It’s 2019 at time of writing, which means that we are one year away from that landmark year for voice search: 2020, which numerous commentators still claim is the year that voice queries will make up at least 50% of all web searches.

I’ve previously written on the Econsultancy blog about why that’s highly unlikely to happen, but it’s still true that there have been a number of important developments in the realm of voice search over the past 12 months, from the advent of speakable schema to the growing install base of smart speakers and other voice assistant-augmented smart devices, such as smart fridges and smart microwaves.

One important thing to understand about voice search in 2019 is that it isn’t just a single-search-engine, or a single-assistant, game. Many voice search guides, like many SEO guides, gear their advice around optimising for Google and Google's associated properties (like Google My Business and Google Maps).