Amidst the rapidly evolving digital landscape, 2025 has already seen brands clamouring to further optimise their content for voice, visual, and text-based searches, aligning with changing consumer behaviours and technological advancements.

Voice search has seen substantial growth, with approximately 20.5% of people globally using voice search as of late 2024, reflecting a slight increase from 20.3% in early 2024.
This trend underscores the importance for brands to adapt their SEO strategies to include conversational, long-tail keywords that mirror natural speech patterns. Businesses are therefore focusing on optimising for questions like “What are the best Italian restaurants near me?” to capture local search intent. According to WebFX, integrating these conversational phrases is crucial for effective voice search optimisation.
Visual search technology has also advanced significantly within the past year alone, enabling users to search using images and videos. Google Lens, for example, now processes over 20 billion queries monthly, highlighting its widespread adoption.
In response, brands are now investing in high-quality visuals and optimizing their image metadata to enhance discoverability. This of course includes using descriptive file names, alt text, and structured data to ensure images are indexed correctly by search engines, thereby improving visibility in visual search results.
Key Industry Players and Technological Developments
Leading the charge on these advancements are some of the world's leading tech companies. Google for example has integrated generative AI into its Search and Lens products, allowing users to perform searches using videos and voice commands. This includes features where users can capture a video through the Google Lens app, ask questions verbally, and receive AI-generated responses based on the video’s content.
Microsoft has also thrown its hat in the ring with its Copilot Vision, which enables AI to interpret visual data from users’ browsers, enhancing interactive and personalised web experiences.
With these developments, experts have emphasised the need for brands to further adapt. Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI, recently highlighted the transformative potential of AI technologies, envisioning future AI companions that could understand and assist with everyday tasks beyond web browsing. Furthermore, Google’s advancements in AI-driven search capabilities, such as real-time video understanding, are reshaping how users interact with information, making it imperative for brands to align their content strategies accordingly.
As voice and visual search technologies continue to evolve, brands must proactively optimise their content to remain accessible and relevant. By embracing conversational keywords for voice search and enhancing visual content for image-based queries, businesses can improve user engagement and maintain a competitive edge in the digital marketplace.
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