No matter how aggressively advanced computers are gaining a foothold on the market, our voices will always be the best communication tool. We’re born with the natural ability to communicate and interact with each other.
It’s thus no surprise how the capability of advanced AI systems of interpreting our voices has incredibly dominated the focus of large tech companies in the past few years.
However, the dedication to build smart machines, that can listen and communicate with us, has been going on for far longer – Voice recognition technology started in 2011 with the release of Siri on the iPhone 4s to gain traction among consumers.
Why Businesses Should Pay Attention to Voice Search Optimization
According to media analytics firm Comscore, by 2020, 50% of all searches will be voice searches. PwC reported 65% of consumers in the 25-49 age group speak to their voice-enabled devices at least once every day. Out of this number, almost 20% of the searches are to find local content and information. Mostly, it is about online shopping using voice searches. This is because:
- It allows them to multitask with ease.
- It allows them to do things within a stipulated time.
- It enables them to immediately get the right information.
- It can make their routine quite easy.
Whether you’re cooking something and need to check a recipe but your hands are covered in flour or driving on a highway, voice commands are a great tool as it’s a complete hands-free method to get local business information.
While using a mobile device, almost everyone can ask a question out loud faster than typing it.
As more and more people want to know the benefits of using voice search, it’s becoming a lucrative tool to simplify the search process and to quickly get information without hampering your daily routine.
Challenges Preventing Voice Search
Voice search is incredibly beneficial and positive development. It does have some obstacles standing in the way though. These are:
- Google does not allow the option of voice search filtering.
- Too many tech tweaks at once may cause changes in search behaviors.
- Directory errors may prevent users from finding the right content.
- No characteristic is predefined that can separate voice searches from typed ones.
- It has the problem of language support and regional accents
- There are privacy concerns
Is Voice the Future of Search?
Over the past few years, there have been many outlandish predictions made about voice search. Here are some audacious ones:
“More than half of the searches will be voice searches by 2020”;
“30% of web browsing sessions will be done without a screen by the end of 2020,”
“Voice shopping would jump to a whopping $40 billion by 2022”
The fact is it’s hard to predict the future because it’s guided by a variety of technological, political, social and economic factors. Privacy for example has been a major concern with tech in recent years. But technology has advanced increasingly more than ever before in human history. If one had said 20 years ago that one day people would be instructing computers and machines to turn up the heating in homes or to lock the front door, no one would have believed, but technological advances have made it possible. For now, the lest we can say with conviction is that as long as both technology and voice recognition continues to improve, voice search will keep getting more and more common, and possibly become more acceptable that searching on a screen.
Final Thoughts
In a nutshell, voice search experience has significantly changed the way businesses can connect and communicate with our audience. In the coming years, it is going to become an efficient method to improve user experiences and customer relationship management.
