Introduction

The internet is a rapidly changing environment. There is not a single day without new features that affect our daily online routines. Nevertheless, our online behavior is also trying to keep pace with the new features. We have a demand for appealing sites, fast website load times, and customer ratings. 

Our search queries have also evolved. We create intents more precisely, strive for keywords, not complete sentences, and so on. However, search intents have never had a more revolutionary lookalike than what the near future might bring. Voice search can be the catalyst of this change, but their effectiveness is still under review.  In this article, we will introduce the strengths and weaknesses of voice search in digital marketing and why you should already include it in your marketing strategy.

What is voice search?

Voice search allows the user to use their voice to search the Internet, a website, or an app. In this case, if you want to open Netflix from your browser, instead of typing down the letters, you would rather give a voice command. 

However, voice search users do not specifically use Google to give orders, even if they have the opportunity to do so (with Google Voice Search). Instead, there are two more popular options:

Built-in voice searches

Most of the latest mobile phones include a voice assistant, like Siri (Apple) or Bixby (Samsung). If we want, they can handle more complex tasks than just a simple Google search. They can share information about our phone’s current state, start or accept phone calls, or answer complex questions. 

Smart speakers

Smart speakers are primarily used for a few purposes. One is to make voice searches easier, thanks to a more natural and effective environment. The latest smart speakers are also handled with AI assistance to give better responses and understand contextual problems. 

Why voice search optimization matters for digital marketing?

After the launch of the first few in-depth smart speakers and the hype that the improved versions of Siri created in certain people, voice searches started to grow. As of 2025, around 20.5% of people worldwide actively use voice search, and the AI boom will radically increase this number. 

But outside of this, why do you – as an online entrepreneur – actively need to look for voice search optimization strategies? That’s what you get to know in this chapter. 

Advantages over written searches

The case is, it is not a coincidence that more and more people are changing to voice searches. Some old folks may believe that it is just a trend that will burst out, like the NFTs, Google lenses, or fidget spinners. 

However, unlike the NFTs, voice searches have real opportunities that will keep them alive for a long time. 

For example, even disabled people can make search intentions via voice searches. Or, we don’t need to look at the screen while creating an intent, which makes searches more accessible. So we can order food through driving or cooking. Also, in a fast-paced world like this, we don’t want to unnecessarily push buttons and phrase understandable written sentences. This is so much quicker with voice searches. 

On top of that, we tend to spoil our written intentions because of the small letter box or bad visibility conditions. Voice search can be especially helpful in situations like this. All in all, you need to optimize for voice searches simply because it is not a balloon that has limited potential for growth. It provides you with a solution to many existing and frustrating issues. 

Location-based searches

Built-in voice searches and smart speakers have a very big advantage: they have information about your exact location, and the user is totally aware of that. 

Many voice search queries contain the phrase “near me.”. They want to get a service or buy products in general, but are unsure where they can get those. However, after making a search intent like that: Where is the nearest supermarket to me? And the voice assistant gives a result, they know everything they wanted to know. 

That’s why you need to always have a fully signed Google Business Profile, including the information of your business’s address, opening hours, phone number, and so on. 

Higher conversion potential

Most of the voice search commanders want immediate results. They not only want to read a blog article, but also want to buy a product or a service. 

That’s why you can spend more money on convincing them to buy your products, because they’re more likely to be a valuable user. On top of that, some sources even claim that the average order value from voice search-driven traffic is more than 20% greater than the average order value. 

Competitive advantage

All in all, most of the businesses still don’t optimize their business strategy for voice searches. In a very tight market, with hundreds of competitors, you have slight chances to be highlighted from the mess. 

As AI applications will become more common apps on people’s phones, the demand will be even higher for better voice search optimization. In the last couple of years, AI agents emerged from nowhere, claiming that they can solve complex tasks (like the organisation of a whole trip) within minutes. If this is how our world will look, typed search queries may decline in relative use. Those who react now will win the greatest prize tomorrow. 

Why hasn’t it changed the market radically as of now?

Outside of voice searches many great features, we shall not take our eye from its barriers. Like, voice search can’t reshape the whole market, like iPhone and Steve Jobs did in 2007. Or when people realized that strong domain names have a real inner value, and they started to buy them as investments. 

Sometimes, we simply can’t speak out loud, and in these situations, we will always stick with the “older” solution. And then, if we do not only look for a quick solution, but also browse the web for alternatives, voice search is a restriction. With voice search, we can’t easily browse sites, exit, and open up a new one. 

And there are many other barriers as of now: slow response times, misinterpretations, and language limitations.

Conclusion

All in all, voice search is a great opportunity for businesses to be highlighted in the online market and get more conversions. However, it requires optimization as the intents work differently from the typed intents. 

If you manage to optimize your marketing strategy on voice searches, you can not just get more conversions, but more valuable ones as well. And if we take the growing demand for smart speakers into consideration, these numbers can even skyrocket in the next couple of years. One thing is sure: you don’t want to miss out on that one!