Although typing a query in Google was once the most efficient method to find something online, today we are asking our smartphones questions out loud and snapping photos to get answers to those questions.
Both voice and visual search are no longer “emerging trends,” rather, they are here and will continue to affect how consumers interact with content and brands online.
As a result, for business owners, the days of only focusing on traditional text-based SEO are behind us. As voice and visual search evolve, traditional SEO will as well, becoming more conversational and increasingly visual.
In the following sections, we’ll examine what is currently taking place with voice and visual search, why this is important for developing digital marketing strategies, and what business owners should begin to implement.
Why Voice and Visual Search Are on the Rise
We can all agree that consumer behaviour is largely based on convenience. Voice and visual search are the next steps in creating an even easier and more intuitive search experience for consumers.
Users don’t want to sift through pages of results or try to type on a small screen. Consumers want quick and easy access to the information they are searching for—whether it is through a spoken response or visually presented.
- Voice Search: Smart speakers, vehicles equipped with built-in assistants, and mobile AI tools are fueling the growth of voice search.
- Visual Search: Apps such as Google Lens, Pinterest Lens, and online retailers that allow consumers to upload a photo and quickly discover similar products are leading the charge in the growth of visual search.
Together, both voice and visual search are transforming the SEO landscape in ways that many brands have yet to adapt to.
Voice Search: From Novelty to Necessity
At one point in time, speaking to a smartphone felt unnatural. Those days are now over. Voice interfaces have evolved to a point that many consumers are using voice daily without giving much thought to how they are interacting with technology.
According to Google’s own data, there has been a growing percentage of voice searches in recent years, and that trend continues to grow. However, voice search doesn’t work the same way as text queries.
When a user types a search query, they will usually enter something such as “best Italian restaurant in Sydney”.
However, when they actually speak out their search query, it is usually a full sentence, like “Hey Google, what’s the best Italian restaurant near me?”
This difference is significant and impacts how businesses should develop their content and search engine optimisation (SEO).
1. Conversational Keywords Are Winning With Voice Searches.
Voice searches are naturally longer and more conversational than text searches. Users are entering full sentences instead of fragmented sentences. Brands that understand natural language processing (NLP) are benefiting from this shift in how users are conducting searches.
As a result, digital marketing teams are optimising for question-based searches and conversational tones in their content, like:
- “What is the best time to post on Instagram?“
- “How do I improve my local SEO ranking?“
- “Which digital marketing agency specialises in content strategy for a local business?“
Businesses that want to capture this traffic need to provide a direct answer to the users’ questions — often through featured snippets, FAQs, and concise, spoken-friendly.
2. Local SEO and Voice Searches Are Best Friends
Another area that is often overlooked is the relationship between voice searches and local intent. Users are using voice searches on the go while they are driving, walking, or performing other tasks at home.
As a result, users are more likely to ask for nearby businesses or immediate solutions, such as:
- “What is the closest coffee shop that is open right now?“
- “Find a plumber in my area.“
- “What is the phone number for XYZ Marketing?“
For digital marketing agencies optimising for local SEO, this presents a unique opportunity to capitalise on this trend. Ensuring that a company’s Google Business Profile (GBP), structured data, and Name, Address, Phone (NAP) information is consistent is now more critical than ever.
3. The Rise of “Position Zero”
Voice assistants are reading back only one answer most of the time — not ten blue links, nor a list — just one result. This is referred to as the “position zero” or featured snippet.
Securing position zero means that your content is the one that gets read aloud by the voice device. It is essentially the ultimate prize in digital marketing.
Therefore, optimisation is no longer just about ranking — it’s about owning the answer that the voice devices return. To achieve this, you need to adopt a more strategic and content-focused approach to SEO that incorporates user intent and conversational design.
Visual Search: The Eye Knows What It Wants
While voice search is about convenience, visual search is about instant recognition.
For example, if a woman sees a dress that she’d like to buy, instead of typing something like “a black midi dress with puffy sleeves” and hoping that the search engine will understand exactly what product she’s referring to, she can take a screenshot or photo of the dress. In just a few seconds, Google Lens will show her where she can buy an identical product.
That’s visual search in action, and it’s a quiet revolution that is changing the way that users navigate e-commerce and discover new content.
1. Visual Search Is Powered By High-Quality Images And Accurate Metadata
Search engines can now recognise images — although not in the classical sense. They utilise AI-based image recognition and metadata (such as alt text, captions, filename, schema) to understand what an image represents.
From a business perspective:
- Product photographs need to be clear and descriptive.
- Alt text cannot be an afterthought; it is part of SEO.
- Images need to load rapidly and be accurately tagged.
Many businesses fail to capitalise on the benefits of visual search due to subpar image optimisation practices.
High-quality, properly optimised images can serve as the digital equivalent of a storefront window that passersby are unable to resist looking at.
2. The Google Lens Effect
Google Lens is responsible for handling billions of visual searches per month. Users can utilise Google Lens to identify objects, landmarks, plants, logos — you name it.
If a company does not optimise their website visuals, it will not be seen within that ecosystem.
For a digital marketing agency working with clients who desire to remain visible, image SEO is now a necessary component of a comprehensive search strategy. This includes implementing structured data (Product, ImageObject, and ItemList schema), ensuring responsive design, and providing contextual, relevant imagery that aligns with user search queries.
3. Visual Search & E-Commerce Are Essentially One
Consumers now expect to “search by image.” Fashion, interior design, beauty, and home improvement industries have already begun to embrace this trend. However, other industries are beginning to follow suit.
What is particularly intriguing is how visual search influences the discovery process. Individuals who utilise visual search are generally further along in the purchasing cycle. They know what they are seeking, even though they are unable to describe it perfectly.
This is a marketer’s ideal situation: highly intent users who are ready to purchase arriving at a product page. Developing SEO strategies that cater to visual intent is an opportunity that forward-thinking SEO teams are already incorporating into their campaigns.
How Voice and Visual Search Function Together
While voice and visual search may appear to be two separate search methods, they represent a single trend: multimodal search. This refers to how users are switching seamlessly between voice, image, and text without realising it.
Here is an example of how multimodal search works:
- A person takes a photo of a product using visual search.
- The built-in assistant then reads back options aloud using voice.
- The user then responds with another voice command to purchase the product.
This seamless loop is where the future of search is headed. Google, Apple, and Amazon are currently exploring ways to integrate visual and voice-based AI to create an effortless experience for users.
Therefore, SEO strategies must transition away from treating voice and visual search as separate features and treat them as integral components of overall search behaviour.
What Digital Marketers Need to Do in 2025
We’ve discussed “the reason.” Now let’s discuss the “how.”
Below are practical methods by which digital marketing professionals can tailor SEO techniques to suit a voice-and-visual-first environment.
1. Rethink Keyword Research
Old school keyword tools cannot identify how people express themselves through voice or visuals. As such, digital marketers are now considering natural language and visual context in addition to traditional keyword tools.
For Voice:
- Examine question-based searches.
- Optimise for conversational queries (“How,” “Where”, “Best”, “Why”).
- Offer concise answers in a voice-friendly format.
For Visuals:
- Utilise descriptive file names (e.g., “DressBlue.jpg”) instead of generic names (e.g., “IMG_1234.jpg”).
- Insert contextual captions.
- Use schema markup for images and products.
It’s about matching actual human behaviour — this is not simply about SEO.
2. Develop Content That Sounds Like A Human
If your content does not seem like something a real person would have said out loud, then a voice assistant is likely going to ignore it. This means using shorter sentences, using straightforward wording, and writing in a conversational style.
Consider creating FAQ pages, Q&A snippets, and short explainer videos with transcripts — these are all goldmines for voice optimisation.
3. Optimise For Speed And Mobile
Both visual and voice searches are mostly done on mobile. If your website is slow, does not load properly on mobile devices, and/or is difficult to navigate on mobile, regardless of how great your keywords are, you will get lost in the crowd.
Compress images to reduce download times, create a responsive design, and ensure that your website meets the Core Web Vitals standards.
4. Use Schema Markup
Structured data helps search engines understand what your content is about. In the case of voice and visual search, it is similar to providing signposts. Product markup, FAQ schema, HowTo markup — all of these help provide additional context to AI-driven search algorithms.
Companies that consistently implement schema markup will naturally be featured more frequently in snippet results, image carousels, and voice responses.
5. Continue Testing And Monitoring
SEO for voice and visual is not static. What ranks today may become obsolete in 30 days as algorithms learn based on patterns of user behaviour. Savvy marketers continue to test various types of content, analyse metrics, and monitor how audiences are actually speaking about products or services.
Monitor what customers are asking via email, social media, or chatbots. Often, the questions asked by customers in real-time resemble the same things they are saying to Siri or Google Assistant.
And My Conclusion Is…
The new habits of searching are moving away from typing. Consumers want answers quicker, easier, and in a more natural manner. The brands that make adjustments to match consumers’ habits will be much easier to find than those that are holding on to outdated SEO methodologies and will fade into the background unnoticed.
Voice and visual search are not trends — they are the rational progression of how humans acquire and process knowledge. We talk. We see. We react to what feels normal. Finally, search is catching up to this.
The organisations that invest in human-first SEO — content that sounds genuine, has clarity, and responds directly to users’ questions — are the leaders of digital marketing.