‘OK, Alexa. Find a repair shop nearby’
By Angie Chabot, AAM
Do you use voice-enabled commands on your phone? Do you have a smart device in your home? According to the latest editions of NPR and Edison’s Research’s “Smart Audio Report,” more than 60 million people in the United States over age 18 owned at least one smart speaker by the end of 2019. Even more interesting is the fact that households with a smart speaker actually own an average of 2.6 devices — making a total of 157 million smart speaker devices in use.
Other research shows that by the end of 2020, approximately half of the searches done on the Internet will be made via voice. Currently, approximately 41 percent of adults use voice search at least once a day.
Ease of use is the obvious draw for anyone searching: instead of typing, you simply speak to your device to find what you want. Which brings us to your business’s website. Is your website optimized for this next tsunami of search? If not, what are you waiting for?
Google Prefers Voice
Search behemoth Google is encouraging web designers and developers to optimize sites for voice search, so it only stands to reason that its search algorithm will soon be giving preference to sites that have adopted voice search standards. Understand that when someone uses voice search, only one result comes back for the query — something experts are calling “position zero.” Your mission is to ensure your business’s website gains that coveted position zero spot in your market. (read more)
