How to Optimize Your Website for Voice Search in 2021: Statistics, Facts, and Tips to Help Your Website Convert

In 2021, voice search technology is here to stay. Businesses who aren’t considering voice search in their SEO strategy are likely to be losing out on clients and conversions. 

What is Voice Search? 

Voice search refers to the process of devices using artificial intelligence to search the web based on speech. In other words, instead of typing in a search query, the user speaks it out loud. 

Voice search is included as an inbuilt feature on most smartphones released in recent years, and certain device-connected apps, such as Google Home and Amazon Echo, bring voice search to the entirety of the home. 

Related: A Guide to Optimizing your Website for Voice Search

What Search Engines Does Voice Search Use?

The search engine used for voice search depends on the device, app, or virtual assistant being used. The most popular voice search technologies operate using three main search engines. 

Google. 

Google Home and Google Assistant, in addition to voice searching technologies included on Android smartphones, use Google to complete voice search queries. 

Bing. 

Amazon Echo (Alexa) does not use major competitor Google’s search engine, but instead indexes the internet for results using Bing. Microsoft Cortana also uses Bing. 

Safari.

Siri, the virtual assistant associated with iOS and other Apple products, uses Safari for voice search queries. 

Due to the use of different search engines by different devices, you can ask Alexa, Siri, and Google the same question and come up with three different answers. Most SEO efforts focus on optimizing results for Google, but it is important to consider rankings in other search engines if you hope to harness voice search to your advantage. 

Google is undeniably the most advanced search engine, and consistently shows itself to be a user favorite, with 86.6% of global search engine traffic occurring through Google. With at least 40 million people in the United States alone using Amazon Echo and almost 200 million Americans using iPhones, it is important to optimize your website and content for Bing and Safari, too. 

How Popular is Voice Search?

The user base for voice search technology is continuously growing. Here are some statistics to demonstrate the prevalence of voice search in 2021. 

• 22% of people report using voice commands at least once per day while driving. 
• Experts project that 55% of American households will own smart speakers by 2022. 
• Of individuals who do not own a smart device, 34% are interested in purchasing one. 
• 65% of Americans between the ages of 25 and 44 use voice assistants at least once per day, making them the most active age group when it comes to voice search technology.
• 52% of households with voice activated devices keep them in the living room. 
• 65% of people who own a smart speaker say that they can’t imagine going back to not having access to one.

You might not hear about voice search technology in the news as much as in previous years, but that’s because it has become a normal part of everyday life and is here to stay. 

What Do People Use Voice Search For?

A survey conducted by NPR in the spring quarter of 2020 provides valuable insight into what voice search is used for. Voice search users harness the technology to complete a variety of queries, which vary from device to device.

Smart speaker (such as Google Mini or Amazon Echo) users were asked if they performed different types of search queries in a typical week. 

• 85% reported asking their smart speaker to play music.
• 74% reported asking their smart speaker for a weather forecast. 
• 65% reported using their smart speaker to set an alarm or timer. 
• 62% reported asking their smart speaker for the time. 
• 45% reported using their smart speaker to listen to an AM or FM radio station
• 42% reported using their smart speaker to set reminders.
• 32% reported using their smart speaker to make a phone call.
• 31% reported asking their smart speaker to help them find local businesses. 
• 28% reported asking their smart speaker for a traffic report.
• 18% reported using their smart speaker to order food. 

Smartphone users used voice search for the same tasks at different rates: 

• 58% reported asking their smartphone’s voice search assistant for a weather forecast. 
• 51% reported asking their smartphone’s voice search assistant to play music. 
• 47% reported using their smartphone’s voice search assistant to set an alarm or timer. 
• 46% reported using their smartphone’s voice search assistant to make a phone call. 
• 40% reported using their smartphone’s voice search assistant to check the time. 
• 39% reported using their smartphone’s voice search assistant to read or respond to a text message. 
• 38% reported asking their smartphone’s voice search assistant to help them find local businesses. 
• 36% reported asking their smartphone’s voice search assistant for a traffic report. 
• 30 % reported using their smartphone’s voice search assistant to play an AM or FM radio station. 
• 24% reported using their smartphone’s voice search assistant to order food. 
• 21% reported asking their smartphone’s voice search assistant to set a reminder. 

How Does Voice Search Affect SEO?

Aside from considering more search engines than just Google, voice search requires some tweaks or additions to your SEO strategy to reap the full benefits. 

Voice searches lead to more phone calls. 

Another reason why it is so essential to optimize your business’ online presence for voice search is because customers who use voice search are more likely to call you. In fact, 28% of consumers report that their next step, after voice searching, is to call the business they searched for. 

It is well established that phone calls are correlated with conversion, converting as many as fifteen times as often as web leads. 

Voice search queries are structured differently than traditional search queries. 

The way that people search out loud is different from the search queries they type into a search engine. Most importantly, voice searches tend to be phrased as questions. 

For example, someone might type “personal injury attorney near me” into Google, but they are more likely to ask “Who is the best personal injury attorney near me?” out loud. While this is a subtle difference, optimizing your content for a more conversational style of searching will improve your voice search outcomes. 

The top three words in voice search queries are “how,” “what,” and “best.” This is important to keep in mind when adapting your website copy for voice search. 

Local search queries are more prevalent. 

People tend to ask their voice assistants for information specific to their local area, making it even more important to optimize your website and content for localized results. Since local searches account for almost half of all web searches anyways, this should already be a part of your SEO strategy. Make sure you are: 

• Working on your Google Maps ranking. 
• Ensuring that your name, address, and phone number are listed correctly on your website. 
• Keeping the information in your Google My Business profile accurate, and managing your Google My Business, Yelp, and Facebook listings. 
• Using your location as well as “near me” in your title tags, meta descriptions and internal links. 

If you are looking for a Google voice search expert for your business who can help your local SEO efforts, contact KISS PR local SEO expert.