Do people use voice search?

We read an article recently that said 27% of people worldwide are using voice search, which we thought was quite high. Now I know many of us may have a smart speaker or Siri on our smart phones but are we using them for their voice searching capabilities or just asking them to play our favourite song?

So, what is voice search you ask?

Voice search is a technology that allows users to search for information via voice commands. Instead of typing a question into a search engine, you can now ask your device to conduct a search for you, through voice recognition. For example, ‘what was the best rated Christmas advert in 2020?’

Do people actually use voice search?

We’ve seen a number of articles online relating to voice search and how often it’s used. For example in Googles latest study, they found that 55% of teens used voice search compared to 41% of adults. However, what was clear from the data, was that it was mainly being used for voice commands i.e. call someone or play a song and not actual searches.

In another article it was noted that 58% of people have used voice search to find information about a local business and 72% of people who use voice search claim it has become part of their daily routines.

Although the common factor between the articles is that voice search is on the rise, it’s still not clear just how many people are using it on a day to day basis and in the way we expect. So, we thought the best way to find out for sure was to conduct our own research.

We have put together a short survey directed at a UK based audience to collect our own data. The survey has been created to allow us to collect data on how many people use voice search, how often they use it and what for.

You can help by filling out our short voice survey here: https://www.questionpro.com/t/ARcApZjgxH

Should we be optimising for it?

As a digital marketing company, we want to ensure that our customers are achieving the best possible search results. Therefore, it’s important to ensure that the information potential customers are looking for is easily found and readily available for smart devices too. If your Siri or Alexa are unable to provide answers from your website for a simple search query, then it may turn potential customers away.

It is important to note that when users ask a question via voice search, they tend to ask it in a lengthier way. That is because when people speak, they tend to be more descriptive. For example, a typed search might be ‘digital marketing agency near me’ but a voice search might be ‘what are the best digital marketing agencies near me that have a paid social service?’ Therefore, to make sure your content is ranking for voice search too, you will need to ensure that your campaigns revolve around longer keyword search strings.