The hype around voice search continues. How many people will switch to it, how will this affect SEO?
We already wrote on this topic in the article:
How will voice queries help in SEO?
In 2018, voice search was one of the hottest topics in the SEO community. The popular Wordstream article lists several voice search statistics, starting with misinterpreted Comscore statistics, according to which by 2020 50% of search queries will be performed using voice. It turns out that this statistic was associated only with voice search in China. Despite the inaccuracy in the United States and in the world market as a whole, this quotation affected the SEO industry and pushed digital marketers into desperate preparation.
Now, marketers are skeptical that voice search can lead to catastrophic shifts in our marketing strategies. In April, at the BrightonSEO conference, speaker John Muller from Google said the following:
“I see that people use voice search. Obviously, these voice interactions are becoming more common. But at the moment I do not know what we will do with these [indicators]. If you knew on your site there are answers that receive voice requests, what could be changed? I think that for the most part, if you make a site so that the information is easily accessible and useful for search engines, as well as for users, you do not need to do anything special for voice search. ”
How many people actually use voice search and how do they use it?
Using voice search
According to a survey of Path Interactive, 600 people: 70% of respondents reported that they use voice search at least several times a week. 27% of respondents use voice search 1-3 times a day.
The stratification by respondent age reveals some interesting trends. The age group with the most intensive use of voice search is at the age of 65 and older. 88% of respondents aged 65 and older use voice search at least several times a week. 50% of users over 65 say they use voice search 1-3 times a day! For companies targeting this age group, voice search must find its place in their marketing strategy.
Interestingly, the age group just under 55 years old had the lowest voice search usage rates among all respondents, with 32% of respondents indicating that they rarely or never use voice search. Perhaps this age group is more accustomed to searching using screens, whereas the most adult age group is less friendly with technology and prefers the simplicity of voice search and interaction via voice commands.
The youngest respondents (13-18 years old) represent the second largest category of voice search users, with all respondents in this group claiming to use a voice at least several times a month, and 40% of respondents indicated that they use this search more than 3 times a day. If this trend continues, we can certainly expect voice search to be much more common among future generations. For marketers targeting young users, this represents a large area of opportunity.
Based on this, SEO specialists need not be afraid of voice search, and look for opportunities to adapt to the requests of the category of people for whom this search function is preferable.
In turn, the company Futureinapps reminds that it is engaged in SEO website promotion on Google and Yandex search.
