One of the fastest-growing technologies over the last decade is voice search – a trend that’s set to make more noise in 2024. A lot of its growth is due to voice assistants that come with in-built smartphones and smart speaker devices such as Amazon Alexa.
To give you a better understanding of this growing technology, we scoured through the internet to bring you the essential voice search statistics in 2024 and get your voice search efforts the kick start it needs.
What is Voice Search?
The way voice search works is simple: you simply use your voice to find what you’re looking for on Google through your smartphone or smart home device. What makes it unique is that you can interact with an AI like Alexa, Siri or Cortana, and make specific commands that trigger a web search to provide relevant answers.
For instance, if you say, “Hey Google, what is the weather like today?” — your smart device will pull up data from the internet and display the weather results for that day.
Voice search is super convenient, and it’s growing every day in popularity. According to Google, 27% of online users are using voice search on mobile globally, and ComScore reported that half of all smartphone users are engaging with voice search technology daily.
Voice Search Trends for 2024 (Key Statistics)
- One-third of the United States population use voice search features
- 71% of consumers prefer to conduct queries by voice instead of typing
- Three-quarters of all US households are expected to own at least one smart speaker.
- More than half of all owners of smart speakers use their devices daily.
Now that we’ve gone through a few interesting facts let’s dive in a bit deeper and look more in-depth at just how big voice search is in 2024.
General Voice Search Statistics
One-third of the United States population use voice search features
(Emarketer)
According to Emarketer, one-third of the United States population is using voice to conduct searches. This shows us that an increasing number of people in the United States use voice to conduct searches. Reports estimate there are 111.8 million people in the US using voice search features today. All signs point to it growing in popularity with an expected 9.7 percent increase over the year.
71% of consumers prefer to conduct queries by voice instead of typing
(PWC)
71% of consumers prefer to perform search queries by voice instead of typing. Gone are the days of typing search queries as people now choose to use voice searches over the traditional method of typing. Despite voice search having advanced capabilities such as purchasing goods online or controlling smart home devices, its most popular usage remains restricted to more basic features. Users like to use voice searches to carry out basic tasks such as checking the weather online or setting reminders.
Three-quarters of all US households are expected to own at least one smart speaker.
(Microsoft)
According to Microsoft, nearly three-quarters of all US households are expected to own at least one smart speaker. As many as 14 million people have become smart speakers for the first time, with the average home having 2.3 speakers. More and more people are expected to purchase smart speakers over 2021, with ownership forecast to nearly double to 45 percent in 2021.
More than half of all owners of smart speakers use their devices daily.
(NPR)
Ownership of smart speakers is on the rise, with more than half of all owners of intelligent speakers use their device daily. Furthermore, over a third use it to carry out voice searches. This trend can only continue to grow as more and more people become aware of smart devices and voice search.
Voice Search Usage Statistics
30% of web browsing in 2021 will be performed only by voice
(Gartner)
According to Gartner, voice search statistics show that nearly a third of all web browsing sessions across all search engines like Google and Bing will be utterly screenless by 2021.
This means that many people are already relying on voice searches daily, both inside and outdoors. This may sound unrealistic, but consider how many people are already using Amazon Alexa, Siri, or Google voice assistant. With further advances in powering voice search intelligence continues, these voice search trends are only bound to continue.
48% of consumers are using voice technology for general search queries
(Search Engine Land)
According to Searchengineland, almost half of consumers use voice technology for general search queries and find answers quickly to general questions online. As we uncovered above, speaking is often much faster than typing, so this trend is expected. When users are on the go or have limited time, they turn to voice searches for quick, straightforward answers.
Google speech recognition now supports more than 100 languages.
(Google)
Google revealed a study stating how Google speech recognition now supports more than 100 languages. Google continues to bring native voice input to mobile users, enabling more and more mobile users worldwide to use voice search in their native language. As voice search becomes more popular, we can expect to see this list grow exponentially. Currently, the English language is now the most reliable speech recognition option, but Google is slowly becoming better at understanding other languages.
4.6 seconds is needed to load a voice search result page
(Backlinko)
A study by Backlinko revealed that 4.6 seconds is required to load a voice search result page. Voice search result pages load much faster than the average page that takes about 8.8 seconds to load.
29% of consumers leverage voice assistants to ask quick questions
(PwC)
PWC reported that 29% of consumers leverage voice assistants to ask quick questions. Search by voice is the preferred choice of many consumers who use it daily to seek short questions.
35% of users use voice assistants to check the weather and news
(PwC)
The same study from PWC revealed that 35% of users use voice assistants to check the weather and news. 15% prefer to do it the old-fashioned way.
Men account for more monthly voice search users than women.
(Social Media Today)
Social Media Today revealed that Men account for more monthly voice search users than women. Additionally, the voice search statistics show that the statistics between men vs women looked like this: 66% vs 55% (smartphone), 53% vs 30% (desktop/laptop), 49% vs 31% (tablet), and 46% vs 26% (smart speaker).
76% of smart speaker owners use local voice search at least once a week
(Bright Local)
76% of smart speaker owners use local voice search at least once a week. The majority of smart speaker users search for local businesses by voice every week. 46% of users do the same daily.
Mobile users are 3x more likely to use voice search.
(Review42)
According to Review42, Mobile users are 3x more likely to use voice search. This means that there are more voice-based searches than text-based local searches on mobile. When performing local searches, mobile users are three times more likely to use voice search than to type their search queries.
Future of Voice Search Statistics
Buyers of voice-activated speakers will surpass 25.6 million in 2021
(Finances Online)
Finances Online reported that buyers of voice-activated speakers would surpass 25.6 million in 2021. The number of buyers of voice-activated speakers keeps growing in number, and by the end of 2021, this number should be even more. Currently, Amazon Echo dominates the market, holding over two-thirds of the market share. Smart speaker and home assistant Google Home holds second place, while Apple HomePod comes in third.
Smart speakers will outnumber tablets by 2021
(Canalys)
Tablet sales are declining slowly, and Canalys predicts that smart speakers will outnumber tablets by 2021. The adoption of voice-activated speakers is the greatest in countries like the US, where 1 in 4 households already have at least one such device. Other rising countries include China, which is pushing this new technology (even though Google and Amazon are unavailable in China).
55% of households will use smart speakers by 2022
(TechCrunch)
This stat is not shocking as Juniper Research predicts that 55% of households will use smart speakers by 2022. Only 13% of households had smart speakers in 2018, and the growing use of smart speakers is driving the voice shopping market growth.
400 million devices now support Google Assistant
(Voicebot)
According to voice search statistics from Voicebot, 400 million devices now support Google Assistant. Google Assistant has dramatically extended its global reach, making its voice assistant installed base the largest on the planet.
Google Home has 81% accuracy when providing voice search answers.
(Loup Ventures)
According to voice search stats from Loup Ventures, Google Home has 81% accuracy when providing voice search answers. Google Home is the winner in answering voice search queries accurately (81% accuracy), followed by Amazon Echo (64%), Harman Kardon Invoke (57%), and Apple HomePod (52.3%).
93% of users report being satisfied with their voice assistants
(PwC)
PWC reports that 93% of users say being satisfied with their voice assistants. People are generally pleased with their voice-enabled digital assistants. The general requirements include accuracy and making lives more comfortable.
Voice Search Purchasing Statistics
40% of consumers use voice to order or buy something every month
(PwC)
40% of consumers use voice to collect or purchase something every month. Voice assistant devices help people to make a purchase, but only 10% do it daily. 50% of consumers never place orders using a voice assistant.
43% of voice-enabled device owners use their devices for online shopping
(Narvar)
Narvar reports 43% of voice-enabled device owners to use their devices for online shopping. This stat shows that many users are still skeptical and are therefore very careful when using voice search for online shopping. This is primarily because online shopping typically requires users to examine the items they’re ordering, look for reviews, compare prices, and more.
34.7 million US consumers are expected to shop using a smart speaker in 2021
(Emarketer)
34.7 million US consumers are expected to shop using a smart speaker in 2021, according to eMarketer. The rising ownership of intelligent speakers coupled with increasing e-commerce growth means more and more people have started to turn to their smart speakers to shop online.
The growth forecast is also showing no signs of stopping. This number is expected to rise by 9.3 percent to 38 million next year further.
51% of Online Shoppers in The US use voice Assistance to Help Them Research Products
(ComScore)
51% of online shoppers in the US use voice assistants to help them research products, with more and more people opting to shop via voice search. Survey results from Comscore revealed that online shoppers use voice assistance more extensively in the pre-checkout stages than for checking out itself – particularly in product research and addition to shopping lists.
Voice Search Stats – Conclusion
These voice search statistics clearly show that voice search isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, if ever. More and smarter devices will keep hitting the market, making voice search increasingly accessible. This means that more people will leverage this useful feature and further influence the growth of this technology.
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