Voice Search

With ComScore projecting that “50% of all searches will be voice searches by 2020.”, it is safe to say that voice is the future. Speech recognition technology has only recently entered public consciousness, driven by the amusement of having a machine that can understand us.

Although there was a point when people typed keywords into search engines themselves, more recent developments in technology has led to a change of trends. This shift to voice search is being greatly driven by smart speakers such as Alexa or Siri. While research suggests that above 20% of the U.S. population already has access to these smart speakers, others are only becoming more intrigued to buy it as tech giants continually bring forth more appealing features.

Digital assistants like Siri and Cortana initially only existed in smartphones. However, this concept has been decentralized over the past few years as we experience an age of ‘hyper-adoption’ which suggests that consumers are now willing to adopt new technologies much faster than before. With every passing day, the shift to voice search will only accelerate.

While voice search has been around for many years as a smartphone feature, the primary focus today is on voice-activated home speakers. As they reside in a corner of a consumers living room, these speakers act as a gateway to the proliferation of smart devices. Home speakers can not only serve their primary purpose but also be used to control other devices such as lights, switches, TVs or thermostats. In addition, users will soon be able to control smart fridges, mirrors, and smoke alarms through this one central device.

In today’s modern world, technology has become genuinely useful in the accomplishment of daily tasks. Alongside assisting you with reminders, these voice-controlled devices can also be asked simple questions like what the weather will be like tomorrow and it will provide a short, spoken summary. Even though voice search technology is not perfect yet, speech recognition has reached an acceptable level of accuracy for most people.

It is safe to say that we are still at some distance from maximizing the use of speech recognition technology. Alongside further sophistication in the technology itself, it will also take some time for humans to learn to integrate this new development in their lives effectively. Although speech recognition remains confined to only a few selected devices, the rate of progress in this field is quite commendable.

At this point in the revolution, business owners must be quick in adopting new technological advancements. Since technology brings much change to the lives of people, it is highly important for brands and organizations to ensure that their websites are optimized for voice search. Search engine optimization (SEO) methods will face the impact of voice search technology as people search using different terms from specific keywords and tend to rely on natural language.

While it is safe to say that voice technology hasn’t already taken over the way we think, research suggests that it soon will. Technological developments have become much bigger and quicker than in the past, and the best way to survive in this advanced world is to integrate these technologies into our lives as quickly as possible.