Voice will kill the keyboard in fewer years than expected

By 2020, 50% of online searchers will use voice , tools that are increasingly present in the lives of consumers. But are companies really prepared for this voice revolution? This is what Alex Karnatowski , co-founder & SEO/SEM Consultant at Improove Search / Convertix, spoke about during the DES – Digital Enterprise Show 2018 .

Just a few years ago, no one would have thought that consumers would talk to their assistants in much the same way as they do on the phone . Now, things have gone a step further, with these assistants even being able to offer feedback to consumers. According to Comscore, 50% of smartphone users use voice technology and one in three uses it daily.

“We have seen that the number of users using this technology has increased considerably , especially in the last six months. Furthermore, it is a cross-cutting issue, although it is true that younger users have a more in-depth use of it,” he adds.

“There is not really a huge difference between the voice of the assistants and that of a real person. 41% of users of these assistants say they feel the same when using them as if they were chatting with a friend.” But they are not perfect, they have problems, they perhaps need more patience. And, according to Karnatowski, Google is by far the best voice-enabled search engine.

If you want to be prepared for this new revolution, there are certain things you need to consider. “First, consider micro-moments . People use voice search primarily in four moments: when they want to know something, when they want to go somewhere, when they want to do something, and when they want to buy something. So it’s important to know what questions our consumers will ask us .”

Knowing which are the 100 most popular queries on Google in the industry where the company operates can be really useful to achieve this. “Secondly, you have to take into account that the average word count for a voice search is 29 , at a ninth-grade reading level. Google always tries to simplify. If you use overly complex grammatical constructions, people can get annoyed,” he says. All this taking into account that more words mean more opportunities to find what you are looking for.

“Voice is much more human and complex, it uses more natural language ,” which is why it is very important to optimize content and keep different targets in mind. Offering snippets or complete descriptions can also help companies take better advantage of the voice revolution. “And if the speed of the website is not optimized, it is worthless. People want to find answers as quickly as possible. Who waits more than five or ten seconds to get an answer? The data shows that the average voice searcher is much faster than the rest.”

Fifthly, Karnatowski says that it is very important to have a strong primary domain , because it is what is necessary to obtain a better ranking. In addition, the world is mobile-first and local, so companies that do not understand this may have problems in the near future. “Another key point is to get into the top 3 rankings . Approximately 75% of voice assistants offer the top three rankings.”

“Voice will kill the keyboard in a few years, so it is very important to adapt the equipment to this new reality .”