach 1.83 billion by 2021, and as access to voice continues to grow, so will voice search. The question your marketing team should be asking is how can we drive more customers from voice search? The journey begins with being found on voice and creating a voice strategy.

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