Voice search changes the way we interact with our devices and access information. Nowadays, we often use them to find information online. It’s easier and requires less effort because the user speaks the command instead of typing it.
Speech recognition technology and software Power these searches and convert our spoken words into text. Artificial intelligence (AI) interprets text and uses natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) to produce desired results.
These searches are becoming more familiar to assistants like Siri or Google Assistant. For businesses, it offers the opportunity to optimize for voice search. Let’s look at current usage patterns to explore these opportunities.
Voice search usage and trends
Voice search is catching up with younger people. People between the ages of 25 and 49 interact with smart devices and speakers every day. The statistics below discuss growing usage and trends.
- 21% of people conduct voice searches on a weekly basis.
- From 2008 to 2016, the use of voice search surged, growing 35 times.
- Google breaks down language barriers with mobile voice search in more than 60 languages.
- Voice search answers are short, about 29 words.
- People ask questions in nearly 10% of voice searches.
- Voice accounts for 20% of mobile queries.
50%
In 2021, all searches are voice-based.
Source: LinkedIn
- In 2022, 27% of Google searches will come from voice.
- Voice search sales could reach $40 billion by the end of 2023.
- It is estimated that by 2024, there will be 8.4 billion voice assistant devices worldwide.
- By 2024, 80% of voice searches may sound more like natural conversations.
- Voice search is huge, with more than 4 billion digital assistants around the world.
- By 2023, annual voice shopping sales are expected to reach $80 billion.
- 40% of adults search on their devices every day.
- 50% of smart speaker users like to use voice commands to free their hands.
- By 2025, the speech recognition market size may reach US$26.8 billion.
Voice search in daily life and home usage statistics
Voice search is becoming a big thing. It’s like having a helper who listens to your voice and does things for you. You can ask your phone where the nearest coffee shop is and it will tell you where to go without you having to type anything.
The statistics below show how voice search helps users in their daily lives.
- Smart speaker users come up with about 11 different things every week.
- For more than half of users, talking to a voice-activated speaker feels natural.
- One in four people who own a smart speaker uses voice commands to shop.
- In 2021, nearly 90 million Americans own smart speakers.
- 34% of people who don’t own a smart speaker are considering buying one soon.
55%
of users search for local business information on smart speakers every week.
Source: SERPwatch
- In 2020, 30% of online browsing involved zero screens.
- It is expected that by 2027, the number of households using smart speakers will reach 93 million.
Voice search and local business statistics
Most consumers find voice search convenient when they are busy doing other things. More than half of people prefer to use voice search to make restaurant reservations. Many local searches on mobile phones are conducted via voice search.The following statistics justify the increased adoption of voice search by local companies
- Voice searches on mobile devices are three times more likely to yield local information than text searches.
- On the Windows 10 desktop, 25% of searches are done using Cortana’s voice capabilities.
- 50% of consumers prefer using voice search to discover local businesses.
- 82% of smartphone users use search engines to find local stores. 58% of users discover local businesses through voice search.
- After conducting a local search on mobile, 88% of people visit or call the store within a day.
- Local voice searches on smartphones have an 18% chance of leading to a purchase within a day.
80%
Searching for nearby products on mobile leads to in-store purchases.
Source: Mobar
- 27% of people view local business websites after a voice search.
- One in four people are willing to try voice search to find a local store.
- More than half of consumers have used voice to find local business information in the past year.
- 62% of people use voice to find local businesses while driving.
- Local content accounts for 22% of voice search queries.
- One-third of clicks on Google searches lead to “snack bags” in local business listings.
- Location-based voice search is critical for businesses in multiple locations—they receive 22% of voice queries.
- Reviews are important because they help with voice searches when it comes to local businesses. They can encourage people to spend 31% more.
- 52% of people use voice to research products or services.
- For local businesses, voice searches and good online reviews go hand in hand—27% of users go directly to a website after a voice search.
- 76% of smart speaker users inquire about local locations every week.
Voice search optimization and network status statistics
Google Home revealed that the voice search page loads in less than 5 seconds. Businesses are now building their content to make it easier to find via voice search.
Many Facebook shares and X (formerly Twitter) posts have become part of voice search results. Let’s look at what companies are doing to compete.
- Sites with structured data markup appear in more than 34% of voice search results. Some niche businesses are adding schema markup to their pages.
- 50% of answers to voice searches come from featured snippet boxes – like this one!
2,300 words
is the average size of web pages in voice search results.
Source: Backlinko
- The top voice search results are also typically the top 3 results for desktop searches.
- Dentist offices do the best job of optimizing for voice search. Consumer advocacy groups are the least optimized.
- Google’s speech recognition accuracy is 95%, which makes it easy for users to trust it.
listen to my voice
Spoken language is more conversational and natural than formula-based text queries. As a result, voice search queries are becoming longer and more question-based. For example, instead of typing “New York weather,” a user might ask “What’s the weather like today in New York?”
Businesses need to optimize their content for such queries so that they are sure to appear in voice search results.
Learn more about search engine optimization Increase your business’s overall visibility on Google searches.
