8 New Voice Search Trends & Predictions for 2024 You Should Be Thinking About

People have been typing text to search online over the past several decades. But since it’s natural for people to talk than to type or click, voice search trends are becoming significant. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, touchless technologies like voice-activated assistants help reduce or eliminate touch points and thereby increase safety.

With the expanding dominance of smartphones, voice search has been steadily growing. Voice is practically changing how people interact with technology, especially the increasing preference to talk with digital devices. This, in turn, is fundamentally changing online search as we know it.

To take advantage of its growing popularity, businesses and SEO strategists must identify emerging trends in voice search statistics. So we’ve gathered key emerging trends in voice search so you’ll know how to adjust and leverage these ongoing changes.

What are the key benefits of voice search for businesses?

Voice search rapidly transforms the digital landscape, offering significant business advantages across industries. Here are some key benefits of voice search for businesses:

• Improved Customer Experience: Voice search enables customers to quickly and conveniently access information, improving overall satisfaction. It allows users to interact with brands more naturally, which is increasingly essential in today’s fast-paced world.
• Increased Visibility: With the rise of voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant, businesses can enhance online visibility. Optimizing for voice search increases the chances of appearing in voice search results, giving companies an edge over less optimized competitors.
• Better Engagement: Voice search results are often directly tied to specific product details, locations, and services. This provides businesses a valuable opportunity to engage with potential customers in real-time, driving action and conversions.
• Local Search Optimization: Voice search is often used for local queries, such as finding nearby restaurants, stores, or services. Optimizing for voice search allows businesses to capture these local opportunities, driving foot traffic and increasing sales.
• Faster Decision Making: Voice search lets users quickly obtain answers, accelerating their decision-making process. Businesses that provide clear, concise, and accessible information through voice search are more likely to capture customer interest and drive conversions.
• Enhanced Marketing Opportunities: Voice search opens up new marketing strategies, such as integrating voice-activated ads or promotions. This offers unique ways to engage consumers and build brand loyalty.

How did voice search become popular?

The growing use of voice search can be traced to one technological tool and two smart devices. That tool is the digital voice assistant, while the devices are the smartphone and the smart speaker. In recent years, people have become increasingly fond of using digital voice assistants because of their novel usefulness.

Smartphones typically have at least one digital voice assistant. And with the increasing use of mobile phones comes the same rise in digital voice assistant usage.

The growing global sales of smart speakers like Google Home and Amazon Echo is also fuelling the popularity of digital voice assistants. And you guessed it right, every smart speaker has a built-in digital voice assistant.

Today, voice search is becoming the preferred online search method. A recent report revealed that in 2020, 63% of Americans have utilized a voice-operated assistant using devices such as their smartphone, household appliance, laptop, and TV (National Public Media, 2020).

Moreover, as people looked for other forms of communication during the pandemic, usage of voice assistants grew by 7% worldwide (Aumcore, 2020). Among its top uses was to ask about illness symptoms as well as to ask about medical information.

It’s not that surprising that voice search will one day dominate the online search space. It’s more natural for people to talk. And using voice search is quick, intuitive, and informal.

Today, more and more consumers are depending on voice search as a more reliable option that gives faster results. Businesses are also fast catching up on this voice search dominance.

Voice searches are not the same as text-based searches. Aside from having contrasting input methods, information received via voice search is also presented differently. This is why businesses and marketers must modify their SEO strategies.

To highlight how voice search deviates from text search, here are the key voice search trends for 2021. Along with other upcoming technology developments, we’ve integrated critical voice search predictions to make your reading time more worthwhile.

1. Voice is mostly used for local search

Online search trends show voice search users are increasingly searching for local results. Just last year, 58% of consumers used voice search to find local businesses (BrightLocal, 2018).

This indicates that people are increasingly using voice search to help them locate nearby establishments or locations. Google says that searches for “near me” businesses have risen significantly over the past recent years (Think with Google, 2018).

This rise in local voice search opens the door for great opportunities for local businesses. 46% of such consumers will regularly use voice search to look for a local business, most likely on a daily basis (BrightLocal, 2018).

Local business is voice-search king

Starting in 2015, mobile searches had exceeded desktop searches and this has been instrumental in voice search growth. Mobile searches are mostly done using digital voice assistants.

Yes, digital voice assistants are reliable and very knowledgeable in many things. But they can only answer questions they’ve been programmed to know.

For local searches, they can only suggest from local SEO-optimized voice search entries. They only provide citations from trusted sources, which is how voice search works.

If you’re a local business owner wanting to capitalize on this voice search opportunity, you must optimize for local SEO. To be cited as a “trusted” source, you must have complete NAP: business name, address, and phone number (Zazzle Media, 2016).

To further ensure you’ll get ahead of your local competitors, it’s recommended to use essential solutions for small businesses.

2. Smart speakers drive voice search adoption

In 2020, it was found that 87.7 million American adults own a smart speaker—that’s 34.4% of the U.S. population (Voicebot.ai, 2020). Experts expect the number to grow further in the coming years with the implementation of 5G networks worldwide.

Their early use tends to lean more on the amusement side like asking fun questions (CNBC, 2019). However, today, the most common smart speaker requests have evolved to include playing music (85%), weather forecast (74%), and general online search (72%) (National Public Media, 2020).

Today, people are using smart speakers powered by significant voice technological innovations for more serious activities. These include managing their finances, researching flights or hotels, and ordering takeout.

From fun to Siri-ous things

More smart speaker users are turning to their devices to search online. As early as 2016, 40% of adults used voice search through smart speakers at least once a day (The Edit, 2016). In 2019, that figure had increased to 65% (PwC, 2018). By 2020, 25% of smart speaker owners find themselves using it several times a day (National Public Media, 2020).

Before, smart speaker owners were uncomfortable when speaking to these devices. As the number of smart speakers further rises, more people have become more accustomed to interacting with voice-activated tools.

As smart speaker sales continue to boom, expect voice search via these devices to increase accordingly. Hey Alexa, how can a business optimize for voice search (PwC, 2018)?

3. Voice search comes mainly from mobile locations

It’s easy to get engrossed by how powerful Siri, Cortana, and the rest of the gang had become. Yes, they’ve helped a lot in driving voice search adoption.

It should be noted, however, that in the larger scheme of things, smartphones will remain as the main driver of voice search.

Unlike text-based search, most voice searches are made when people are mobile. As early as 2016, Google reported that 20% of searches on its Android apps were done via voice search (Search Engine Land, 2016).

It’s no wonder Google has been expanding the availability of its voice search to a larger number of countries. At present, it is available in 119 languages and counting (Google, 2017).

Speech recognition gets recognized worldwide

Another crucial element in the expansion of voice search is speech recognition technology. In fact, at the core of voice search and other innovations we’re enjoying right now is speech recognition.

After several waves of milestone innovations since the late 1700s, speech recognition is finally coming full circle (Medium, 2018). Empowered by AI, machine learning, and big data, speech recognition is achieving extensive applications. One such deployment case is voice search.

Google’s speech recognition technology is now 95%, thanks to speech recognition (9to5Google, 2017). A few more improvements would result in further applications, some of which will likely be novel or even unplanned.

4. Voice AI and ML are learning fast

5. People are turning to voice for efficiency

The range of voice technology applications continues to expand (IEEE.org, 2018). From marketing and HR to mass transport to finance, voice technology is being deployed extensively. Aside from streamlining business processes and reducing costs, it provides significant efficiency.

If the use case is right, voice technology enables people to complete tasks quickly and easily. By being very helpful, highly efficient, and getting things done.

Overall, voice technology streamlines people’s lives in ways never before possible. One area that voice technology is simplifying significantly is voice search. However, this has initiated considerable shifts in SEO as we know it, prompting marketers to address these changes.

Voice search simply makes life better

On average, people can speak 125 to 150 words per minute (Visual Thesaurus, 2009). That’s over three times faster than the average typing speed. This is why leveraging this inherent human ability is providing beneficial results.

Efficiency is the most cited reason why people use voice. 76% of people who regularly use voice technology say that they find it very natural. Other top reasons for its use are because it is simple and faster than typing. Meanwhile, a more recent report also revealed that 68% of voice-operated assistant users say that these virtual assistants make life easier overall (National Public Media, 2020).

Note, however, that voice offers more than just efficiency. As such technology continues to achieve unprecedented advancements, it will likely expand its already important role in our daily activities. For instance, smart speakers have been used in the medical field to help COVID-19 patients keep in touch with their families and ask for help from nurses while maintaining a safe distance (Aumcore, 2020). Voice-powered devices are a definite must-have along with today’s top productivity suite tools.

Most Popular SEO Software

1. AgencyAnalytics. An SEO solution that helps marketers enhance their critical reporting and analytics efficiency. Learn more about this SEO tool in our AgencyAnalytics review.
2. Raven Tools. This SEO reporting platform designed to boost online marketing reporting. Discover how in this Raven Tools review.
3. BrightEdge. Uses its proprietary Data Cube tool to empower marketers to take advantage of the vast marketing data available on the Internet. For more information, read this BrightEdge review.
4. SE Ranking. Provides a robust collection of SEO tools for streamlining SEO-related marketing tasks. Read this SE Ranking review for more details.
5. UpCity. An online marketplace that uses a robust engine to help businesses promote themselves in the portal, including finding freelance marketing experts. In case you want to know more about this online platform, check our UpCity review.

6. Voice-enabled chatbots will continue to increase

As of January 2018, the average number of voice searches per month is 1 billion (Alpine.AI). Most of these queries go through voice-enabled chatbots. 

As voice recognition technology continues to advance in precision, vendors are deploying a string of new applications. This is why an increasing number of consumers are turning to voice engagement.

Today, almost half of consumers are using voice search devices at least once a day (Accenture, 2018).

Voice-based chatbots rock!

Voice-enabled applications, especially in their stand-alone form factor, are leading the way in the integration of the digital and physical worlds. This integration is producing a wide array of related services that aim to provide a seamless user experience.

Easily accessible and highly interactive, voice-based chatbots and related services are creating amazing value to consumers and businesses.

Some of the benefits that voice-based chatbots provide include:

• Voice AI enhances customer insights
• All text and no voice is monotonous
• Faster responses and zero wait time
• Better two-way interaction
• Better customer experience
• Increased productivity using multitasking
• 24/7 availability
• Fraud detection

All businesses should take advantage of how consumers use voice-based chatbots. One way to do so is by deploying chatbots in customer service.

7. Human behavior is changing due to voice technologies

Using voice search is changing how people behave in their daily lives. For instance, voice search technology enables people to multitask in ways that weren’t thinkable previously. 

This new multitasking capability per se is generating a new generation of unique human behaviors (PwC). Many voice device users today, for instance, are asking for flash briefings–a review of the key headlines of the day–in their daily morning routines. 

It’s also common to request a radio station to play while cooking, and ask for directions while driving to an event.

How do people use voice search today?

Every day, 32% of people aged 18-64 use voice search (PwC). And around half of this group (52%) use voice search while driving. This growing behavioral change offers a host of possibilities and questions, especially for commercial purposes. For instance, retailers are adopting voice technologies to enable customers to order or search for products without touching on-screen kiosks. These solutions will address consumer discomfort with touching public kiosks in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic (RetailWire, 2020). 

One interesting question that businesses should ask about this is: What is the most common query that people search for while driving? They’re looking for local services.

This is why our unanimous choice for the top voice search trend is local business search. Local businesses are truly the most affected by the voice search revolution (Search Engine Land, 2018).

Anyways, here are the top 5 ways voice search is changing human behavior (Think with Google, 2018):

• It makes life easier
• It’s at the center of the home
• It’s part of the daily routine
• It offers a new, more human relationship with technology
• It’s a new playground for brands.

8. It’s part of the emerging Conversational AI

Voice search disrupts the previously-stable text-based search order. It should be noted, however, that voice search is only a part of the larger revolution called conversational AI (IoT for All, 2018) . This bigger shift covers the entire technological innovation that aims to allow people to quickly receive the answers they need.

Perhaps unknown to some, conversational AI is the very force that’s changing the behavior of consumers. Still, voice search assumes a critical role in the larger scheme of obtaining solutions at the fastest time possible.

At the core of conversational AI is natural language processing (Medium, 2018). This technology that powers voice search, if sufficiently harnessed, is quite astonishing. None of the major technology firms such as Google and Microsoft have mastered NLP yet.

Search engines are busy looking for answers

SEO marketers are now turning to answer engine optimization (or AEO) to better engage with search engines to get the answers that match searcher’s queries (Hill Web Creations, 2018). Search engine marketers can take advantage of the possibilities that conversational AI and AEO offer people’s unceasing need for information.

Conversational AI for voice-based searches has different aspects from text-based queries. Most text-based searches typically have one to three words. On the other hand, voice searches generally have four to six words. This conversational span offers more clues necessary for understanding the searcher’s intent.

While voice search offers the information, the “assistance” that conversational AI provides constitutes the more substantial help. This level of assistance embodies the complete benefit that technology aims to provide people.

What should you do with these voice search trends?

These trends offer numerous implications for both consumers and businesses. The ongoing shift that favors voice search points to several factors, but the most basic is because people are born to talk, not to type.

Most voice searches involved inquiries for local businesses and they came about due to the rise in global mobility. Businesses must optimize their online presence and brand information to take advantage of these trends.

The rising global adoption of smart speakers and the benefits that voice-based chatbots offer are instrumental behind voice search emergence. Likewise, voice technologies have changed people’s everyday lives and people use them because of the efficiencies they provide.

Voice-based machine learning and conversational AI will continue to advance further, thanks to the significant works of Google and other tech firms.

These voice search trends are indeed very disruptive. Does this mean goodbye to a text-based search?

On the contrary, the best SEO approach, in line with these changes, is to embrace both text and voice search optimization. Besides, the textual search will continue to exist and is not exiting anytime soon.

This way, you’ll experience the best of both worlds. Just like aside from knowing the latest trends, it’s also good to be on top of the latest voice search statistics, especially with the growth it is poised to take due to pandemic-related demand.

Key Insights

• Rise of Voice Search: Voice search is increasingly preferred due to its natural, quick, and intuitive nature compared to typing.
• Impact of COVID-19: The pandemic accelerated the adoption of touchless technologies, including voice-activated assistants, to reduce touchpoints and enhance safety.
• Dominance of Mobile and Smart Speakers: Smartphones and smart speakers drive the growth of voice search, with significant sales increases and widespread use.
• Local Search Focus: A significant portion of voice searches is for local businesses, necessitating local SEO optimization for businesses to be cited as trusted sources.
• AI and Machine Learning Advancements: AI and machine learning, exemplified by Google’s RankBrain, are enhancing voice search capabilities by understanding user intent and providing more accurate results.
• Efficiency and Convenience: Users turn to voice search for efficiency, with the ability to speak faster than type, and the convenience of multitasking while performing searches.
• Voice-Enabled Chatbots: The use of voice-enabled chatbots is increasing, providing enhanced customer interaction, faster responses, and better overall customer experience.
• Behavioral Changes: Voice technologies are altering human behavior, enabling new multitasking abilities and integrating seamlessly into daily routines.
• Conversational AI Integration: Voice search is part of the larger trend of conversational AI, which uses natural language processing to provide quick and accurate responses to user queries.

FAQ

1. What is driving the growth of voice search? The growth of voice search is driven by the increasing dominance of smartphones and smart speakers, the natural and intuitive nature of voice interaction, and the acceleration of touchless technologies due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2. How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted voice search adoption? The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of touchless technologies, including voice-activated assistants, as they help reduce or eliminate touchpoints, thereby enhancing safety.
3. Why is local search important in the context of voice search? A significant portion of voice searches is for local businesses. Local SEO optimization is crucial for businesses to be cited as trusted sources in voice search results, as users frequently search for nearby establishments and services.
4. How are AI and machine learning influencing voice search? AI and machine learning are enhancing voice search capabilities by understanding user intent and providing more accurate and relevant search results. Technologies like Google’s RankBrain use machine learning to improve search algorithms continuously.
5. What are the benefits of using voice search over traditional text search? Voice search is quicker, more natural, and allows for multitasking. People can speak faster than they can type, making voice search a more efficient way to perform searches.
6. How are voice-enabled chatbots changing customer interactions? Voice-enabled chatbots provide enhanced customer interaction by offering faster responses, better two-way communication, and a more natural interaction experience. They are increasingly used for customer service and other applications.
7. How is voice search changing human behavior? Voice search is enabling new multitasking capabilities, integrating seamlessly into daily routines, and making various tasks more efficient and convenient. People are using voice commands for a wide range of activities, from checking the weather to ordering products.
8. What is conversational AI, and how does it relate to voice search? Conversational AI is a broader technological trend that includes voice search. It uses natural language processing to provide quick and accurate responses to user queries. Voice search is a critical component of conversational AI, which aims to improve user interaction with technology.
9. Will voice search replace text-based search entirely? No, voice search will not replace text-based search entirely. Both search methods will continue to coexist. The best approach for businesses is to optimize for both text and voice search to reach a broader audience and maximize their online presence.
10. What should businesses do to leverage voice search trends? Businesses should optimize their online presence for local SEO, ensure their information is easily accessible and accurate, and embrace both text and voice search optimization. They should also consider integrating voice-enabled chatbots and staying updated on AI and machine learning advancements to remain competitive.

References:

1. Accenture (2018). Time to Navigate the Super MyWay. Retrieved from Accenture
2. Backlinko (n.d.). Google RankBrain: The Definitive Guide. Retrieved from Backlinko
3. Boyd, C. (2018). Speech Recognition Technology: The Past, Present, and Future.. Retrieved from Medium
4. Brown, A. (2016). The Simple Guide to Local SEO. Retrieved from Zazzle Media
5. Gray-Grant, D. (2009). Seven Ways to Write a Better Speech. Retrieved from Visual Thesaurus
6. Handley, L. (2019). More than 50% of people use voice assistants to ‘ask fun questions.’ Here’s what else they do. Retrieved from CNBC
7. Hill, J. (2018). The Transition to Google’s Answer Engine. Retrieved from Hill Web Creations
8. IoT for All (2018). What Is Conversational AI?. Retrieved from IoT for All
9. IEEE (2018). What Are the Benefits of Speech Recognition Technology?. Retrieved from IEEE
10. Kenwright, S. (2016). Location World 2016. Retrieved from The Edit
11. Kinsella, B. (2020). Nearly 90 Million U.S. Adults Have Smart Speakers, Adoption Now Exceeds One-Third of Consumers. Retrieved from Voicebot.ai
12. Kleinberg, S. (2018). 5 ways voice assistance is shaping consumer behavior. Retrieved from Think With Google
13. Li A. (2017). Google’s speech recognition is now almost as accurate as humans. Retrieved from 9to5Google
14. Moz (2015). What is Google RankBrain?. Retrieved from Moz
15. Murphy, R. (2018). Voice Search for Local Business Study 2018. Retrieved from BrightLocal
16. National Public Media (2020). The Smart Audio Report. Retrieved from National Public Media
17. O’Brien, H. (2020). The Growth of Voice and Smart Speaker Usage During COVID-19. Retrieved from Aumcore
18. Pitman, J. (2018). It’s time for local business to take voice search seriously. Retrieved from Search Engine Land
19. PwC (2018). Prepare for the voice revolution. Retrieved from PwC
20. PwC (n.d.). Consumer Intelligence Series: Prepare for the voice revolution. Retrieved from PwC
21. Shewan, D. (2017). RankBrain: A Primer on Google’s Artificial Intelligence Technology. Retrieved from WordStream
22. Stern, M. (2020). COVID-19 may push retailers to use voice assistants instead of touch screens. Retrieved from RetailWire
23. Van Esch, D. (2017). Type less, talk more. Retrieved from Google

By James Anthony

A senior FinancesOnline writer on SaaS and B2B topics, James Anthony passion is keeping abreast of the industry’s cutting-edge practices (other than writing personal blog posts on why Firefly needs to be renewed). He has written extensively on these two subjects, being a firm believer in SaaS to PaaS migration and how this inevitable transition would impact economies of scale. With reviews and analyses spanning a breadth of topics from software to learning models, James is one of FinancesOnline’s most creative resources on and off the office.