voice search and beyond

March 3, 2015

Voice Search & Beyond . . .

Greg Sterling Contributing Editor, Search Engine Land + VP Strategy & Insights, LSA

@gsterling

searchmarketingexpo.com

@gsterling #SMX #13a

Big Picture: The Evolution of Search

From this To this And this



Brought to You By

• Speech recognition

• Mobility (+ sensors)

• Big data/cloud

• Machine learning/artificial intelligence



• Decades of research on speech recognition (since 1950s)

• Phone based 1-800-GOOG-411 launched in 2007 (shuttered in late 2010)

• Ford Sync (MSFT) debuts in 2007

• Google intros mobile voice search in 2008

• Siri launches as startup in late 2009

• Apple buys Siri 4/10 and integrates “her” into iPhone 4s (2011)

• Google introduces Google Now (6/12)

• Microsoft launches Cortana (4/14)

Brief History of Voice Search



“25% of Android searches in the U.S. are voice searches” - Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt (September 2010)

2010: Android Voice Queries



However Google Voice Search now operates in more than 30 languages and on the PC. Google has continued to expand availability

Nothing Since Then



June 2014 All Android-powered devices (KitKat+) respond to the hotword “OK, Google”

“OK Google”



People who search with their voice are nearly 3X more likely to be looking for local results - Chitika, October 2010

Local Queries Favored



“Say What? Why users choose to speak their web queries” Google report by Maryam Kamvar, Doug Beeferman (2010)

Average query length: 5 – 6 words; Local queries more common than other categories

Query Length



75% Source: comScore, February 2014

By end of 2015 in excess of 80%

US Smartphone Penetration



60%* 40%

*Apps claim majority of time (88%)

Source: comScore, Nielsen, Flurry (2014 – 2015)

Digital Media Time



• Notwithstanding love for the BlackBerry keyboard

• They’re not well adapted to mobile usage

Mobile Keyboard Problem



• Google has (unofficially) projected mobile search volumes to exceed PC volumes globally 2015

• Roughly 40% to 50%* of mobile search carries a local intent (Google, Microsoft)

*Source: public company statements (2012 – 2014)

More Mobile Search = More Voice



• 40% of survey respondents use voice for directions

• 39% to dictate text messages

• 32% to initiate calls

• 27% to check weather

Teens: 55% use voice search daily

Source: Northstar Research (10/14); n=1,400 US users over 13

Younger Users Daily



Source: Thrive Analytics/LSA n=1,789 smartphone users (2015)

Reasons for Voice Search




Voice Search Frequency



% of Voice Search by Age Group


General consistency across age groups



• Gen X or Gen Y

• $75K+ income

• Male Android owner

• Owns 4+ mobile devices

• Clicks on mobile ads

• Makes mobile purchases

Super User Profile: 50%+




Assistants: Beyond Voice Input



• Asked to "pick one thing you wish

you could ask your phone to do for

you," 45% of teens selected "send

me a pizza."

• Illustrates the desire to complete

tasks and conduct transactions

rather than generate search results

Source: Northstar Research (10/14); n=1,400 US users over 13

Demand for More than SERPs



Answers, Predictive Content

• Personal assistant

• Predictive search

• Locally, contextually relevant info



October 2014:

• 71% of US smartphone owners under 30 have used (i.e. Siri, Google Now, Cortana); 57% overall

• 63% use at least weekly with over 50% “on-the-go”

Top uses:

• 66% search for general information • 65% look for directions • 44% get weather • 31% set reminders, meetings and notifications • 20% search for deals for local products & services

Source: Thrive Analytics, October 2014, n=2,058

Assistant Metaphor Replacing “Search”



• Cortana is the UI but also a stack of

technology and capabilities,

including speech, NLU and Bing’s

index

• Bing the “intelligence engine” or

“intelligence fabric” behind Cortana

• Assistants the superset, search the

subset

Cortana the UI, Bing the Engine



Assistant Usage Frequency





Digital Assistant Satisfaction



Desired Improvements


• Anticipate needs

• Contextual information

• Personalization

• Facilitate transactions via voice



Conversational Search


Google creating “conversational search” model:

• Builds on previous previous queries/history

• Understands context

• Contemplates multiple steps/queries

• Oriented to task completion/transactions



Future IoT: Voice + Touch UIs (Search Embedded)



Conclusions/Recommendations

• Over time: queries longer, more “conversational,” more specific

• Mobile sites matter but traditional SERP less frequent; more “answers,” more “cards”

• Structured data powers “cards”

• Get location, services, product and other enhanced data into relevant places (e.g., Maps, GMB, Yelp, other 3rd party apps)

• Mobile SEM: top 2 positions critical

• Mobile display/native come to Google Now

voice search and beyond

Marketing

google voice search

voice search frequency

google ok google

use voice search daily

evolution of search

brief history of voice

android voice queries

local intent google