Voice and Visual Search Technologies on the Rise

Featured article by Lora Young, Independent Technology Author

Search engine technology has evolved in just a couple of decades. Google was born in 1997 and quickly dominated the Web — flat screens were not even existing then. Searches were done on big, bulky desktops. Then laptops came, a portable solution to computers. Shortly after emerged the smartphones, and now in one swipe of a finger, people can get info in a split second. The rest is basically history.

Every shift in search engine technology results in a change to a website’s capability. Before, websites were plain and simple; now, they have to adapt to changes rapidly. Web pages are not just mobile-friendly but should be responsive to any device — desktop, TV, and tablet. Back then, hosting your site on the Web was enough. Today, it needs to be secured to combat any cyberattack that might take down your website in an instant. This security issue prompted the creation of https technology.

Probably the biggest change-maker in today’s search engine technology is the algorithm, especially Google’s. A search engine algorithm is a set of rules that determine the significance of a web page to rank in search engine results. Your optimization efforts, from content to social media, will be judged by this algorithm and its ranking can greatly affect quality website traffic and your overall online presence. It remains a secret what these rules are specifically, but it is imperative to abide by the algorithm to achieve your digital marketing targets.

From time to time, search engine technologies change — and so do the algorithms. The only way to succeed in the page results is to keep abreast of the changes. Here are current innovations that can influence your page ranking.

Voice Search

Smartphones make it possible to use touchscreen for searches. But recently, voice searches are becoming more popular and might be the next wave of algorithm-altering changes, especially with the release of smart speakers like Google Home and Amazon Echo. Voice search calls for a different SEO approach, since it usually uses long-tail keywords and a more accurate syntax with the natural language.

Instead of a text-based “best SEO company”, a voice-based search may say “Hey Google, where can I find the best SEO company near me?”. Siri, Alexa, Cortana or Google Assistant might respond by saying, “According to BestSEOCompanies.com, the top 50 best SEO companies…”. Voice search might not be on your radar yet but it is growing at a rapid pace. In fact, Google noted that 20% of searches made through mobile devices are now using voice search.

Visual Search

It might be too cerebral but visual search is becoming possible thanks to genius machine learning tools. It differs from an image search wherein the search is still text-based but the search results include images related to the input keywords. Visual search makes use of an image or a video as a query then searches related objects. So if you want to search for shoes you found on Facebook, you can save that image and drop in the Google search bar to get info about retailers, models, sizes etc. This technology is still a work in progress, but you can bet that it will work like magic in the future.

SEO changes as search engine technology and algorithms evolve. And while it may surprise you how quick these changes take effect, there is nothing you can do other than to keep up with the current trends. This is to meet Google’s requirements and hope to get a better payoff in the process. As long you’re on track, there is nothing to worry about unless a shake-up happens again.

About the Author

Lora Young was born in January 1992. Today, she is a digital marketer who has several years of experience in working with non-profit organizations. She has extensive knowledge in the fields of Education, Computer Science, and Psychology. When she isn’t helping build brands, she practices Muay Thai and run marathons.