Nowadays, smart searching is the new revolution in digital technology. Once people used to wonder if voice-over is just a fancy thing. But now, you are always using it. You get into the car, turn on the Google map and ask for the directions. Want to know the weather conditions before you step out? Well, ask Amazon Alexa to give a brief about the weather.
So, the voice search is stealing the show. Once you become a smart speaker, you can readily ask search engines anything from anywhere without using your hand. Of course, when you speak for something then it is more comfortable than using your fingers. Younger people are enjoying the boons of voice search… Why?
- Voice searches provide results in 0.52 seconds and normal text searches take up to 2.10 seconds to get into the first byte. So, the smart speakers are 52% ahead of the average search results.
- When you speak, you say a longer sentence rather than when you type. On average, the voice search might have 20-30 words. So, you can explain your thoughts very clearly in voice searching. On the other side you just use short keywords when you text to search…
- If I take a picture of the website owner, they are also benefited from the voice search. How come? If they use the correct keywords and optimize them for the voice search coupling with FAQs, they are ready to rank higher in Google. This means you are highly competing and have more chances to win the Google featured snippet.
- Smart speakers are way smarter now. They can check out what’s good for them within a few seconds. What are the new trends, new local brick-and-mortar is always ready to explore with your one voice command. So, this is a win-win point for both the users and website owners. Local business and local queries are highly promoted in the voice search.
- Multiple language support is another boon for smart speakers. Voice search optimization allows the users and owners to have several languages. So, people don’t need to always stick to one language anymore. Local languages are supported.
So, voice search instead of type search is now almost an established thing. 50% of the searches online now are with voices by 2023. This 50% will increase prominently in the upcoming years.
Let’s break it down for you more clearly…
Voice search for users
- Easy to use
- Take no time
- Explaining the query on the full note
- Use of multiple languages
- Get to the local business on full fledge
- Can share the queries with others. For example, you are in the living room or in your bedroom but can query on behalf of your surroundings. So, voice queries are easy.
- Best for mobile applications cause it’s convenient.
Whether you are a big or small website owner, Voice search helps in
- Drive more traffic
- Make a place in Google featured snippet
- Optimizing voice searches lowers competition with others if you use it properly.
How to optimize your website for voice search?
It is important to crack the trends according to your user’s choice. So, if you’re an e-commerce site, blogger, seller, or service provider, you need to check on the voice search optimization hacks. Let’s break down the hacks:
- Appear with a conversational tone: Never go with the ordinary and instructive tone. Mention your users as “you” and then guide them to the content. In this way, they will find your content easier to read and deal with. It helps in overall SEO ranking. Don’t sound boring.
- Optimizing the long-tail keywords: For voice search, it is important to place the full sentence keywords that will meet the user’s query. In this, you will cover the voice search and rank higher in Google.
- More work on the FAQs: When you design a section of your website with the FAQs, you are creating more scopes for voice search optimization. Because the FAQs include a lot of questions and exact answers. So, work on FAQs throughout.
- Mobile-friendly websites: Most young people are now on their phones to search for something. It is said that 20-30% or more of voice searches are made with mobile phones. So, make your website visibility and content always handy to phone.
- Fastest website: Don’t walk at a slow pace. If you fail to load on time, you are out of the competition. If you take more than 2-3 seconds to load, your conversion will drop. So, make your website domain fast and secure.
- Tag your website with social media: It is important to tag your website with social media. Because now people love to make bridges between what they love and like with their personal accounts. So, if your site adds to the social media trend it will be easier to grab users.
- Adding the schema markup: It will help you to appear in the organic searches. Adding structured data to your website will help Google to cherry-pick your useful content relating to the user’s query.
- Get on Google Featured Snippet: 40% of the voice searches result from the featured snippet. Try to organize your website in such a way that it can find a top place in the snippet.
- Using the video tutorials: Try to add the video tutorial to your website and title them with the best name. In this way, people will find your content easier to catch and Google will also rank it.
Some of the popular voice search devices
Let’s learn about the popular voice search devices that assist you enjoy the voice searches and their outcomes…
| Name of devices | Starting year | User percentage | Best uses |
| Google Assistant | Started on May 16, 2016 | 36% | Mostly used for mobile and smart home applications. For example: taking the easiest route while driving, the command for smart home appliances, weather updates, and so forth. |
| Apple’s Siri | Started on October 4, 2011 | 36% | The ios users are dependent on Apple’s Siri for online inquiries, local business, translating text, finding movies, finding a location, checking on the weather, and others. |
| Microsoft Cortana | Started on April 2, 2014 | 19% | This Microsoft digital assistant helps the Windows user to predict anything, use online dictionaries, translations, and other digital tasks. It helps to perform the tasks. |
| Amazon Alexa | Started on November 6, 2014 | 25% | It leaves you as smart as you could be. You can ask anything from Alexa that is connected to the cloud connection. You don’t need cell phones to operate the Alexa. So, you can ask Alexa to play music, search for cooking recipes, smart home appliance operation, etc. Also, Alexa needs a power consumption system like a battery to operate |
Hence there are other options as well like Lenovo, Baidu, and Xiaomi voice assistant. These are used by nearly 1 % of people. However, the voice search devices noted above are mostly in use and the use is expanding further.
How does an automatic speech recognition system work?
So far, we know about the voice search and its equipment. Now it’s time to know how the system actually works. Automatic Speech Recognition(ASR) includes software that is capable of recognizing the voice of a human, then processing it inside, and then converting it into text.
Basically, it’s now a part of our daily life. From online, query, shopping, and health care to education, every aspect is using the ASR. Though we think that the innovation of this kind of system has appeared now, this system creation dates back to 1952. Bell Laboratory invented the Audrey system and this system could recognize the one-speaker digits.
With time the innovation in this field expanded and here we are. Now the speech recognition system is way forward and twigged with artificial intelligence. And thus enable people to enjoy a conversation-like inquiry. So, when the process starts, the system recognizes the voice of a human and then analyzes it, then comes up with the text version. Now the ASR has turned the system into Natural Language Processing( NLP). So, it’s all shaping up.
Now let’s head to the step-by-step process of how the ASR actually turns your voice into text…
- At first, the software detects the speech of the human.
- Then it heads to create the wave files for the speech
- The wave file then omits the surrounding noises and makes it clear for analysis.
- The wave file then is turned into sequences and the software heads to data analysis like statistical probability
- And then finally the statistical probability turns the sequences into one-by-one words and full complete sentences through in-detail analysis.
There might arise some challenges to recognize the speech accurately. But now ASR is evolving so much and training the AI to detect all sorts of errors. Now if the user is making any mistake while commanding, the AI will correct it with the detection and substitution process.
Voice search- The smart move
People are using this technology deliberately and the number of smart speakers is increasing and the use of voice search devices is also in parallel. From choosing a movie to going to the nearest hospital, voice searches go hand in hand. The ASR is buzzing loud and the websites are optimizing the Voice searches to the utmost. As a result, what’s happening? The voice search smart move is shaping online consumer behavior and taking the place of text searches!