It's hard to believe that voice search technology was first introduced to the world in the early 2000's. Thanks to the development of smart speakers and smart phones, this technology has quickly evolved into a tool that many utilize every day. All you have to do is simply ask your question out loud, and the answer is provided within seconds. As this trend becomes more prevalent in the average user's day to day life, you'll need to keep it front of mind when making any website updates or creating new digital strategies. To help, below you'll find 5 trends you should be thinking about when it comes to voice search and how that can affect how you're being found online.
5 Voice Search Trends
- Increase in Smart Speaker Owners - The initial roll out of smart speakers sparked a large interest in voice search. Not only was the sound quality on par with other Blu-Tooth speakers, but these devices could automatically sync with your Apple iTunes or Spotify accounts. On top of this synchronization, you didn't need to have your phone or computer on hand to control the speaker. All you needed was your voice.
- Increase in Voice Search Users - With the introduction of the smart speaker came the drastic increase of not only technological advancements associated with these devices, but also the number of people using them. From the Google home, to those who prefer asking Alexa their questions on the Amazon Echo, smart speakers have quickly become new members of the household. In fact, as of January 2020, roughly 1 in 4 U.S. adults now have a smart speaker in their home.
- Increased Search Accuracy - Just like with every new technology that comes to market, people aren't going to use it if it doesn't work. As users increased, so did demand for advancements in usability and accuracy. Google has buffed up their vocal recognition software to include more than 100 languages with a primary focus on English. Google's English vocal search accuracy rate is now believed to be just over 95%, which shows the dedication they have to improving this search function.
- Trending to Younger Users - Voice search isn't just being used by the older generation. Millennials have quickly adapted to this new technology. And with younger generations growing up using voice search in their homes and on their phones, it shouldn't be surprising that this tool trends towards its younger users.
- Beneficial for Local Searches - As advancements began to surpass simply listening to music or asking about the weather, devices started incorporating search recommendations and even shopping capabilities. Thanks to the steady increase of users utilizing these functions, terms and phrases have started to shift. Many vocal searches now include the key phrase "near me" at the end of their search. For example, while you might have once Googled "restaurants" on your phone, you are now asking your smart device for "restaurants near me". This change makes it more important than ever that websites are fully optimized for localization in order to show up within these search results.
With voice search becoming a modern-day staple in many people's lives, you no longer can ignore this trend when making edits to your website or digital strategy. The number of users is only going to keep growing as smart speakers and their technology continue to expand. If you have questions about any of these trends or about fully optimizing your website for voice search technology, contact the digital marketing specialists at Informatics today. We would love to help you get started.
