Consumers finding their voice

Comscore reports 50% of all online searches will be voice searches by 2020 with Microsoft’s voice-controlled virtual assistant Cortana now with 133 million monthly users according to Tech Radar.

Dealer management software provider, Dragon2000 claims voice search will become more sophisticated over time which will inevitably lead to greater numbers of consumers using voice searches online. In fact, many device manufacturers are positioning it as a key feature in their marketing.

Mark Kelland, commercial manager at Dragon2000 commented, ‘Voice search is changing the way users interact with their devices. Garages and workshops need to ensure they have quality content on their websites, so that consumers are more likely to find them when they embark on a search, whether by voice or by typing into a search engine.

‘Whilst consumers might type in two or three keywords into a search engine, when doing a voice search via Siri or Google voice etc, they would tend to speak in complete sentences and talk to the search engine the same way they would speak to a person.

‘To make website content voice search friendly, garages and workshops should include content that is made up of engaging, readable sentences that are relevant for their business, rather than just lists of keywords.

‘As the majority of voice searches will be coming from a mobile device, having a website that is mobile responsive is vital so that they scale to any device and are user friendly. The web landscape is constantly evolving and garages and workshops need to ensure that their presence online maximises their potential for enquiries and bookings.’