Voice search technology is rapidly gaining popularity

As (online) Marketing Manager or CEO, you can't ignore voice search anymore. It is predicted that voice search e-commerce will exceed $40 billion in 2022. Not being prepared, or being part of voice search e-commerce is a missed opportunity that no one can afford.

The rapid growth of voice search

Technology is changing fast. By the end of 2019, 60% of all Smartphone users had used voice search one or more times. 55% of all young people use the voice search function daily. It means that all technology companies have to put a lot of effort into this.

We know that voice search is easier and faster than typing something. The question is therefore not whether, but when typing to find something will become a thing of the past.

How does voice search work?

Voice search is nothing more than a regular search but based on your voice. The Smart device converts your voice into text, and the search engine presents the desired results in text or spoken language.

It turns out that voice searches are slightly different from typed searches.

It is mainly because a voice search contains fewer or no spelling mistakes.

Another difference is that with a voice search, we are more inclined to search in other languages as well. We speak another language more easily than we can write in that language.

A further difference is that voice searches contain more words than typed searches.

What do we search for with voice search?

The type of topics searched for with voice search is as versatile as a regular search. The difference is that 20% of searches start with only 25 different words. The main words a search begins with are: what, how, best, where, easy, when, why, can, top, is, and the.

With what can you do a voice search?

Currently, the most commonly used voice search device is the Smartphone. But it won't stay that way for long. Manufacturers such as Google, Amazon, Xiaomi, and Apple are the most prominent producers of Smart Home Speakers that are rapidly conquering the living room.

It allows you to do any voice search from the comfort of your couch, after which you will get the results back in spoken words.

Other devices are the SmartWatch, Smart TV, and of course, your computer or laptop. Searches via computers and laptops are still mainly dominated by text, but the expectation is that by the end of 2022, this will also be mostly voice searches.

Voice search trends

• More than 50% of searches will be a voice search in 2020.
• 30% of all searches will be without a screen in 2020.
• Only 6% of all (e-commerce) companies actively anticipate to voice search. The rest will be hard to find in the short term by voice search.
• Google is not yet entirely suitable for voice search. It is expected that Google will be able to support 80% to 90% of voice searches in 2020.
• In 2020, voice search will only work as desired in the top 10 most spoken languages. The less often a language is spoken, the less accurate the search and the results will be.
• In 2020, most voice searches will take place at home in the living room (52%). The bedroom (25%) and kitchen (22%) are ranked at number 2 and 3.

How can you support voice search?

The most significant difference between a voice search and a text search is how the content on your site is found and ranked. In recent years, most content managers understood that the so-called keywords in your content determined whether or not your website or page would be found. Sentences didn't have to run smoothly, as long as Google found the right keywords.

With a voice search, semantics becomes much more important. The text has to be written in a natural way as you would speak to someone. It means that probably more than 90% of current websites need to completely rewrite their informative texts and product descriptions to rank high in Google voice search.