Digital Technologies

Is your business voice search ready?

If it is, you deserve a round of applause—a 2020 study found that only 4% of U.S. businesses with a physical location are voice search ready.

The reality is that you’re probably within the other 96%.

Considering 40% of adults depend upon voice search a day , you’ve got a drag if you’re therein 96%. Though this might seem to throw a wrench in your current program optimization (SEO) strategy, there are specific voice search SEO strategies your business can use to enhance your voice search readiness. From including keyword phrases that better suit voice search queries to nailing down exactly the way to approach local SEO, these changes to your current digital marketing strategy can bring the results you want—and get you into that 4%.

Want to understand the way to do it? Keep reading. But first, let’s get some things straight…

What Is Voice Search?

To keep it simple, voice search is voice recognition technology that permits people to perform searches by speaking into a tool . These devices range from smartphones and computers to home assistant devices, which we’ll discuss in-depth later. Google voice search queries have gone up exponentially over the years, so it’s crucial to know these developments and incorporate them into your digital marketing strategy.

How do consumers use voice search? 15 voice search statistics

The first thing to know about voice search is how people use it. With voice search on the increase , it’s important to stay up with the stats in order that you’re prepared for a way these advancements will change your industry. Here are a number of the main voice search statistics you would like to understand in 2020:

1. quite 66 million Americans now own a sensible speaker (TechCrunch, 2019)

2. 2019 research from BrightLocal found that about 75% of smart-speaker owners look for local businesses a minimum of once every week . More telling is that the sorts of searches conducted:

• 54% make food and drink reservations.

• 46% inquire about the worth of a particular product from an area business.

• 40% want to seek out out if a particular product is out there at that business.

• 35% book a beauty appointment.

• Google’s AI learned the way to be more conversational by consuming 2,865 romance novels. (Buzzfeed, 2019)

• Globally, smart speaker shipments grew nearly 200% YOY in Q3 2018. Amazon shipped the foremost devices, with Google close behind. Consumers are recognizing the worth obtained from voice’s user-friendly interactions (Strategy Analytics, 2019).

• 61% of these within the 25-64 age group say they’ll use their voice devices more within the future. The 18-24 demographic mirrors this trend, with 57% saying they’ll increase their voice device usage within the coming years (PwC, 2018).

• 71% of wearable device owners predict they’ll perform more voice searches within the future. Though wearable users are the foremost optimistic, tablet and speaker users aren't far behind (PwC, 2018)

• Out of the three .5 billion searches performed on Google a day , almost a 3rd of these are voice searches (TheeDesign, 2017).

• folks smartphone users, 71% of individuals between ages 18-29, 59% of individuals between ages 30-43, 39% of individuals between ages 44-53, and 38% of individuals ages 54+ use mobile personal assistants (Thrive Analytics, 2014).

• 60% of mobile personal assistant users are on the go when using them (Thrive Analytics, 2014).

• Voice search queries typically fall under four categories—30% general information, 27% personal assistant, 22% local information, and 21% fun and entertainment (Search Engine Land, 2016).

• Voice search queries are usually longer than text searches and characterized by a question—typically three to 5 keywords long and starting with who, what, when, where, why, and the way (Campaign, 2016).

• Over half voice search users expressed satisfaction with voice assistants, 38 there have been neutral, and 12% were dissatisfied (Search Engine Land, 2016).

• Some experts predict that 30% of web browsing sessions are going to be avoided a screen by 2020 (Gartner, 2016).

• consistent with comScore, 50% of all web searches are going to be voice searches by 2020 (Campaign, 2016).

• 60% of individuals use voice search reception , while 57.8% of individuals use voice search on their smartphones (Stone Temple, 2020).


Why Voice Search SEO Matters to Business Owners

Why Voice Search SEO Matters to Business Owners

Think about it: If your digital marketing strategy features a direct effect on your company’s success, and voice search use features a direct effect on your digital marketing strategy, then voice search trends will inevitably affect your business. Whether or not this may bring positive or negative results depends on how well you adapt your strategy to the changing landscape.

With voice search on the increase and Google’s new mobile-first index—which bases rankings off of the mobile version of a site rather than the desktop version—businesses got to adapt to the changing digital landscape. Exact match domains and other black hat SEO tactics are not any longer getting to cut it. Voice search improves the user experience of search engines—by being faster and more convenient—and provides more accurate results. this suggests that, if your website content is optimized (particularly for mobile use) effectively, your business might be the primary one a digital personal assistant suggests.

Let’s say you own a plumbing company during a fairly competitive service area—Fairfax, VA, for instance . If you are doing a typical Google look for “plumbers fairfax va,” this is often what you’ll see:

However, if a family returns to their home to seek out that a pipe has burst and flooded their floor, they'll do a voice search to seek out a plumber as quickly as possible. If your website features a lot of relevant, optimized content and authoritative web pages—such as an emergency pipe repair service page and a spread of in depth blog posts on pipe maintenance—you might be the primary company that comes up once they say, “Hey, Alexa, find a plumber near me who fixes burst pipes.”

Locking down a featured snippet (otherwise referred to as “position zero”) might be the key to being the go-to plumbing company in Fairfax suggested by a possible customer’s digital assistant of choice.