Voice search is growing, and sites that aren’t optimized for voice will lose out as a larger portion of the market adopts this new feature. In a new study released by Uberall, a location marketing company, it’s been found that 21% of all people using search are using voice search on a weekly basis.
How often are people using voice search?
The study reports that 21% of people who participated are using voice search every week. Of those, 11% are using voice search at least once a week, and about 10% are using voice search every single day. The number of people who have never used voice search sits at 57%, which is a larger percentage of users. However, this percentage is shrinking as time goes by.
The study pointed to a solid fact when it comes to voice search: you are either using it frequently, or you aren’t using it at all.
When the study participants that don’t use voice search were asked why, they responded that they aren’t used to it (23.2%), that they don’t feel its more efficient that using regular search (19.7%), or that they don’t feel that either the voice search or the results they receive were accurate enough to continue using the feature (13.5%).
When asked if they felt voice search would become more important in the future, 60% said yes.
Voice Search: What are people using it for and where?
The study gave a nod to home assistants like Alexa. The participants who used voice search often reported that most of them are using it as follows.
- In their house (37%)
- In their car (34%)
- While walking from one place to another (11%)
The most common use for voice search was looking up locals business info. This is a big deal for those who still need to optimize their site for local search. Among the study participants, 48% are using voice search to look up local business info at least part of the time.
What does this mean for Local SEO? According to the data, businesses can leapfrog their competition. Start offering promotions, deals, or sales that are linked to voice search.
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