Voice Search: Mightier than keyboard

As per statistics, almost a quarter of millennials and gen-z have already begun to start their day with a rosy “Hey Alexa!” or “Hello Siri!”

Voice Search is heralded as the next big thing considering the exponential increase in its usage within a very short span of time. Voice technology is fundamentally changing how people interact with technology, and making our interactions as human as possible.

For businesses which have been operating in a certain way for so long, it becomes imperative to keep a close watch on the trends in this space and see if they can find a window of opportunity to come closer to their potential customers.

Here are five interesting voice search trends which are going to pick up even more pace in 2020:

1.      The ‘Where is’ and ‘Near me’ Query

More than anything else, Voice search will dominate the local search trend- which is evident by the fact that people are relying more and more on virtual assistants for giving them directions or to help them narrow down on the best place to go out on a date. Stats show that people are 3 times more likely to search locally when using voice search over typing.

What does this imply for businesses: While updating local information is recommended even for text-based searches, it becomes even more critical in case of voice search as businesses in vicinity will preferably get more business from people in the proximity (especially because people have begun searching on the go and prefer using voice search while driving) 

2.      New Keywords

While it’s obvious, we may ignore the fact that people don’t use the same words for searching while speaking as they use while typing. The way a question is asked becomes extremely important to understand the results that would be shown for this question. Instead of earlier two-three word searches, the consumer queries will be much longer now, which means long-tail keywords would be the paddles you need for your boat.

What does this imply for businesses: A complete review of the current SEO techniques would be necessary to determine whether you are using enough long-tail conversational keywords.

3.      E-commerce driven by Voice Search

While, this trend is only slowly picking up, one in five customers have made a voice-based purchase through a digital home assistant. Figures vary but a significant number of voice-enabled speaker owners have asked their smart speaker to add an item to a basket- likely with the intent of finalizing the purchase later. Seems like this voice-assisted purchase trend is only going to increase in the coming years as people get more comfortable with digital assistants and it becomes a part and parcel of their lives.

What does this imply for businesses: People would prefer to use voice search for repeat purchases, and low-value items in the near future, groceries being the most commonly searched category.

4.      AI & ML driven ‘Learn and Adapt’ approach

Search engines driven by AI can learn and better predict outcomes by identifying intentions behind a user’s query rather than focusing on words and phrases. This means by understanding search patterns, AI might be able to identify whether you are searching for a product to gift to someone or if it is a regular product that you buy for yourself frequently and will identify the best possible website/app for you based on its credibility.

Aiming to deliver a better user experience, the rising number of AI-powered devices is compelling search engines to turn to machine learning-based algorithms to maintain relevance.

What does this imply for businesses: This means no need to stuff your website with keywords- a minimum density with high credibility useful content is what you need. Focus on making sure that your page delivers real value to the customer consistently which will make sure your rankings go up automatically. 

5.      Voice-enabled chatbots

Text-based chatbots have already flooded the industry and we are soon going to see many businesses use voice-enabled chatbots for internal as well as external searches. If implemented well, this will help in delivering faster customer service with better two-way interaction.

What does this imply for businesses: Businesses will be expected to provide customer service 24/7 and delays will no more be tolerated. Businesses will be able to cater to their customers with the help of voice enabled chatbots and solve less complex queries without human assistance.

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Any other voice search trends that you foresee in the near future? Feel free to add your opinion below!