Search is constantly evolving.
In fact, it is evolving at such fast a fast pace that companies have built dedicated monitoring tools such as Algaroo and MozCast that actively monitor changes in search engine fluctuations.
What is Voice Search?
Recent technological developments have paved the way for a whole new breed of search: Voice Search.
With Apple’s Siri appearing as an added function for iPad Models, nowadays all major technology providers are jumping on the voice search band wagon.
This even includes companies that don’t necessarily specialise in search as its main product such as Microsoft and Amazon.
In fact, it is now almost impossible to avoid seeing adverts for hardware based voice assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa device or Google’s Home Assistant.
Why Is This Technology Growing In Popularity?
- They've been around for a few years now and people are getting used to them.
- They make great Christmas presents
- Voice assistants are more convenient for a user to speak with than to type
- They can do tasks that would normally require you to move about such as turning on the light, fan or thermostat.
- The technology is still in its infancy and as such, is still regarded as a novelty / gimmick.
- They can be synced up with apps such as Spotify / YouTube to play music and cast videos.
In fact, you only have to take a look at Google Trends (a tool used to show the popularity of a keyword) to see how this type of search has grown over recent years .
Trends in Australia for "Google Home" and "Alexa"
Trends in Australia for activating Google Home by saying "Hey Google"
So, How Does Voice Search Work?
The golden question. In a nutshell, voice search works by reading the results that is pulled in through a feature snippet (normally the top result in Google.).
Often known as position 0, rich snippets look a little like this :
When a question is asked by a user, voice assistants such as Google Home or Alexa will use the information from the rich snippet and read out the answer.
Summary
There is no denying that voice search is an intriguing yet a relatively unexplored area of search that presents amazing potential.
Many current strategies are being employed by companies in order to embrace this new channel to market products, goods and services.
With many current assistants being able to perform basic tasks such as play your favourite music, create reminders and even tell you what tomorrows weather forecast is, the technology has already started venturing out into slightly more amusing requests such as tell jokes, recite poetry or reply to silly voice commands.
With voice essentially deemed as the next frontier the possibilities for this type of technology is truly endless.
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