People Are Confusing these 2 Voice Services and What This Means for SEO

Many articles and reports have recently emerged, pointing to Voice Search as being the future of SEO. They said that search on Google using voice commands will make up 30% to 50% by as close as 2020.
But hold on, let's first define Voice Search to highlight a bit of mix-up.

The Mix-Up
According to an article by Google, Voice Search "uses the power of speech recognition to search the web! Instead of typing use voice input to quickly and easily search for the things you care about."

If you want to search for kittens, just use your microphone, say "kittens" out loud and Google will search for you.

However, many people seem to have jumped at the opportunity to tackle what Voice Search means for Search Engine Optimization (SEO), when in truth they have the terms Voice Search and Voice Assistance mixed up.

Voice Search vs Voice Assistance
Voice assistance is asking apps like Siri and devices like Alexa, Google Hub, and Cortana to do things for you.

Voice Assistance as the name suggests is making requests to that make your life easier, like asking Alexa to set or turn off an alarm, play music, read your certain messages or emails, play the voicemail, look up and call contacts, and the like.
While these are great and helpful commands, they're just that commands that facilitate life. The reason behind such advancements was originally to help visually impaired people use mobile phones and be able to make calls.
That said, all of these examples fall under the term Voice Assistance. The same goes for speech-to-text, like say dictating a manuscript using a microphone and voice dialing.
And they shouldn't be confused with Voice Search.

SEO and the Future
When you bring SEO into the mix, remember that it will work with Voice Search, not Voice Assistance. It's not far-fetched that SEO will come into play as technology advances forward and the need for new technologies. But for now, let's not get ahead of ourselves.
But is it likely that 50% of searching will be done using voice next year? Probably not.
That said, however, SEO taking part in Voice Search is more of a work in progress, not something to rush to. But a topic to keep tabs on.

What Now?
Voice Search will be a part of our digital future, but not at the super-fast pace some reports are forecasting.
In the meantime, work on your SEO using clear copy, structured analysis and data, provide solutions and answers using your content, optimize your website for local searches, and keep an eye on what's going on in the digital and technology worlds.

Maverick Digital Marketing Agency

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