How Voice-Activated Search Is Changing the Way People Use the Internet
How to Optimize Your Website to Respond to the Growth in Voice-Activated Search
Statistics show that one in three web searches on any given day are done without a screen, as users make spoken requests for information from a device. More than half of all consumers make a connection with a local business through voice-activated search. Analysts predict that by the end of 2021, sales of “smart speakers,” which are integrated with digital assistants, will surpass the sale of tablets. With Google’s voice-search technology supporting over 100 languages, voice-activated search is a global phenomenon.
The Explosive Growth in Voice-Activated Search
Here are a few statistics that underscore the dominance of voice-activated search in the digital marketplace:
- Voice-activated purchases are anticipated to total around $40 billion in the next 12 months—that’s nearly 20% of all consumer spending in the United States.
- Voice-based orders now account for about 20% of all grocery orders nationwide.
- More than half of all teens conduct a voice-activated search every day.
- Two of every three smartphone users have done a voice-activated search in the past year.
How Voice-Activated Search Differs from Text-Based Search
There are three principal ways that voice-activated search changes the way people get information online:
- The user has a greater choice of devices—Though mobile phones are generally enabled for search, more and more searches are being done through smart speakers such as Alexa and Cortana. In fact, those two smart speakers account for more than half of all searches by smart assistants. Both use the Bing search engine by default, not Google. Accordingly, at least with respect to smart speaker voice-activated searches, Google is not the top search engine.
- The search query tends to be longer with voice-activated search—Most people can talk much faster than they can type. Accordingly, voice-activated search queries average around 25 terms, much longer than text-based queries, where more than 80% contain three terms or less. The tone of voice-activated search tends to be more conversational, with more natural language.
- Voice-activated search tends to be popular for less-sensitive subjects—Studies show that people prefer to use text-based search when researching sensitive subjects, such as healthcare.
How Do I Optimize My Digital Marketing for Voice-Activated Search?
Voice-activated search requires a significantly different approach:
- Your emphasis should be on answering the questions posed, not on keyword density.
- You need to include “longer tail” keyword phrases to match the longer queries.
- Your pages should be significantly longer—some recommendations suggest a minimum of 2,000 words per page.
- When answering questions, keep the answers brief.
- The tone of your content should be natural and conversational, matching the search queries.
Let GetLegal Optimize Your Website for Voice-Activated Searches
At GetLegal, we have offered a broad array of digital marketing services and products to attorneys and law firms across the United States for more than two decades, including website development, custom content, search engine optimization, social media campaigns, reputation management, directory listings, and video production. To learn more about voice-activated search and how you can optimize your web presence to generate more traffic through voice-activated searches, visit https://glpbpro.wpengine.com/ or call 1-817-359-7077.
