Am I getting lazier or does typing really feel like too much effort these days?
Sometimes I’m just too tired or occupied to type, and this is where a simple “ok Google” or “hi Siri” summons your very own personal assistant.
We’re normally accustomed to typing our questions and fueling our shopping addictions with our trusty search engines, expecting quick answers and results with what we’re after. But with mobile technology and smart home devices evolving exponentially faster than we realise, using voice searches are even quicker and more convenient – we don’t even have to lift a finger.
Voice conducted searches make up for more than 20% of mobile search queries, gaining popularity with the launch of smart speakers in 2014. Voice commerce was a $1.8 billion USD retail segment in 2017 in America alone. By 2020, 50% of all searches are expected to be voice-based (across phones, laptops and smart speakers).
Enormous implications follow with the rise of voice search, as there is great potential and opportunity for digital marketers and e-commerce. Companies are quickly adapting and optimising their SEO strategy to maximise the potential of voice-based searches.
Some voice search optimisations include:
-Structuring website content to answer potential consumers’ questions, as voice searches ask in question format compared with keyword format in text-based searches
-Voice searches are more casual and natural, so companies have used long-tail keywords containing more specific keyword phrases to rank higher in voice searches
While there are great business opportunities with the rise of voice-based searches and more data available for marketers, many privacy concerns and issues have been raised by consumers.
Do you think voice commands are the future of search?
Or is it all hype with the well-marketed smart speakers by tech giants?
Drop your thoughts in the comments below!
And until then I’ll see you in the next bLAWg post!
“The future cannot be predicted, but futures can be invented.” – Dennis Gabor
bLAWg 
How can digital marketers best take advantage of the move towards voice search?
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Digital marketers can best take advantage of this growing segment through optimising their SEO strategies to include voice search: for example structuring their website content in ways that will answer potential questions consumers may be asking through voice search or using more casual and natural key words that are more frequent in speech as opposed to text. Especially because voice search is still evolving and growing, getting on this early has big implications and potential prospects for digital marketers!
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I think there’s definite potential for voice commands to become a frequently used fixture in the future, but I think these privacy issues, particularly in the wake of the Facebook drama has impeded it’s growth for sure. Hopefully they can sort out a happy medium privacy-wise!
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With the rise of my smart technologies incorporating voice commands and integration with smart home devices, it seems to be a growing segment, however, I do agree with you and I think there needs to be some measures in place to find that happy medium of privacy!
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