Google’s Guide to the Future: Mobile & Voice Search

Google is the gold standard of search. There are no questions about it. They are leaders. They are synonymous with search. It’s the Kleenex of Xerox syndrome: a brand is inextricably linked from the product/service it provides. Few people ask for a tissue — they ask for a Kleenex no matter what brand their facial tissue is. So, now that I’m done selling your on Google’s credibility… let’s get to their vision of the future.

Moz recently released a few interesting articles predicting big SEO trends for 2017 and the near future. There are two major glaring elements in many of Moz’ 2017 SEO predictions: an increased focus on mobile and voice search. Gianluca Fiorelli states in his December, 19th 2016 Moz piece, SEO and Digital Trends in 2017:

Google is steadily moving to a mobile-only world. Mobile-first indexing seems like the inevitable consequence of a year (or more) almost exclusively dedicated to evangelizing and forcing a change of mindset from desktop to mobile. Albeit links are still essential for rankings, Google’s investigative efforts seem almost fully devoted to entity, predictive, and personalized search. Again, quite logical if we consider deeply personal devices like mobile and home assistants.

This focus on mobile is going to make the relevance of local searching even higher. Fiorelli’s article cites a graph which illustrates how severely mobile search has outpaced desktop searches. The message is clear: don’t neglect desktop, but prepare and prioritize for mobile-first indexing.

Now, let’s consider how mobile search is outpacing desktop searches. Let’s consider the deeply personal connection we have with our phones. Fiorelli states, “voice search seems to be the next frontier of search.” Fiorelli explains:

Voice Assistants adoption is growing, as reported by MindMeld; 40% of Voice Assistant users started using it only 6 months ago, which is a sign that the “early adopters” phase seems passing testimony to the “mainstream users” phase; Already 20% of mobile queries are Voice Search (and will be 50% in 2020, according to Microsoft); The primary setting for voice search is our home (followed by our car), according to a KPCB study; Already in 2014, Google was reporting that the biggest percentage of voice search users were teens. Those teens are growing, getting jobs, and becoming parents.

This is key to understand: coming generations have already adopted technologies which haven’t reached their full potential. Our audiences are already somewhat ahead of us.

Keep your eyes open, your ear to the ground — but also keep your filter functioning properly. There’s going to continue to be a torrent of apps, behaviors and analytics to use. It’s up to you to make sense of what your business needs to make the most of your efforts.