In fact, since its democratization in 2011 with the release of the iPhone 4S, the first smartphone to be equipped with Siri, all the web giants, from Apple to Amazon and of course Google, have developed their voice technologies and applied them to various uses. What is the current status of voice search? What impact can this new technology have on businesses? How can voice recognition and artificial intelligence be exploited?

Although voice recognition has been researched since the beginning of the 20th century, it was still in its infancy (and very imperfect) in the 90s, when the first dictation software was developed. Then the smartphone revolution came along. Soon, an application was available on the App Store: Siri. Faced with the potential of this innovation, the Apple brand bought it and integrated it into its iPhoneS, in 2011. The success is immediate and since then not only Google has developed its "Assistant" for Android smartphones but Amazon has also developed its Alexa.

Voice recognition today

The arrival on the market of the first voice assistant, Siri, has initiated an upheaval in the services offered by mobile operating systems and in consumer usage. Today, Google claims that 20% of the searches made on its engine are voice searches. At the same time, the Google Home and Amazon Echo voice assistants have sold tens of millions of units worldwide in just a few years!

However, despite the rather playful craze for voice search, an American study conducted on more than 1,700 people actually reveals that its adoption depends considerably on the context. While 60% of respondents admit to using voice search when they are alone at home (especially since a growing number of households are equipped with a domestic voice assistant), only about 20% do so when they are in a public place! Moreover, according to this study, the mobile browser is still the first choice for Internet users when they need to search for information. Finally, the internet search only comes in 6th position of the actions performed by users when they make a voice command. In first place, more than 40% of them use the voice command to make a call!

We can therefore see that we are still far from the figures announced by some enthusiastic experts, who estimated that between 30% and 50% of digital searches would be voice searches.

On the other hand, it is undeniable that voice control has revolutionized home automation and that it is now the only way forward for companies positioned in this sector. Fortunately, the web giants are making their technologies available to those who wish to develop solutions based on voice control. One example is the Frenchman who designed his own voice assistant at home, which he called Jarvis - in reference to the artificial intelligence of the Marvel hero Tony Stark - using Google Speech!

Six uses of voice search most used by Internet users. ( Source : https://mbamci.com/)

The implications of voice search for marketing

As a result, it appears that companies have every interest in quickly adapting to these new Internet and search practices. In fact, regardless of the industry, voice search is having an impact on businesses. And there's a simple reason for that: it's a huge paradigm shift. Voice search is turning search engines into answer engines. And that changes everything. After a voice search, the artificial intelligence selects an answer from the results available in its database.

This implies that companies must adopt a semantic cocoon strategy for their digital presence, customer centric, therefore, by responding to the expectations and questions actually asked by Internet users. FAQs, in this perspective, become indispensable since voice assistants are truly able to answer complex questions (which were rarely typed but are now dictated) such as "when to do? Why? What is the difference between? Etc."

In addition, it is now absolutely essential to properly use microdata to categorize the information contained on a web page: type of structure, address, hours, maps, catalog, prices, etc. This information must be combined with a presence on Google My Business.

And for good reason, according to the analysis of the web giant:

- 30% to 40% of mobile searches translate into a local search or purchase intention

- 76% of local searches are followed by a visit to the store within 24 hours

- 28% of them result in a purchase

Making your site perfectly adapted to voice search is therefore a major challenge to guarantee visibility, traffic and sales. And this, in the short, medium and long term!