Voice search is changing the landscape of search queries and Google are taking this into serious consideration, which is why, in my opinion, responsive is becoming even more important when it comes to SEO as most mobiles had voice search before desktop did. Hand in hand with location services this makes it even more interesting than you might have imagined. Consider being on the move and making a voice search for “Weather now” or “best restaurant” on your mobile then, consider doing the same search on your desktop. Desktop search in your office location is going to serve up different results than on a mobile with location services enabled in another town.
Since the release of hummingbird Matt Cutts has already announced that Google have been making some interesting research into the meanings and relationships between certain keywords. This would suggest a deeper and more meaningful understanding between what users are searching for and what searchers will actually find useful in the results for their search. He has also made it very clear that a focus on mobile friendly is becoming increasingly important in tomorrows world of web development. The simple understanding of Google coming of age and how users interact with websites or more importantly “mobile friendly” websites would suggest to me that search and user experience are going hand in hand here.
I think in the modern world of website design and mobile it goes without saying that a responsive website is going to get a lower bounce rate than a site that is not responsive purely because a) it’s going to be easier to keep the user engaged on a responsive site for longer as it’s been designed to be legible, and b) sites that are not legible or easy to read will get brushed aside and Google have enough data to realise this so responsive sites are going to get a boost in the search results over those that are not responsive particularly on mobile search.
Now I’m not completely sure of the facts here as I’m pretty reactionary when it comes to things like this but stats I’ve already heard branded about are things like; mobile is massive; even the savvy amongst us didn’t expect this; 2011 6%, 2012 40%, 2013 60%; mobile will overtake desktop by xxx… you get my drift!
So if we consider this and users are making more mobile voice searches then it’s important to have focus on responsive considerations for your website. If your site is not mobile friendly it will have a negative effect on your website search results on mobile search for sure!