Google Home Outpacing Amazon Echo in Search Trends
Voicebot reviewed the past 90 days of search data on Google Trends for voice assistant-related searches. The results show that both worldwide and regionally, searches for “Google Home” have consistently outpaced searches for “Amazon Echo” over the past three months. Searches related to the device names significantly outpaced searches for the voice assistants by name, Alexa and Google Assistant. Search totals for voice assistants by name were generally closer than the gap between Home and Echo with “Google Assistant” showing a slight edge over “Amazon Alexa.” Mouse over the chart below to see interactive features.
This was an important period for voice assistants and smart speakers because it included Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas and CES. While Amazon Echo and Alexa had some initial awareness advantage due to earlier market entry, Google seems to have closed the gap and moved ahead.
Google Home Searches Lead in the U.S. and Internationally
It is not surprising that “Google Home” was more regularly searched in markets such as France and Australia during the period. Amazon Echo was not available in either country at the time. However, Google Home outpaced Amazon Echo by significant margins the U.S. (3:1), Canada (8:1) and Japan (2:1) where both devices were available for sale. In the UK and Germany, Google Home held only a slight edge in searches.
What Do Search Trends Tell Us
It is fair to say that Amazon Echo and Alexa searches may be under-indexed because people that are aware of these products may start their search on Amazon.com. It is less obvious to shoppers where they can purchase or learn more about a Google Home device and thus the default to search. However, the trends do tell us that Google Home has captured a lot of consumer awareness both in the U.S. and internationally. Google famously claims that they sold more than one Google Home device per second between October and December 2017. Many of those purchases no doubt started with a Google search. The search and sales data also demonstrate that Google made substantial inroads in closing the gap with Alexa in consumer mindshare and market share in 2017.
Amazon Alexa Smart Speaker Market Share Dips Below 70% In U.S., Google Rises to 25%
