Voice search is growing, a statement appearing time and time again throughout the web. It has fundamentally changed the way people search and it’s here to stay.
With a simple command, users can conduct searches for information, products, services and local businesses.
It’s such a hot topic that our Head of Search and Strategy Stuart Shaw spoke at one of the UK’s largest SEO conferences a few weeks ago to talk about the details of voice search[1] and why it’s important for brands.
While voice isn’t likely to surpass traditional search any time soon, it has spurred us to explore how local businesses can optimize, adjust their marketing strategies and understand the potential voice search could have on their bottom lines.
The opportunity for local businesses
To get information about a local service near to us, we pull out our phones and we search for it:
- ‘Plumbing services near me’
- ‘Local pizza delivery’
- ‘What are the opening times for…’
- ‘Is so and so open today?’ etc.
In fact, a recent study by Brightlocal highlighted that 53% of people owning smart speakers such as Amazon’s Alexa & Google Home are performing searches like these for local businesses every day in the US:
Putting that in context for the UK
A recent YouGov study[2] showed that people in the UK owning a smart speaker had doubled between Q3 2017 and Q1 2018 to 10% of the total population.
A study by radiocentre[3] predicted that this growth could reach as high as 40% by the end of 2018.
Looking a little deeper, we could say