Voice Search Has Changed the Nature of Search

It’s safe to say there are three things we really love to talk about at Advice Local – local business listings, Google Business Profile – and voice search. Since Google Business Profile (formerly known as Google My Business) has been the hot topic for us the last several weeks, we thought we’d mix it up and discuss voice search – specifically voice apps for small businesses.

Popularity of Voice Search

Over the last few weeks we’ve had quite a few partners contacting us to inquire about our voice app technology. Voice search has been gaining popularity since 2016 (and even before that). Here’s some data to back this app.

• In fact, Mary Meeker revealed in the 2016 Internet Trends that Google Voice Search Queries were up. They were up 35x compared to 2008, and up 7x over 2010.
• Her 2017 Internet Trends revealed 20% of mobile searches were via voice, and 70% of voice queries were in natural/conversational language. Yes, people were already talking to their voice assistants like they were buddies way back in 2017.
• Then, the 2018 Internet Trends revealed that the Amazon Echo user base grew by 30 million, Alexa had increased by more than 30,000 skills – and Google’s Machine Learning word accuracy was at 95%. This was in 2018.
• Meeker’s last published report, the 2019 Internet Trends, revealed that the Amazon Echo user base had grown to 47 million, and skills had increased to 80,000 – more than 2x the previous year.

We can only imagine how much the Amazon Echo user base would be today.

Image Credit: Perficient

Mobile Voice Search Usage

A study by Perficient of 1,123 users on mobile voice search usage in 2020 revealed that 4% used voice search more than 10 times per day while driving, and 5% used it 6–10 times per day while driving. Finally, 19% used mobile voice search a few times per week while driving.

This means people are not just sitting at home using their Amazon Echo to perform voice search queries. Users are on-the-go, counting on the Google Assistant, Alexa and Siri to:

• Help them decide where they want to eat
• Give directions to where they want to go
• Find the closest oil change place
• Provide information like business hours or services offered

This Is Where a Voice Search App Comes In

It’s not easy for a business to manage the information related to their business online. They need to:

1. Make sure their NAP (name, address & phone number) is correct in online directories
2. Submit their business to in-dash navigation and mapping apps
3. Manage their Google Business Profile, Bing & Yelp listings
4. Make sure they can get found by voice assistants

At Advice Local, we not only make it easy for our local marketing and agency partners to provide all the services listed above to their local business clients, but we also have voice app creation technology for small businesses.

We Make Voice Apps for Small Businesses Simple

We’re not sure if you know this or not, but we created the first-of-its-kind Voice Search Readiness Score – and we’re one of the first to integrate a conversational voice app solution within our technology. We also have voice profile technology on our directory Judy’s Book – and voice markup available for every active business listing in our listing management solution.

When it comes to voice search optimization, we know what it takes to help our partners better serve their local business, brand and franchise clients. Request a demo today online or call (214) 310-1356 to learn all about our voice search solutions.